Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The man on the security screen said Dominic’s name.
“Dominic…”
His voice came through the speakers.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
I looked at Dominic.
The color had disappeared from his face.
Not anger.
Not suspicion.
Fear.
Real fear.
I had never seen that expression on him before.
The man everyone feared was afraid of the person standing outside his own gate.
“Who is he?” I whispered.
Dominic didn’t answer.
His eyes stayed locked on the screen.
The man outside slowly lifted his face toward the camera.
Even through the grainy image, I could see the resemblance.
The same sharp features.
The same cold eyes.
The same confidence.
But there was something else.
Something broken.
“Turn off the camera,” Dominic ordered.
Nobody moved.
The guards looked confused.
“Sir?”
“I said turn it off.”
The screen went black.
The silence afterward was worse.
Lily was still holding my hand.
She looked up at Dominic.
“Is that the bad man?”
My heart stopped.
Dominic looked at her.
“What did you say?”
“The man in my picture.”
Nobody spoke.
Because somehow, my three-year-old daughter already knew.
Dominic walked toward her slowly.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“Have you seen him before tonight?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the dark screen.
“Outside.”
My stomach tightened.
“Outside our apartment?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then she pointed upward.
“Here.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Here?”
Lily nodded.
“He came here before.”
Dominic looked at his security team.
“When?”
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Or because somebody knew and was afraid to say.
Dominic turned toward the guards.
“Search every room.”
The mansion exploded into movement.
Doors opened.
Footsteps echoed.
Security personnel rushed through hallways.
But Dominic stayed still.
I watched him.
“You know him.”
It wasn’t a question.
His eyes moved to mine.
“Yes.”
The answer shocked me.
“Who is he?”
A long pause.
Then:
“My brother.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I stared at him.
“Your brother?”
Dominic nodded once.
“Adrian Moretti.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But the way everyone reacted told me everything.
The guards looked at each other.
The employees became silent.
Like a ghost had just walked through the room.
“What happened to him?”
Dominic looked away.
“He died.”
My breath caught.
“Then how is he standing outside your house?”
He didn’t answer.
Because there was no answer.
Not one that made sense.
Ten years earlier, Dominic told me, Adrian Moretti had disappeared.
Not simply left.
Disappeared.
His car was found abandoned outside the city.
His phone was destroyed.
His identity was erased from every system connected to the family.
Everyone believed he was dead.
Including Dominic.
“He was my father’s favorite,” Dominic said quietly.
We were sitting in his private office now.
Lily was asleep upstairs with a security guard outside her door.
I hated that.
I hated that my daughter needed protection.
But I hated even more that I understood why.
“Your father?”
Dominic looked at the window.
“My father built everything.”
I knew enough about powerful families to understand what that meant.
Money.
Control.
Enemies.
Secrets.
But I still didn’t understand one thing.
“Why would your dead brother follow us?”
Dominic’s expression changed.
And that told me there was more.
“What?”
He didn’t respond.
“Dominic.”
He finally looked at me.
“Because Adrian knew your name.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He knew who you were before I did.”
My heart started beating faster.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“That’s why I’m worried.”
I stood up.
“Tell me everything.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
He placed it on the desk.
I picked it up.
It showed two young men.
Dominic.
And Adrian.
Standing beside a woman.
A pregnant woman.
My fingers loosened.
Because I recognized her.
Not from memory.
From photographs.
My mother.
I looked at Dominic.
“What is this?”
His face became serious.
“Your mother knew my family.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“She did.”
“My mother worked as a nurse.”
“She worked somewhere else before that.”
I stared at the photograph.
My entire life suddenly felt like it had missing pages.
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because someone wanted you not to.”
A chill went through me.
“Who?”
Dominic didn’t answer.
Because suddenly the answer was obvious.
Someone powerful.
Someone who could erase records.
Someone who could make people disappear.
The same kind of person who had been watching us.
I looked at the photograph again.
The pregnant woman.
My mother.
A young Dominic.
And Adrian.
“What happened that night?”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
“The night Lily was born?”
I looked at him.
“You know about that?”
“Yes.”
My voice became sharper.
“How?”
He was silent.
That silence hurt.
More than any answer.
“You were there.”
Dominic looked down.
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“You were there when my daughter was born?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped back.
“You knew me.”
“Elena…”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“You knew me before I became your maid.”
The truth was suddenly everywhere.
The strange looks.
The way Dominic watched Lily.
The way he protected us.
The way this all started.
It wasn’t random.
He had known.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
“Tell me.”
Dominic closed his eyes for a moment.
“When Lily was born, Adrian was trying to protect someone.”
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“You.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Before I could ask anything else, a loud noise came from upstairs.
A crash.
Then Lily screamed.
I ran.
Dominic was behind me immediately.
We reached the hallway.
Her bedroom door was open.
The security guard outside was unconscious on the floor.
My heart nearly stopped.
“Lily!”
I rushed inside.
The room was empty.
The window was open.
Again.
But this time…
There was something on her bed.
A folded piece of paper.
Dominic picked it up before I could.
His face changed as soon as he read it.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dominic, what does it say?”
Slowly, he handed me the paper.
Three words.
Written in black ink.
I felt my entire body go cold.
Because the handwriting was the same as the note before.
And underneath those three words was a name I had never seen before.
“ASK ADRIAN MORETTI.”
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face turned pale.
Because the caller ID showed a number that should have been impossible.
A number belonging to someone who had been dead for ten years.
He answered.
May you like
And the voice on the other end whispered:
“Elena is not your daughter’s mother…”
