Chapter 8 - The Garden Where The Truth Was Buried
Victor Bellini was not the kind of man who ran.
That was what made him dangerous.
Cowards disappeared when they were exposed.
They changed their names.
They left the city.
They begged for mercy.
Victor did none of those things.
He continued going to work.
He continued answering calls.
He continued wearing expensive suits and shaking hands with people who believed he was still the same loyal man who had stood beside me for twelve years.
That was Victor’s greatest talent.
Not accounting.
Not manipulation.
Not stealing.
His greatest talent was making betrayal look like loyalty.
And for a long time...
I admired him for it.
After my meeting with Clara, I returned to the estate with one thought repeating in my mind.
Victor has the evidence.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Enough to destroy me.
Enough to make the world believe I was the architect of my own empire’s corruption.
That was the plan.
I finally understood.
They never wanted to take my company.
They wanted me to lose it.
There was a difference.
Taking something from someone created anger.
Destroying their belief in themselves created something much more powerful.
Shame.
And shame made people weak.
They wanted Adrian Santoro—the Marble Man—to stand in front of the world and realize that the monster was himself.
But they made one mistake.
They underestimated the people who had shaped me.
My father.
Gabriel.
And a little girl named Luna.
The next morning, Victor called me.
I almost smiled when I saw his name.
A few weeks ago, I would have answered immediately.
A trusted friend.
A trusted partner.
Someone inside my inner circle.
Now his name appeared on my phone like the name of an enemy.
I answered.
“Victor.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Adrian.”
“What do you need?”
A small pause.
“I wanted to check on you.”
I looked out the window.
The city stretched beneath me.
Millions of people.
Millions of stories.
And somewhere among them were people who had spent years using my name to hurt others.
“You wanted to check on me?”
“Yes.”
“How kind.”
He ignored the sarcasm.
“You’ve been asking dangerous questions.”
There it was.
The real reason.
Not concern.
Not friendship.
A warning.
“I ask questions every day.”
“Not these questions.”
I remained silent.
Victor continued.
“Some truths are better left buried.”
I looked toward the garden outside.
The place where my father had hidden his final message.
“The problem with buried things, Victor...”
I paused.
“Is that eventually someone digs.”
Silence.
For the first time, he had no immediate answer.
Then he said:
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“No.”
I smiled slightly.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
The call ended.
That afternoon, my legal team confirmed what Clara had warned me about.
The documents existed.
Fake approvals.
Fake signatures.
Financial transfers.
Everything designed to make it appear that I personally approved the foundation changes.
My name was everywhere.
My signature was everywhere.
My reputation was everywhere.
The person who built the trap knew me well.
They knew if everything collapsed publicly, I would not run.
I would accept responsibility.
That was my weakness.
I carried everything.
Even things that weren’t mine.
Gabriel knew that.
My father knew that.
But Victor used it against me.
Marco entered my office holding a file.
“We found something.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Victor’s private accounts.”
I stood.
“Show me.”
He placed the documents down.
“There are payments.”
“To whom?”
Marco hesitated.
I noticed.
“Say it.”
He looked at me.
“To people connected to Richard Vale.”
My expression changed.
Richard Vale.
The dead man.
The ghost.
The person who appeared in every secret but nowhere in reality.
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“Source?”
“Foundation accounts.”
I closed my eyes.
So that was the connection.
Victor wasn’t the beginning.
He was a piece.
A soldier.
Maybe an important one.
But still a soldier.
Someone else had been moving the board.
“Find Richard Vale’s records.”
“We tried.”
“And?”
Marco looked uncomfortable.
“They were erased.”
“By who?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find.”
I looked at the files.
“No.”
Marco looked at me.
“We stop searching for who erased them.”
I pointed at the documents.
“We search for who benefits from them being gone.”
That night, I returned to Luna’s apartment.
I didn’t tell Elena why.
I didn’t want to bring more fear into that home.
When she opened the door, she looked surprised.
“Adrian.”
I nodded.
“Can I come in?”
She stepped aside.
Luna was sitting at the table drawing again.
When she saw me, she smiled.
“You came back.”
“Yes.”
“Are you still important?”
I smiled.
“I think so.”
She looked serious.
“That means you have to wear the good clothes?”
I looked at my suit.
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“That sounds uncomfortable.”
I laughed quietly.
A real laugh.
The kind I had forgotten existed.
Elena watched me.
And I think she noticed too.
The change.
The fact that I was no longer the same man who had stood outside her door in the rain.
Luna picked up her drawing.
“I made another one.”
She handed it to me.
This time it wasn’t a house.
It was a garden.
Three people stood beneath a tree.
“Who are they?”
She pointed.
“Mama.”
Then:
“Papa.”
Then:
“You.”
I looked at the drawing.
“Why am I in the garden?”
She shrugged.
“Papa said gardens are where people remember.”
I froze.
My eyes moved to Elena.
She looked shocked.
“Did Gabriel tell her that?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He used to say that when she was younger.”
I stared at the drawing.
The garden.
The message.
Everything connected.
Later that night, I returned to the old garden.
Alone.
I walked to the fountain where we found my father’s box.
But this time, I noticed something.
Something I had missed before.
A small stone near the base of the fountain.
Different from the others.
Newer.
I moved it.
Underneath was a small compartment.
Inside was a key.
And a piece of paper.
My hands tightened.
The handwriting was Gabriel’s.
If you found this, then Victor knows you are close.
I looked around the empty garden.
The air felt colder.
The message continued.
Do not confront him yet. He wants you angry. He wants you emotional.
A pause.
Then:
The person behind everything is not Victor.
My heart slowed.
Because I already suspected that.
But seeing it written by Gabriel made it real.
The next sentence changed everything.
The person who destroyed the foundation is someone Adrian trusts more than anyone.
I stared.
More than anyone?
There were only a few people who held that place.
My eyes moved across the garden.
My father.
Gabriel.
Marco.
And then...
Someone else.
Someone I had not considered.
The paper continued.
The final evidence is hidden where your father kept his greatest secret.
Below that:
The locked garden is not the end. It is the beginning.
I turned the paper over.
One final message.
Three words.
Three words that made my blood run cold.
Protect Luna Russo.
I stood in the garden for a long time.
Because suddenly this was no longer about money.
No longer about corruption.
No longer about saving my company.
Someone had spent years hiding the truth.
Someone had destroyed families.
Someone had betrayed my father.
Someone had killed Gabriel.
And now...
They had noticed Luna.
The little girl who saved bread for her mother.
The little girl who still believed money was only sleeping.
The little girl who drew me into her family without knowing my name.
I folded the paper carefully.
Then I called Marco.
He answered immediately.
“Adrian?”
My voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Move Elena and Luna to a safe location.”
Silence.
“Why?”
I looked at the darkness beyond the garden.
“Because whoever started this knows I’m searching.”
A pause.
“And?”
I looked down at Gabriel’s final message.
“And now they know what matters to me.”
The call ended.
I remained in the garden.
The place where my father buried the truth.
The place where Gabriel left his final warning.
The place where everything began.
For years, I believed my empire was built from stone.
From money.
From fear.
I was wrong.
The foundation was built from promises.
And someone had spent years breaking every single one.
But they forgot something.
A broken promise could be repaired.
A stolen truth could be recovered.
And a man who had nothing left to lose...
May you like
Was the most dangerous man in the world.
Especially when he finally had something worth protecting.
