Chapter 5 - The Brother Hidden Beneath The Name
"A photograph of Nia's father."
The words echoed through the hallway.
Nobody moved.
Not even Adrian.
For a man who had spent his entire life controlling every situation, he looked completely lost.
"My father?" I whispered.
The guard nodded.
"It was placed inside the archive room."
Victor's face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
The regret disappeared.
The fear appeared.
"Take me there."
The guard hesitated.
"Sir, the room was locked from the inside."
Adrian looked at him.
"What?"
"The security system shows nobody entered."
A cold silence filled the hallway.
Because everyone understood what that meant.
Someone who wasn't supposed to be there had found a way inside.
Victor turned toward the underground stairs.
"Nobody follows."
Adrian immediately stepped forward.
"No."
Victor stopped.
"You don't give me orders."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"For the first time, I think I should."
The tension between father and son felt like a storm waiting to explode.
I watched them.
The powerful man.
The angry son.
The secrets.
All of it connected somehow.
And somehow, I was standing in the middle of it.
Victor looked at me.
"Nia, stay here."
I almost laughed.
Because that was what everyone kept telling me.
Stay here.
Stay quiet.
Stay safe.
Like my own life was a room everyone else had the key to.
"No."
Victor's expression tightened.
"Nia."
"I spent my whole life being protected from the truth."
I stepped closer.
"I'm done."
Adrian looked at me.
Something passed between us.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But understanding.
Because he knew exactly what it felt like to discover your entire life was built on things people refused to tell you.
Victor looked between us.
Then sighed.
"Fine."
The word surprised everyone.
"Come with us."
The underground archive was beneath the oldest part of the mansion.
I had walked through every hallway on the main floors.
I had cleaned every room.
I had polished every surface.
But I never knew there was another world beneath the house.
The stairs were narrow.
The air grew colder with every step.
Adrian walked beside me.
Victor was ahead.
Neither of them spoke.
But I could feel the questions filling the silence.
When we reached the bottom, the guard unlocked the final door.
Inside were hundreds of boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Old records.
The hidden history of the Moretti family.
Victor walked straight toward a table.
There it was.
A photograph.
Placed perfectly in the center.
Waiting.
I stopped breathing.
Because I knew the man in the picture.
Even though I had never met him.
My father.
A younger version of him stood beside my mother.
They were smiling.
Actually smiling.
Not the fake smiles people wore when they wanted the world to believe they were happy.
Real ones.
The kind that came before everything fell apart.
I reached for the photograph.
My fingers trembled.
"His name was Daniel Bennett."
Victor's voice came from behind me.
I turned.
"You knew him."
Victor looked at the picture.
"Yes."
"Who was he?"
Victor didn't answer immediately.
Adrian watched him carefully.
"Father."
Victor finally spoke.
"Daniel was my younger brother."
The words hit harder the second time.
Because hearing it from him made it real.
"My father had a brother."
Adrian looked at Victor.
"You never told me."
"I was trying to protect you."
Adrian laughed quietly.
A painful sound.
"That's what everyone says."
Victor looked away.
"Daniel was different."
I stared at the photograph.
"He wasn't like us."
"What does that mean?"
Victor looked at me.
"He didn't believe power was everything."
The room became silent.
"He wanted to leave the family."
I looked down.
"And my mother?"
Victor's expression softened.
"Your mother loved him."
My chest tightened.
"Then why did they disappear?"
Nobody answered.
And that was when I noticed something.
A second photograph.
Half-hidden beneath the first one.
I pulled it out.
My hand froze.
It was a picture of my mother.
Holding a baby.
A baby girl.
Me.
But beside her was someone else.
A little boy.
Around eight years old.
I looked closer.
The boy had dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
A familiar face.
I looked at Adrian.
Then back at the picture.
"No."
My voice barely came out.
Adrian stepped closer.
"What?"
I lifted the photograph.
"This is you."
The color drained from Adrian's face.
He took the picture.
His hands shook.
"I don't remember this."
Victor closed his eyes.
"Because we made you forget."
The room went completely silent.
Adrian looked up slowly.
"What did you say?"
Victor didn't move.
"When Daniel died, you saw everything."
Adrian's breathing changed.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"You lied to me."
"I was protecting you."
Adrian slammed the photograph onto the table.
"Stop saying that!"
His voice exploded through the archive.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Adrian looked at me.
His anger disappeared.
And what replaced it was worse.
Pain.
"You knew me."
I didn't know what to say.
"I was a child."
"You remembered."
"I didn't."
"Then why do I remember you?"
The question broke something inside both of us.
Because neither of us had an answer.
Hours passed inside the archive.
Victor finally told us everything.
At least everything he was willing to admit.
My father, Daniel Moretti, had wanted to leave the family business.
He wanted a different life.
A normal life.
With my mother.
With me.
But leaving the Morettis was never simple.
Especially not when someone else wanted the family power.
"Who?" Adrian asked.
Victor remained silent.
I noticed.
"Who stopped him?"
Victor looked at the floor.
"My older brother."
I frowned.
"You mean..."
"Yes."
The realization hit me.
Victor wasn't the oldest.
There was another Moretti.
Someone above him.
Someone nobody talked about.
"Where is he now?"
Victor didn't answer.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Father."
Victor looked at his son.
"He died years ago."
But the way he said it didn't sound like the truth.
It sounded like a sentence he had repeated until he almost believed it.
I looked at the photograph again.
My father.
My mother.
Adrian.
Me.
A family that never existed.
A family someone destroyed.
Then my phone vibrated.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
Again.
One message.
I opened it.
A photograph appeared.
My blood froze.
It was the same archive room.
Taken moments ago.
But the picture showed us standing there.
Watching.
Someone had been inside with us.
Someone close enough to take the photo.
I looked around the room.
Nobody moved.
Another message appeared.
This time, only four words.
"Victor never killed him."
My hands went cold.
I showed Adrian.
His face changed immediately.
"Who sent that?"
Before I could answer, Victor's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
And for the first time in my life, I saw fear in Victor Moretti's eyes.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then Victor whispered:
"You're alive."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Who is it?"
Victor slowly lowered the phone.
His face had gone completely pale.
Because the voice on the other end had said only one sentence.
May you like
A sentence that changed everything.
"Ask Daniel's daughter why her father never told her about her brother."
