Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Came Back From The Dead
"Ask Daniel's daughter why her father never told her about her brother."
The words stayed in the air.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
I looked at Victor.
Then Adrian.
Then the photograph still sitting on the table.
The little boy beside my mother.
The little boy who looked like Adrian.
My hands started shaking.
"Brother?"
The word barely left my mouth.
Adrian didn't look at me.
He was staring at his father.
"Who is he?"
Victor said nothing.
That was enough.
Adrian stepped closer.
"I asked you a question."
His voice was low.
Dangerously calm.
The kind of calm that came before something broke.
Victor looked older suddenly.
Not like a powerful man.
Not like the person everyone feared.
Like a father who had run out of places to hide.
"His name was Michael."
The room became silent.
"Michael Moretti."
Adrian stared at him.
"No."
Victor closed his eyes.
"Adrian..."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You told me I was an only child."
"I know."
"You told me my family was gone."
"I know."
"You told me Daniel disappeared."
Victor looked down.
"I know."
Adrian laughed once.
A broken sound.
"You always knew how to tell me just enough."
I watched him.
The anger was there.
But beneath it was something else.
Pain.
A lifetime of questions finally finding answers that hurt more than the questions themselves.
I looked at Victor.
"Why didn't my father tell me about Michael?"
Victor looked at me.
"Because he was trying to save you."
I almost stepped back.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
My voice became louder.
"My mother said she was protecting me. You said you were protecting Adrian. Everyone was protecting me from the truth."
I pointed at the photograph.
"But nobody protected me from growing up believing my father abandoned me."
Nobody answered.
Because there was no defense for that.
Adrian left the archive without saying anything.
I followed him.
Not because I knew where he was going.
Because I knew what it felt like to have your entire life rewritten in a single moment.
I found him standing outside in the empty hallway.
His hands were pressed against the wall.
His head lowered.
I had never seen him like that.
The man who could intimidate an entire room looked completely lost.
"Adrian."
He didn't turn.
"Did you know?"
The question hurt.
"Know what?"
"That I had a brother."
"No."
"Did you know my father had another son?"
"No."
He finally looked at me.
And I saw something in his eyes.
Something I hadn't expected.
He believed me.
"I don't understand anything anymore."
Neither did I.
But I understood one thing.
"We were both lied to."
His expression changed slightly.
Not because it fixed anything.
But because he wasn't alone.
For years, Adrian Moretti had carried the weight of his family's secrets.
And now I realized something.
He wasn't the monster everyone described.
He was someone who had been raised inside one.
"I remember him."
I looked at him.
"Michael?"
Adrian nodded slowly.
"It's strange."
He looked down.
"I spent years thinking those memories were dreams."
"What do you remember?"
He closed his eyes.
"A boy."
A pause.
"He was older than me."
His voice became quieter.
"He used to sneak me food from the kitchen because my father believed boys in this family shouldn't be spoiled."
I listened.
"He taught me how to fix things."
A small, sad smile appeared.
"He told me I was allowed to be kind."
My chest tightened.
Because that sounded like my father.
"Daniel believed that too."
Adrian looked at me.
"What?"
"My mother said my father believed people mattered more than power."
He looked away.
For a moment, we both understood.
The two men who tried to leave.
The two people who wanted something different.
And the family that refused to let them.
That evening, Victor called us back into the study.
He looked exhausted.
On the desk was another file.
A thick one.
Old.
Worn.
"This is everything I know."
Adrian crossed his arms.
"Everything?"
Victor looked at his son.
"No."
A pause.
"Everything I was willing to admit."
That honesty surprised both of us.
Victor opened the file.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Reports.
And one name repeated over and over.
Michael Moretti.
"He survived the accident."
My heart stopped.
Adrian looked up.
"What?"
Victor continued.
"I thought he died."
The room went quiet.
"Everyone did."
I stared at the papers.
"Then why did you say he was dead?"
Victor looked at me.
"Because someone wanted us to believe it."
Adrian picked up a document.
His eyes moved quickly.
Then froze.
"What is this?"
Victor didn't answer.
Adrian looked at him.
"What is this?"
I stepped closer.
The document was a medical report.
A patient transfer record.
And at the top was a name.
Michael Moretti.
But underneath it was another name.
A new identity.
A person who had disappeared from the Moretti family.
A person who had been living somewhere else.
I looked at Adrian.
"You knew him."
"No."
His voice cracked.
"I don't."
But his face said something different.
Because deep inside him, something was waking up.
A memory.
A sound.
A moment.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
And froze.
I saw the name.
Michael.
Adrian didn't answer.
The phone kept ringing.
Victor stepped back.
Like he already knew what was coming.
"Answer it."
Adrian stared at him.
"Why?"
Victor's voice was almost a whisper.
"Because your brother has been waiting twenty-five years for you to pick up."
Adrian pressed the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
Older.
Tired.
But calm.
"Adrian."
His face changed.
Because he knew that voice.
Not from memories.
Not from stories.
From somewhere deeper.
"Michael?"
The voice on the other end went quiet.
Then:
"You finally remember me."
Adrian couldn't speak.
I watched tears appear in his eyes.
Real tears.
The kind I never thought a man like him would allow anyone to see.
Then Michael spoke again.
"There's something you need to know about Nia."
My heart stopped.
Adrian looked at me.
"What about her?"
A pause.
Then Michael said:
"She was never just Daniel's daughter."
The room went cold.
I stepped closer.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Because the call had already changed.
Michael's voice became urgent.
"Adrian, listen to me."
A sound came from the phone.
Like someone was moving.
Like someone else was there.
Then Michael whispered:
"Before Victor tells her the truth, you need to know what really happened the night Daniel died."
Adrian gripped the phone tighter.
"What happened?"
Silence.
Then Michael answered.
"The person who killed Daniel..."
A pause.
"The person who destroyed your family..."
Another pause.
"Is standing inside that mansion right now."
The call suddenly cut off.
Nobody moved.
Then Victor's security alarm began screaming.
A guard ran into the room.
His face was pale.
"Mr. Moretti."
Victor turned.
"What happened?"
The guard swallowed.
"We found someone in the east wing."
Adrian stepped forward.
"Who?"
The guard looked at me.
May you like
Then said:
"They were waiting for Miss Bennett."
