Chapter 10 - The Father Beneath The Grave
The basement door opened.
Nobody moved.
The security guards stood frozen.
Alessandro walked forward first.
I followed behind him.
Because no matter how impossible it was...
I needed to see.
I needed to know.
At the bottom of the stairs, a man stood beside the old storage room.
His clothes were worn.
His hair was gray.
His face was older than the man I remembered from childhood.
But his eyes...
They were the same.
My father's eyes.
The eyes that had watched me grow up.
The eyes that had disappeared the night he died.
I stopped walking.
My entire body went numb.
"Elena."
My father's voice broke something inside me.
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years of believing I was alone.
Fifteen years of wondering why he left.
Fifteen years of carrying questions nobody could answer.
And now he was standing in front of me.
Alive.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
Then anger came.
Not sadness.
Not relief.
Anger.
"You let me bury you."
My voice shook.
My father looked down.
"I know."
"You let me believe I had nobody."
"I know."
"You watched me struggle."
His eyes filled with regret.
"I know."
I wanted to scream.
I wanted answers.
I wanted to ask why.
But all I could say was:
"Why?"
The basement became silent.
My father looked at Alessandro.
Then at Mia.
Then back at me.
"Because if I came back, they would have killed you."
Alessandro stepped forward.
"Who?"
My father looked at him.
And for the first time, I saw fear in his expression.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for us.
"The people who own the secrets your families built their lives on."
Alessandro's face hardened.
"My family?"
My father nodded.
"Both families."
The words surprised everyone.
Even Marco.
Alessandro looked at him.
"You knew?"
My father turned toward Marco.
"Of course he knew."
Marco closed his eyes.
Alessandro's expression changed.
"You knew he was alive."
Marco didn't answer.
That was enough.
Alessandro laughed quietly.
Another betrayal.
Another person who had chosen silence.
"Everyone knew except me."
My father looked at him.
"I tried to tell you."
"When?"
Alessandro stepped closer.
"When my mother died?"
His voice became sharper.
"When my father disappeared?"
"When I spent years thinking everyone I loved abandoned me?"
Nobody spoke.
Because Alessandro wasn't angry about the secrets anymore.
He was angry about the pain they caused.
My father lowered his head.
"I deserved that."
The answer surprised Alessandro.
Because he expected an excuse.
Not acceptance.
My father looked at Mia.
"She's beautiful."
I looked at him.
"You knew about her."
He nodded.
"Since the day she was born."
My chest tightened.
"How?"
"Because I was there."
The room froze.
"What?"
My father looked at me.
"The night Mia was born wasn't an accident."
I felt cold.
"What are you saying?"
He took a small envelope from inside his coat.
Old.
Worn.
The same kind of envelope that had followed us through every secret.
He handed it to me.
"I kept this because I hoped you would never need it."
I opened it.
Inside was a hospital document.
But not the one we had already found.
This one had a different name.
A different baby.
My hands trembled.
"Why does this exist?"
My father looked at Alessandro.
"Because your daughter was never the target."
Everyone became silent.
"Then who was?"
My father looked at Clara.
My sister.
She stepped back.
Her face changed.
"No."
My father nodded.
"I'm sorry."
I looked between them.
"What does Clara have to do with this?"
Nobody answered.
Then Clara whispered:
"They weren't trying to hide Mia."
She looked at me.
"They were trying to hide me."
The room froze.
My father continued.
"When your father discovered the truth about the Duca family, he found out there were two children who could expose everything."
Alessandro frowned.
"Mia and Clara."
My father nodded.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed at me.
"Elena."
The silence was overwhelming.
"Me?"
He nodded.
"You were the connection."
I shook my head.
"I don't understand."
"Your mother was not just a woman from a normal family."
I stared.
"She died when I was young."
"Yes."
"Then what are you saying?"
My father took a breath.
"Your mother was the last person who knew the original agreement."
Alessandro stepped closer.
"What agreement?"
My father looked at the Duca family.
"The agreement that created both families."
Nobody spoke.
"The agreement that decided who would control everything."
Marco looked disturbed.
"Don't."
My father ignored him.
"Because the truth is..."
He looked at Alessandro.
"Your father wasn't the first Duca to build this empire."
A pause.
"He was only the first one willing to destroy anyone to keep it."
The basement became silent.
Then suddenly...
The lights above us flickered.
Everyone looked up.
My father immediately changed.
The fear returned.
"They found us."
Alessandro turned.
"Who?"
My father didn't answer.
He grabbed my arm.
"We need to leave."
Alessandro stepped between us.
"No."
My father looked at him.
"You still don't understand."
Alessandro's voice was cold.
"Explain."
My father looked toward the stairs.
"They don't want Mia."
A pause.
"They don't want Elena."
Another pause.
"They want the person who can prove the entire Duca empire was built illegally."
Nobody moved.
Then the basement door slammed shut.
The guards rushed toward it.
Locked.
From the outside.
Alessandro immediately grabbed the handle.
"Open it."
No response.
He looked at the cameras.
The screens turned black one by one.
Someone was taking control.
My father stepped backward.
His face became pale.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He stared at the basement wall.
At a place nobody had noticed before.
A hidden symbol.
The same symbol from the documents.
The same symbol from the necklace.
The same symbol from the photograph.
And then he whispered:
"The person who trapped us here..."
May you like
A pause.
"...is the person I thought I killed fifteen years ago."
