Chapter 4 - The Enemy Inside The Moretti Family
The words from the little girl stayed in the air.
“Aunt Alessandra didn't die in the car.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone in that room understood the weight of those words.
A child did not know the details of an investigation.
A child did not understand politics, power, or the dangerous games adults played.
But children remembered what they were told.
And Sophie remembered.
I looked at Elena.
Eight years.
Eight years of silence.
Eight years of watching me believe a lie.
“Is that true?”
My voice was quiet.
But the entire room heard it.
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
She looked exhausted.
Like she had been carrying a mountain on her shoulders for years.
“Sir…”
I walked closer.
“Luca.”
I rarely allowed anyone to call me that.
Almost nobody.
But she said it because, at that moment, she wasn't speaking to the head of the Moretti family.
She was speaking to a brother.
“A man came to the house that night.”
The room changed.
“What man?”
Elena looked toward Marco.
And this time…
she didn't look away.
Everyone noticed.
Marco stood slowly.
“That is enough.”
I turned toward him.
“You have said that three times tonight.”
His face hardened.
“Because this is becoming dangerous.”
I almost smiled.
“Dangerous?”
I picked up the VHS tape.
“My sister leaves me a message saying someone is trying to erase the truth.”
I looked around the table.
“A woman who worked in my house hides evidence for eight years because she is afraid.”
I looked back at him.
“And your first instinct is to stop me from watching it.”
A pause.
“Tell me, Marco.”
I stepped closer.
“Who exactly are you protecting?”
His jaw tightened.
Nobody answered.
That was answer enough.
I turned toward Thomas.
“Bring the VHS player.”
Five minutes later, the dining room had transformed.
The expensive dinner was forgotten.
The wine remained untouched.
The most powerful people in the room were no longer interested in business.
They were waiting for a machine that had been forgotten for decades.
Thomas returned carrying an old VHS player covered in dust.
He placed it on the table.
Sophie watched with wide eyes.
She didn't understand why everyone looked afraid.
She only knew she had delivered something her mother said was important.
I crouched beside her.
“Sophie.”
She looked at me.
“You did the right thing.”
She nodded.
“Mommy said Aunt Alessandra was kind.”
My throat tightened.
“She was.”
“She said Aunt Alessandra helped people.”
I smiled sadly.
“She did.”
Sophie looked toward the tape.
“Will it make you sad?”
The question hit harder than any threat ever had.
Because she wasn't worried about the truth.
She was worried about me.
“I don't know.”
I paused.
“But I need to know.”
She seemed to accept that.
Then she reached out and held my hand.
A tiny hand.
A child's hand.
The strangest thing was…
it made me feel stronger.
I stood.
“Play it.”
Thomas inserted the tape.
The machine made a mechanical clicking sound.
The television screen flickered.
Static filled the room.
Everyone stared.
Then the image appeared.
Black and white.
Poor quality.
A small room.
My sister's office.
My heart stopped.
Because I recognized it immediately.
The old recording camera was positioned near the bookshelf.
Alessandra must have hidden it.
The date appeared in the corner.
October 12.
11:43 P.M.
The exact time written on the label.
Then my sister entered the room.
Alive.
Eight years younger.
Beautiful.
Terrified.
I felt something break inside me.
For eight years, I had only seen photographs.
Memories.
A grave.
But there she was.
Moving.
Breathing.
Alive.
The room remained silent.
Then Alessandra looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this…”
Her voice shook.
I gripped the table.
“Luca…”
Everyone looked at me.
Because she said my name.
My sister had recorded this message for me.
“If you're watching this, it means I was right.”
A pause.
Her eyes moved toward the door.
Like she was afraid someone might enter.
“There is someone inside our family who has been stealing from us.”
Nobody reacted.
Not yet.
Because nobody knew the worst part had not arrived.
Alessandra continued.
“For years, I believed the problem was outside.”
She swallowed.
“Enemies. Competitors. People who wanted what belonged to us.”
She looked down.
“But I was wrong.”
The screen flickered.
The sound became distorted.
Then:
“The person destroying this family has been sitting beside us.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
I looked around the room.
At every face.
At every person who had shared meals with me.
Trusted me.
Lied to me.
On the screen, Alessandra continued.
“I found documents.”
She lifted a folder.
“The shipping records. The missing money. The false accounts.”
My eyes moved toward Marco.
He looked uncomfortable.
But not surprised.
That bothered me.
“You knew.”
The words came from me.
Marco looked at me.
“I didn't know what was on the tape.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“But you knew there was something.”
He didn't answer.
On the screen, Alessandra continued.
“The person responsible has been moving money through companies that don't exist.”
She opened the folder.
“I copied everything.”
Then the image suddenly shook.
A sound came from outside the room.
Someone approaching.
Alessandra froze.
Her face changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“If something happens to me…”
She looked directly at the camera.
“Luca, listen carefully.”
The room became completely silent.
“If you trust anyone…”
A pause.
“Make sure it is not the person closest to you.”
The screen flickered.
Then a man's voice appeared.
Off camera.
“Alessandra?”
Everyone froze.
Because I recognized that voice.
I had heard it thousands of times.
At meetings.
At family dinners.
In my own office.
The voice said:
“What are you doing?”
Alessandra looked toward the door.
“No…”
The recording ended.
Static.
Nothing else.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody breathed.
Because everyone had recognized the voice.
I slowly turned.
Toward the man sitting across from me.
Victor Hale.
My secretary.
My advisor.
The man who had helped me survive for fourteen years.
He looked pale.
But he was not the only one.
Marco looked terrified.
I noticed.
And that was when everything became clear.
Because Marco wasn't afraid of the tape.
He was afraid of what came after it.
I walked toward Victor.
“Say something.”
He remained silent.
“Victor.”
Finally, he looked at me.
“Luca…”
His voice cracked.
“I can explain.”
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the truth was so unbelievable that your mind searched for another answer.
“Explain what?”
I leaned closer.
“The part where you were in my sister's office?”
Silence.
“The part where she recorded you?”
Silence.
“The part where she knew you were destroying my family?”
Victor looked down.
And that was when I knew.
The man who had spent fourteen years standing beside me…
had been standing beside my enemies all along.
Then Sophie spoke.
A tiny voice.
Almost too quiet.
“Mr. Moretti?”
I turned.
She was staring at the screen.
At the frozen image of my sister.
“What?”
She pointed.
“That's not the end.”
Everyone looked at her.
My heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
Sophie looked at Elena.
Then whispered:
“Mommy said the first tape was only a copy.”
The room went completely still.
A copy.
I looked at Elena.
Her face changed.
And I knew.
There was another tape.
Another secret.
Another message my sister had left behind.
May you like
And this time…
someone had spent eight years making sure I never found it.
