Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Knew Too Much
Cara couldn't breathe.
“No.”
The video showed Laura walking beside Vittorio through Moretti Tower's underground archive.
She appeared frightened.
But not restrained.
Dante looked at Cara.
“You didn't know?”
“Know what?”
“That she knew Vittorio?”
“My mother sells insurance in Ohio.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
“She used to audit Moretti subsidiaries.”
Cara remembered.
Laura had mentioned accounting jobs when Cara was young.
Never names.
Never details.
“Call her.”
Cara dialed.
Laura answered on the first ring.
“Cara.”
Her mother's voice trembled.
“Mom, where are you?”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
“You shouldn't have followed Dante.”
Cara closed her eyes.
“You knew about the brakes.”
“I knew something might happen.”
“And you didn't warn me?”
“I tried to keep you away from the Morettis your entire life.”
Cara's hurt became anger.
“You lied about my father.”
“David was your father.”
“Biologically.”
Laura began crying.
“Alessandro wanted to protect you.”
“From Vittorio?”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
Cara looked at Dante.
“Why are you with him?”
“He found me.”
“Leave.”
“I can't.”
“Mom.”
“Listen to me. Vittorio thinks I know where Alessandro hid the final ledger.”
“Do you?”
Laura didn't answer.
Cara understood.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I won't say over the phone.”
A man's voice appeared in the background.
Laura inhaled sharply.
Then the call ended.
Dante ordered Gabriel to mobilize.
They reached Moretti Tower just after sunrise.
The building had been evacuated after a false gas alert.
Vittorio controlled several executive security credentials still left active from decades earlier.
Gabriel's men entered through the loading bay.
Cara stayed with Dante.
This time he didn't order her to remain behind.
They descended toward the archive.
On level B4, they found one security officer unconscious but alive.
On B5, they found Laura's purse.
Cara picked it up.
Inside was a photograph of David Fields holding baby Cara.
Behind it, Alessandro Moretti stood at a distance.
Watching.
Cara's heart broke for reasons she couldn't explain.
Her two fathers had existed in the same photograph.
One gave her life.
One gave her a childhood.
She put the photo in her pocket.
They reached the archive.
Vittorio stood beside a steel vault.
Laura was near him.
Alive.
He looked remarkably like Alessandro, only older and colder.
“So,” Vittorio said, “the children finally meet.”
Dante stepped forward.
“You killed my father.”
Vittorio shrugged.
“Your father was sentimental.”
Cara moved toward Laura.
Vittorio lifted a pistol.
“Stop.”
She stopped.
Laura whispered, “I'm sorry.”
Cara looked at her.
“Later.”
The answer made Laura almost laugh through her tears.
Vittorio demanded Alessandro's ledger.
Laura refused.
Dante offered him the trust instead.
“You want control?”
Vittorio looked interested.
“Give her to me. You get Briar. The trust. Everything.”
Cara turned.
Dante's face remained calm.
Vittorio smiled.
“You'd surrender billions for a waitress you've known one day?”
Dante answered, “She's my sister.”
Cara's eyes burned.
Vittorio laughed.
“Alessandro would have done the same foolish thing.”
Laura suddenly kicked the steel cart beside her.
It slammed into Vittorio.
Cara moved.
Gabriel's team entered.
Vittorio fired once.
The bullet hit a cabinet.
Dante tackled him.
Gabriel secured the weapon.
For several seconds nobody moved.
Then Cara reached Laura.
Her mother held her.
Cara resisted for half a second.
Then hugged her back.
Vittorio was arrested.
It should have been over.
It wasn't.
Because Vittorio began laughing.
Dante looked at him.
“What?”
“You still think I ordered your crash.”
Dante's face hardened.
“You ran the network.”
“I did.”
“You killed my father.”
“I authorized it.”
“You recruited Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“So what are you saying?”
Vittorio smiled.
“I told Vanessa to delay you.”
Dante froze.
“Delay me?”
“The crash was supposed to frighten you. Minor damage. Nothing more.”
Cara remembered Vanessa's words.
He won't survive.
“She wanted him dead.”
Vittorio nodded.
“Someone changed the plan.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Dante grabbed his collar.
“Who knew?”
“Vanessa. Miles. Renner. Ellis.”
“Ellis is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Cara felt something cold settle inside her.
Someone else had sabotaged the sabotage.
Changed a warning into an execution.
Vittorio wasn't the final enemy.
Gabriel received a call.
Miles Voss had escaped custody.
Renner was missing.
Vanessa had disappeared during the attack at Eleanor's estate.
Three suspects.
One truth.
Laura opened Alessandro's vault.
Inside was the ledger.
But another object rested beneath it.
A small digital recorder.
Alessandro's voice played.
“If you are hearing this, then I failed.”
Dante closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“Vittorio is dangerous. But he isn't the person I fear most.”
Everyone became still.
“The person I fear is someone younger. Patient. Someone who understands that empires aren't stolen in one night. They're inherited.”
Dante stared at the recorder.
Alessandro named no one.
The recording ended.
Cara searched the vault.
At the bottom was a sealed envelope addressed to Laura.
She opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A young man standing beside Alessandro.
Cara recognized Miles.
But Dante shook his head.
“That isn't Miles.”
Cara looked closer.
The man resembled Miles.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
On the back Alessandro had written:
MARCUS KNOX'S SECOND SON.
Cara slowly looked toward Gabriel.
Gabriel's face had turned white.
“My father had another child?”
Laura whispered, “Yes.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, Moretti Tower's elevator chimed.
Someone was coming down.
Gabriel raised his weapon.
The doors opened.
Miles Voss stepped out.
But he wasn't alone.
May you like
Vanessa stood beside him.
And behind them walked a man who looked almost exactly like Gabriel.
