Chapter 7 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The figure stepped out of the darkness.
I forgot how to breathe.
Because I knew that face.
Not from a photograph.
Not from a story.
From a memory.
A memory I had spent ten years trying to bury.
"Dad?"
The word escaped before I could stop it.
The man froze.
His eyes filled with something I couldn’t understand.
Pain.
Regret.
Fear.
Dante immediately raised his weapon.
"Alessandro."
My father looked at him.
And smiled sadly.
"Still protecting everyone except yourself, Dante."
The gun in Dante’s hand shook.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
The man who never hesitated.
The man who controlled entire rooms with a single look.
Was shaking.
I stared at my father.
The impossible was standing in front of me.
Alive.
Older.
Different.
But still him.
My knees almost gave out.
"You’re alive."
My father looked at me.
And for a second, everything disappeared.
The secrets.
The lies.
The anger.
I was just a daughter seeing her father again.
Then reality returned.
"Why?"
My voice broke.
"Why did you let me believe you were dead?"
Alessandro Moretti looked down.
That hurt more than any answer.
Because I saw the guilt.
"Dad."
He took a step toward me.
I stepped back.
The movement stopped him.
That small distance between us carried ten years of pain.
"I searched for you."
His eyes filled.
"I know."
"No."
My voice became stronger.
"You don’t know."
The room went silent.
"You don’t know what it was like."
I pointed at the walls.
"This house burned."
I touched my chest.
"My entire life burned."
My father looked away.
"I know."
"Everyone kept telling me I was lucky to survive."
My breathing became heavier.
"But nobody told me why I had to survive alone."
Dante lowered his weapon.
Not because he trusted Alessandro.
Because he understood.
This wasn’t his battle.
This was mine.
My father looked at Dante.
"You told her nothing."
Dante’s expression hardened.
"You disappeared."
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice."
The two men stared at each other.
Two brothers.
Two people who once trusted each other.
Two people carrying the same guilt.
My father looked back at me.
"I wanted to come back."
"Then why didn’t you?"
His silence answered.
I hated that.
I hated all the silence.
All the missing years.
All the moments people decided I was too fragile to know the truth.
"Because of Victor."
The name changed everything.
Dante immediately looked at Alessandro.
"You found him?"
Alessandro nodded.
"Years ago."
My heart tightened.
"Victor is alive?"
Nobody answered.
But they didn’t need to.
I already knew.
The enemy who destroyed my family was still breathing.
My father walked toward the hidden room.
He picked up one of the old photographs from the wall.
"You were never supposed to find this place."
I looked around.
"Then why leave the key?"
He looked at Dante.
"Because I knew he would bring you here."
Dante frowned.
"You planned this?"
"No."
Alessandro shook his head.
"I prepared for the possibility."
He handed me the photograph.
It showed me as a child.
My father.
My mother.
And another baby.
Sofia.
But there was something else.
A fourth person.
Standing in the background.
A man whose face had been scratched out.
"Who is that?"
Alessandro’s expression changed.
"The person who started everything."
I looked closer.
The damaged photograph showed only part of the man’s hand.
A ring.
A symbol.
A symbol I had seen before.
On Victor’s documents.
On the old family records.
On Dante’s private files.
The Moretti crest.
My father noticed my expression.
"You know that symbol."
I nodded.
"I saw it in Victor’s files."
Alessandro looked at Dante.
"You found Victor’s files?"
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
"How do you know I had them?"
Alessandro didn’t answer.
And suddenly I understood.
There were still secrets between them.
Even after everything.
"Enough."
My voice cut through the room.
Both men looked at me.
"I want the whole truth."
My father looked at me.
"The whole truth will hurt."
"I already hurt."
That silenced him.
I stepped closer.
"So tell me."
Alessandro sat down slowly.
Then he began.
"When you were born, Victor wanted control of the Moretti family."
Dante listened carefully.
"Your grandfather chose Alessandro as the successor."
My father nodded.
"Victor believed he deserved everything."
"And Sofia?"
My father looked at the photograph.
"She was born because we needed a backup."
The words hurt.
I frowned.
"A backup?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"Not like that."
His eyes softened.
"Your sister was loved."
I looked away.
"Then why hide her?"
"Because Victor learned about you."
I froze.
"Me?"
"Yes."
Alessandro looked at me.
"He discovered you were the legal heir."
Dante spoke quietly.
"Not me."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He looked at the floor.
"The inheritance was never supposed to go to me."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"It was supposed to go to you."
I stared.
"Why?"
"Because your father believed I was the only person who could protect it."
I looked at Dante.
The man I thought had stolen everything.
The man I thought was part of the reason my life fell apart.
Had been protecting something that belonged to me.
But then I remembered.
He still hid the truth.
"You let me hate you."
Dante looked at me.
"I deserved it."
The answer surprised me.
Before I could respond, Alessandro suddenly stood.
His expression changed.
He looked toward the window.
"What is it?"
Dante noticed too.
Someone was outside.
Watching.
My father moved quickly.
Too quickly for someone who had supposedly lived in hiding for ten years.
"Everyone down."
The glass shattered.
A gunshot.
Then another.
Dante grabbed me and pulled me behind the wall.
My father moved toward the window.
"Dad!"
He looked back.
And for one second, he was the father from my childhood.
Not a secret.
Not a missing man.
Just my father.
"Stay with Dante."
Then he disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
The shooting stopped.
Silence returned.
Too quickly.
Dante checked the room.
"Stay here."
"No."
I followed him.
"Elena."
"I’m done staying behind."
He looked at me.
Then nodded.
We moved through the hidden corridor.
At the end was another room.
The door was open.
Inside was a table.
A chair.
And a phone.
The screen was glowing.
A new message had just arrived.
Dante picked it up.
His face changed.
"What?"
He turned the phone toward me.
The message contained one picture.
A woman.
Alive.
Holding a newborn baby.
My sister.
And beneath the photo were six words:
"She has been waiting for you."
Then another message appeared.
From the sender.
A name Dante recognized instantly.
A name that made him whisper:
"Victor."
May you like
The phone rang.
And when Dante answered, the voice on the other side said the one thing that made my blood run cold...
