Chapter 11 - THE GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE
The house stood on a mountain overlooking the city.
Luca remembered it.
He had been there once.
As a child.
His grandfather had looked at him for several minutes before saying:
"One day, everything will belong to you."
Luca had forgotten the sentence.
Until tonight.
The gate opened automatically.
No guards appeared.
That frightened him more than armed men would have.
Naomi stayed in the vehicle.
Luca entered alone.
The house smelled exactly as he remembered.
Old wood.
Smoke.
Leather.
He walked into the library.
An elderly man sat beside the fireplace.
Victor Moretti.
His grandfather.
Alive.
Luca stopped.
Victor smiled.
"Come closer."
Luca didn't move.
"You ordered Matteo's death."
Victor nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he betrayed the family."
"He loved my mother."
"That was his betrayal."
Luca's hands curled.
"You destroyed my entire life."
Victor shook his head.
"I protected your future."
"By lying to me?"
"By giving you a future."
Luca laughed bitterly.
"You don't get to call that protection."
Victor looked at him.
"You inherited an empire because of me."
"No."
Luca stepped closer.
"I inherited a prison."
Victor's smile faded.
"You sound like your father."
"Which one?"
Victor stared.
"Rafael."
Luca frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he also believed he could escape."
"What happened to him?"
Victor remained silent.
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"He's missing."
Victor sighed.
"Your father made choices."
"Tell me."
Victor looked toward the window.
"He is alive."
Luca froze.
"Where?"
"Underneath the city."
"What does that mean?"
"The old tunnels."
Luca's mind raced.
Victor continued.
"The organization has always had another world beneath the one you see."
"The council."
"The council is finished."
"Then who controls it?"
Victor looked at him.
"You."
Luca stared.
"I don't want it."
"That doesn't matter."
"I can walk away."
"No."
Victor's voice became firm.
"Because they won't let you."
Luca turned toward the door.
"Where is Rafael?"
Victor said:
"Ask your mother."
Luca stopped.
"She knows?"
"She knows everything."
Luca turned back.
"What did she do?"
Victor smiled.
"She chose you."
Then the lights went out.
Luca heard a gunshot.
He ran toward the sound.
When the emergency lights returned, Victor was bleeding.
A bullet had struck his shoulder.
Luca grabbed him.
"Who shot you?"
Victor whispered:
"Not who."
"Then what?"
"Why."
He looked at Luca.
"Someone wants you to believe every person in your family is guilty."
"Why?"
"Because if you stop trusting us..."
Victor's voice faded.
"...you'll trust them."
Luca's phone rang.
Naomi.
"Where are you?"
"Outside."
"Come in."
"No."
"Why?"
"I found something."
"What?"
"Your mother's old nurse."
Luca froze.
"The nurse who cared for her after the stroke?"
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
"Dead."
Luca's face hardened.
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
The exact time Isabella's condition worsened.
Luca looked at Victor.
"She was killed."
Victor nodded weakly.
"Because she knew what they were giving your mother."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"Medication."
Victor whispered:
"Slow poison."
Luca froze.
The entire room seemed to disappear.
Vivian had not been trying to make Isabella look incompetent.
She had been trying to stop someone from poisoning her.
Luca whispered:
"Who prescribed it?"
Victor looked toward the door.
"The man you trust most."
Luca's blood ran cold.
His lawyer.
But he was already dead.
Or missing.
Then another possibility came to him.
His security chief.
His oldest protector.
The man who had been beside him for fifteen years.
Luca pulled out his phone.
"Where is Marco?"
Naomi answered:
"He's not with me."
"Where is he?"
Silence.
Then:
"Luca..."
"What?"
"I saw him leave the house twenty minutes ago."
Luca's face went cold.
"With whom?"
"Your mother."
Luca hung up.
Victor grabbed his arm.
"Don't follow him."
"Why?"
"Because Marco isn't the traitor."
"Then who is?"
Victor whispered:
"The person who told him where to go."
Luca looked toward the fireplace.
There was a photograph.
His family.
Rafael.
Isabella.
Matteo.
Victor.
And behind them stood a young woman.
Luca recognized her.
Elena.
Vivian's mother.
But there was something strange.
She was holding a baby.
Luca zoomed in.
The baby had a small birthmark beneath the left ear.
Luca touched his own neck.
He had the same mark.
His heart stopped.
Victor whispered:
"Now you know."
Luca turned.
"Know what?"
Victor's eyes filled with tears.
"Vivian isn't your sister."
Luca froze.
"Then who is she?"
Victor smiled sadly.
"Your daughter."
The room went silent.
Luca stared at him.
"No."
Victor nodded.
"Years ago, before you met Vivian, you had a daughter."
Luca stepped backward.
"I don't have a daughter."
"You were never told."
"Who is her mother?"
Victor looked toward the door.
"Elena."
Luca couldn't breathe.
Vivian wasn't his sister.
May you like
She was his daughter.
And someone had spent years convincing her to destroy the man she had been searching for all along.
