Chapter 13 - THE NIGHT EVERYTHING CHANGED
The warehouse fell silent.
Luca stared at Rafael.
"You shot my mother?"
Rafael didn't defend himself.
"Yes."
Isabella closed her eyes.
Luca looked at her.
"Is that true?"
She nodded.
One slow movement.
Naomi stepped closer.
"Why?"
Rafael answered.
"Because I was trying to stop the council."
"That doesn't explain it."
"It happened during the night of the accident."
Rafael looked toward the floor.
"Alexander had discovered the reserve."
He continued.
"He wanted the money."
"So you fought him."
"Yes."
"Then my mother was caught between you?"
Rafael nodded.
"I fired."
"At Alexander?"
"Yes."
He swallowed.
"Your mother stepped in front of him."
Luca's face went pale.
"I thought I killed her."
"But she survived."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"She told me to disappear."
Luca stared.
"Why?"
"Because the council believed I was dead. If they knew I survived, they would come for you."
Isabella reached for Luca's hand.
He took it.
For the first time in years, he understood her silence.
She hadn't been protecting a secret from him.
She had been protecting him from the consequences of it.
Then Victor laughed.
Everyone turned.
"You still don't know the worst part."
Luca looked at him.
"You're finished."
Victor smiled.
"No."
He nodded toward Vivian.
"Ask her."
Luca turned.
Vivian looked terrified.
"What?"
Victor said:
"Tell him what you found in your mother's diary."
Vivian shook her head.
"No."
Luca approached.
"Vivian."
She reached into her bag.
Pulled out a small diary.
"I found this after Elena died."
She opened it.
"I never read the final pages."
"Why?"
"Because they were sealed."
She handed it to Luca.
He opened the last page.
The handwriting was Elena's.
Luca,
There is something I never told you.
Our daughter is not the only child I had.
Luca stopped.
Vivian stared.
"What?"
He continued.
There was another baby. A boy.
Naomi covered her mouth.
Luca's heart pounded.
"Another child."
Vivian whispered:
"My brother."
Luca turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
A baby.
Beside him was a woman.
And behind them stood Alexander Cole.
Luca recognized the baby immediately.
The same birthmark.
The same eyes.
The same face.
But the child was older than Vivian by several years.
Luca stared.
"Where is he?"
Vivian shook her head.
"I don't know."
Victor smiled.
"He's closer than you think."
Luca looked around the warehouse.
Every person suddenly seemed suspicious.
Then his eyes stopped on his security chief.
Marco.
Marco's face went pale.
Luca raised his weapon.
"Take off your jacket."
Marco froze.
"Boss?"
"Now."
Marco slowly removed it.
A scar appeared along his shoulder.
Luca remembered something.
A photograph from Elena's diary.
The baby had a small scar in the same place.
Marco stared at Luca.
"Please."
Luca's voice dropped.
"Who are you?"
Marco began crying.
"My name isn't Marco."
Silence.
"My name is Adrian."
Luca's blood went cold.
"Adrian what?"
"Adrian Cole."
Vivian stepped backward.
"No."
Adrian looked at her.
"I'm your brother."
She stared.
Then shook her head.
"You're lying."
"I didn't know either."
Victor laughed.
"I found him when he was twelve."
Luca looked at Victor.
"You raised him?"
"I trained him."
"For what?"
Victor smiled.
"To protect the family."
Luca understood.
Marco had been beside him for fifteen years.
Protecting him.
Watching him.
Perhaps manipulating him.
Perhaps saving him.
He didn't know anymore.
Adrian looked at Luca.
"I never betrayed you."
"Then why did you take my mother?"
"Because Victor ordered me to."
"Why obey?"
"Because he threatened Vivian."
Vivian stared at him.
"You protected me?"
Adrian nodded.
"Always."
Vivian began crying.
Luca lowered his gun.
Victor suddenly reached for his weapon.
Luca reacted.
A shot rang out.
Victor fell.
The warehouse went silent.
Luca stared.
Victor was alive.
Barely.
He looked at Luca.
"You think this ends with me?"
Luca approached.
"No."
Victor smiled.
"It ends with your grandfather."
Luca stopped.
Victor's eyes closed.
"Because I'm not your grandfather."
Luca froze.
"What?"
Victor smiled one final time.
"The real Victor Moretti died thirty years ago."
Then he collapsed.
Luca stared at the body.
Naomi whispered:
"Then who was he?"
Nobody answered.
Until Rafael spoke.
"Alexander."
Luca turned.
"What?"
Rafael stared at the fallen man.
"Alexander Cole has been impersonating your grandfather for twenty-eight years."
Luca's face went blank.
The man they had been hunting had been sitting in their family home the entire time.
And the real Alexander was still somewhere else.
Then every light in the warehouse went out.
A voice came over the speakers.
"Very good, Luca."
Luca raised his weapon.
The voice continued.
"But you've only found the first mask."
A screen illuminated.
A live camera showed Isabella.
Standing beside her was a man.
Luca recognized him.
His own father.
But Rafael was standing beside him.
Two identical faces.
Two men.
May you like
One truth.
One of them had been lying all along.
