Chapter 2 - The Man I Trusted Like a Brother Denied Taking Elena’s Mother, but Security Footage Proved He Had Been Inside Their Apartment Minutes Before She VanishedThe attack lasted less than three minutes.
By the end of it, two of my men were injured.
The attackers were gone.
But the evidence they left behind was enough to terrify me.
Not because of what they took.
Because of what they didn't.
They had ignored the money.
Ignored the weapons.
Ignored the documents.
They had searched only one room.
Elena's mother's bedroom.
Someone wanted something specific.
And I suspected the reason was inside the hidden basement.
I returned to the estate with Elena.
She refused to let go of Bruno.
I didn't blame her.
She had already lost almost everything.
I assigned two women from my private security team to stay with her.
Then I confronted Vittorio.
He sat in the library.
Calm.
Too calm.
“You're lying to me.”
He smiled.
“About what?”
“Elena.”
“I told you.”
“I don't believe you.”
“You've known me thirty years.”
“That's why I'm giving you a chance.”
He sighed.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
He looked at the floor.
“Your wife was involved.”
My jaw tightened.
“Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“With Elena's mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
He leaned back.
“Your wife discovered something your father had buried.”
“What?”
“A hidden network.”
“Vale?”
Vittorio nodded.
“He had people everywhere.”
“Why would Sofia be involved?”
“She wasn't.”
I stared.
“You just said she was.”
“She discovered them.”
“Then why hide it from me?”
“Because she didn't trust you.”
The words hurt.
Sofia had trusted me with everything.
At least I had believed she did.
Vittorio continued:
“She knew what your father had done.”
I frowned.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
Vittorio didn't answer.
I stood.
“You have one minute.”
He sighed.
“Your father created an underground financial system.”
“I know about the old accounts.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Not those.”
“There was another system.”
“Children.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Children connected to powerful families.”
“Why?”
“Leverage.”
I felt sick.
My father had used children as leverage.
I had spent my entire life believing he had been ruthless but honorable.
Maybe I had been wrong.
Then Elena entered.
She looked at Vittorio.
“You're the man.”
Vittorio stared.
“What?”
“The man Mommy was scared of.”
He stood.
I stepped between them.
“Don't move.”
Vittorio sat again.
Elena pointed toward him.
“He gave Mommy medicine.”
“What medicine?”
“I don't know.”
“When?”
“Before she went to sleep.”
I stared at Vittorio.
“You drugged her?”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“You did.”
She began crying.
“You said it would make everything easier.”
Vittorio closed his eyes.
I wanted to kill him.
But I needed answers.
“Where is her mother?”
“I don't know.”
“Then who does?”
“Vale.”
I froze.
Gabriel Vale.
The dead man.
The ghost.
The enemy.
I ordered every file on him pulled.
His old records.
His known associates.
His properties.
Nothing.
Then Elena pointed toward a photograph.
“That's his house.”
The image showed an abandoned mansion.
Outside it stood a black SUV.
The license plate matched one from our security logs.
We had seen it near my estate three times.
The same vehicle.
We found the location.
We went.
The mansion was empty.
But the basement contained something horrific.
Rows of files.
Children's photographs.
Family trees.
Medical records.
And one file with Elena's name.
I opened it.
Under father, one name was listed.
Alessandro Moretti.
I froze.
“What?”
Elena's eyes widened.
“That means you're my daddy?”
I couldn't speak.
The page had been prepared three years ago.
The birth date matched.
Her mother's name matched.
My blood type matched.
But Sofia?
No.
The dates were impossible.
I looked at another document.
A DNA result.
Probability of paternity: 99.99%.
I sat down.
Elena was my daughter.
A child I had never known existed.
The woman I thought had betrayed me had apparently been raising my child in secret.
And someone had stolen her mother because she knew the truth.
I looked at Elena.
She stared back.
“Are you really my daddy?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
Her little face changed.
She stepped forward.
I opened my arms.
She hugged me.
I held my daughter for the first time in her life.
And for the first time since Sofia died, I cried.
Then I saw another document.
Mother deceased.
Father unaware.
Child to remain hidden.
Below it:
Until inheritance activation.
I felt cold.
Someone hadn't just hidden my daughter.
They had hidden her because she was an heir.
And if she was my biological daughter...
She had a claim to everything.
Then my phone rang.
A message.
Now you understand why we need her.
May you like
I looked at Elena.
And swore no one would ever take her from me again.
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