Chapter 7 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Dante Salvatore had been dead for ten years.
Alessandro had attended the funeral.
He had identified the body.
He had watched the coffin disappear underground.
There was no possibility.
Yet a legal filing had appeared claiming Dante was the biological father of Isabella.
At first, Alessandro assumed it was a fraud.
Then the DNA test arrived.
It was real.
Not complete.
Not enough for a court.
But enough to suggest that the man who had signed the filing was genetically connected to the Salvatore family.
Alessandro hired forensic investigators immediately.
They traced the filing to a private lawyer in San Francisco.
The lawyer refused to speak.
Then Alessandro found the name of the client.
A man called Adrian Vale.
Photographs revealed something disturbing.
The man looked like Dante.
Older.
Heavier.
But unmistakably similar.
Elena stared at the photograph.
"Who is that?"
Alessandro shook his head.
"I don't know."
The truth emerged slowly.
Dante had lived a secret life.
Before marrying Alessandro's mother, he had another identity.
Another family.
Another child.
Adrian Vale was his son.
That meant Adrian was Alessandro's half-brother.
And Adrian claimed Dante had left him a letter.
A letter naming Isabella as heir to a secret estate.
But there was more.
Dante had known Marco's daughter would exist.
Which meant this entire plan had been created before Marco died.
Alessandro confronted Adrian.
They met in a private office.
Adrian looked at him calmly.
"You have his eyes."
Alessandro sat.
"And you have his lies."
Adrian smiled.
"He lied to both of us."
"Then tell me the truth."
Adrian handed him a letter.
Dante's handwriting.
My sons,
I made mistakes.
I believed I could control the consequences.
I was wrong.
The Salvatore family was built on land acquired through deals I regret.
Some of those lands were never legally ours.
I created a separate trust so my grandchildren could inherit what I had taken.
Alessandro continued reading.
If Isabella is born, she becomes the principal beneficiary.
Victor Dane was never the biggest threat.
The real danger is inside the Salvatore bloodline.
The letter ended.
Alessandro looked at Adrian.
"Who is the threat?"
Adrian shook his head.
"I don't know."
Then he said:
"But someone is trying to kill Isabella."
That changed everything.
The next week, someone attempted to poison the baby's formula.
The bottle was intercepted before Isabella drank it.
The laboratory found traces of a dangerous toxin.
Alessandro became furious.
Security doubled.
Every employee was screened.
Cameras were replaced.
The estate became almost impossible to enter.
But Elena noticed something.
Midnight refused to let anyone near the baby carriage.
Whenever a stranger approached, he became agitated.
Elena laughed nervously.
"He's protecting her."
Alessandro looked at the horse.
"I believe he is."
One afternoon, Alessandro returned from a board meeting and found Elena asleep beside Isabella.
He stood in the doorway.
The sight affected him more than he expected.
He had spent years building companies.
Fighting enemies.
Protecting his name.
Yet all he wanted at that moment was to preserve this quiet.
He walked closer.
Elena woke.
"You don't have to stand guard."
"I wasn't."
She smiled.
"You were."
He sat beside her.
"How is Isabella?"
"Perfect."
He looked at the baby.
"She has Marco's hands."
Elena smiled.
"She has your stubbornness."
"I've never met her before."
"You have."
"When?"
"Five years ago."
He frowned.
"What?"
Elena looked at him.
"Marco showed me your picture."
"You knew about me?"
"Of course."
"What did he say?"
"He said his brother was impossible."
Alessandro laughed.
"He was right."
Elena studied him.
"You're different now."
"How?"
"You let people help you."
He looked at her.
"Maybe I found the right people."
A silence followed.
The room felt different.
Warmer.
Alessandro reached for Elena's hand.
She looked down at their fingers.
Neither moved.
Then Isabella cried.
They both laughed.
But the peace did not last.
That night, Owen discovered another hidden camera.
It had been installed inside the nursery.
The footage showed someone entering the room two nights earlier.
The face was hidden.
But the clothing belonged to a Salvatore employee.
Alessandro ordered a complete internal investigation.
One name kept appearing.
Sophia Bell.
The estate nurse.
Sophia was arrested.
But before police could question her, she was found unconscious.
Someone had attacked her.
When she woke, she gave one sentence.
"It wasn't me."
"Who was it?"
She whispered:
"Lucia."
Alessandro froze.
His sister.
The woman he'd trusted.
The woman who had supported him after their father's death.
The woman who had been asking about Elena since the first day.
May you like
Alessandro couldn't believe it.
Then Lucia disappeared.
