Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Everything after Victor stepped out of the car felt like a nightmare.
Alessandro moved in front of us.
Security raised their weapons.
Victor smiled.
“Alessandro Moretti.”
“Victor Bellande.”
“Still alive.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“Not at all.”
Victor looked at me.
Then at Michael.
“My family is finally together.”
I stepped forward.
“You kidnapped my brother.”
“I protected him.”
“You stole him.”
“I saved him from people who wanted to use him.”
“People like you?”
Victor laughed.
“You've inherited your mother's temper.”
That sentence nearly broke me.
“You knew her?”
“I knew her very well.”
“What did you do to her?”
His smile faded.
“She made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She trusted your father.”
I took a step forward.
Alessandro caught my arm.
Victor watched.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“The famous Alessandro Moretti protecting Ethan Hayes's daughter.”
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
“You know why.”
“I know everything.”
Victor reached into his coat.
Security aimed their weapons.
He slowly removed a folded document.
“Your mother left this for you.”
He tossed it.
It landed at my feet.
I opened it.
A bank transfer.
Twenty million dollars.
From an account owned by Don Moretti.
To an account under my mother's name.
Then another.
Thirty million.
Another.
Fifty million.
The payments continued for years.
“What is this?”
“Protection money.”
“For what?”
“For keeping your family alive.”
I looked at Alessandro.
He shook his head.
“My father would never—”
“He did.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father paid your mother to disappear.”
My heart shattered.
“No.”
“Ask her.”
“She’s dead.”
Victor's expression became strange.
“No, Clara.”
He stepped closer.
“Your mother is alive.”
I could not move.
Alessandro immediately looked at Victor.
“Where?”
Victor smiled.
“That depends on you.”
“What do you want?”
“The box.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“And the girl.”
His expression turned lethal.
“No.”
Victor chuckled.
“Then you know the truth already.”
“What truth?”
“That she is the reason your father created the box.”
Alessandro's eyes sharpened.
“What?”
Victor looked at me.
“You weren't supposed to inherit the money.”
“What money?”
“The Moretti fortune.”
I stared.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
He took out another document.
My mother's handwriting.
Your father left everything to the person who could open the box.
The bloodline had been hidden.
The identity had been erased.
The inheritance had been protected.
I looked at Alessandro.
He seemed as stunned as I was.
“Why me?”
Victor's voice softened.
“Because your mother wanted the empire destroyed.”
He turned.
“Come with me, Clara.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
I froze.
Alessandro stepped forward.
“You don't know where she is.”
Victor looked at him.
“I do.”
“Where?”
“Ask yourself why your father's old chapel has a basement.”
Alessandro's eyes changed.
He turned to Dominic.
“Take everyone back to the estate.”
We returned before sunrise.
The chapel looked untouched.
Old stone.
Wooden benches.
A statue of Saint Michael.
Alessandro walked directly to the altar.
He pressed the base of the statue.
Nothing.
Michael suddenly spoke.
“The raven.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
Michael pointed to the statue.
“There was a raven in the room where Victor kept me.”
I remembered the box.
Love.
Ambition.
Betrayal.
Grief.
Memory.
Five stages.
Five symbols.
I looked at the chapel.
Five stained-glass windows.
Rose.
Tower.
Dagger.
Eye.
Raven.
“It's another puzzle.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Show me.”
We moved through the chapel.
The rose window lit first when sunlight hit it.
Under it was a phrase.
LOVE BUILDS WHAT FEAR CANNOT.
The tower window contained another.
AMBITION BUILDS WALLS.
The dagger.
BETRAYAL OPENS DOORS.
The eye.
GRIEF REMEMBERS.
The raven.
MEMORY RETURNS.
I pressed the raven symbol.
The altar shifted.
A staircase appeared.
Alessandro went first.
We descended into darkness.
At the bottom was a metal door.
He opened it.
Inside was a room.
And in that room sat a woman.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
But alive.
My mother.
I stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
She looked up.
Her eyes widened.
“Clara.”
I ran to her.
We collided.
I cried like a child.
She held my face.
“My baby.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Why did you leave me?”
Tears ran down her face.
“Because if they knew you existed, they would have killed you.”
I turned toward Alessandro.
She looked at him.
“You came.”
He nodded.
“You were always stubborn.”
She smiled sadly.
“You have your father's eyes.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“Who trapped you here?”
“Victor.”
“How long?”
“Seventeen years.”
My brother stepped forward.
“Mom?”
She stared.
Her hands flew to her mouth.
“Michael.”
He ran to her.
Three people held each other in a room that had witnessed seventeen years of silence.
Alessandro turned away.
I watched him.
He was trying not to show emotion.
Then my mother spoke.
“Alessandro.”
He looked back.
“Your father wasn't killed by Victor.”
He froze.
“Then who?”
She looked at him with sorrow.
“Your father ordered his own death.”
“What?”
“He knew Victor had infiltrated everything.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To protect you.”
The room went silent.
My mother continued.
“Don Moretti knew the empire had become too large to control. He created the box because he needed someone outside the family to finish what he could not.”
I stared.
“You.”
She nodded at me.
“He knew your mind.”
“But I was a child.”
“I know.”
“Then how did he know I would open it?”
“He didn't.”
She smiled.
“He hoped.”
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Alessandro reached for his gun.
Then we heard a voice.
“Family reunions are beautiful.”
Victor.
My mother went pale.
Alessandro stepped in front of us.
May you like
Victor's voice echoed from the staircase.
“But they always end.”
