Chapter 4 - My Sons Were Finally Together, but the Person Who Stole Them Was Already Inside My HouseDaniel stayed.
For three weeks.
The brothers became inseparable.
Lucas followed him everywhere.
Daniel patiently taught him chess.
Lucas taught Daniel how to build wooden airplanes.
For the first time, I saw what my family should have looked like.
Then Daniel disappeared.
His room was empty.
Window open.
No broken glass.
No struggle.
A note was left on the pillow.
I took your son because you took mine.
I knew immediately.
Matteo.
I activated every resource I had.
Private investigators.
Security teams.
Former allies.
Nobody found him.
Then Lucas came into my office.
He held the old wooden horse.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Mommy said not to be scared.”
My heart stopped.
“She told you that?”
He nodded.
“Before hospital.”
“Did she say anything else?”
Lucas looked at the horse.
“She said Uncle Matteo doesn't know the secret.”
“What secret?”
He turned the horse over.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
I stared.
Rosa had hidden it inside his toy.
I connected it.
A video appeared.
Rosa.
Alive.
Speaking directly to me.
“If you're watching this, then Daniel has been found.”
She smiled sadly.
“You probably think Matteo took him.”
A pause.
“He did.”
My blood froze.
“But Matteo isn't the person you should fear.”
She looked away.
“Your father is.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
My father was dead.
Or so I believed.
Then a second file opened.
Live coordinates.
An old farm in Pennsylvania.
I took Lucas.
We went there with security.
The farmhouse was empty.
Except for one room.
Daniel sat in a chair.
Alive.
Matteo stood behind him.
He looked older.
But unmistakable.
I raised my gun.
“Let him go.”
Matteo laughed.
“You always were dramatic.”
“Why?”
“You don't know what your father built.”
“Tell me.”
“You were supposed to take over.”
“I did.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You took the legitimate company.”
“I abandoned the rest.”
“That's why you're weak.”
I stared at him.
Matteo looked at Lucas.
“And now you have two heirs.”
“Leave them out of this.”
“You can't.”
He smiled.
“Blood never stays out.”
He revealed the truth.
My father had created a secret network connecting several crime families.
The Moretti family controlled the transportation side.
Matteo controlled the financial side.
My mother opposed it.
Rosa opposed it.
My father ordered my mother killed.
Matteo took Daniel.
Rosa escaped with Lucas.
For twenty-one years, the family waited.
Until Rosa returned.
She knew the entire structure.
That was why she had to die.
I understood.
“She was poisoned.”
“Yes.”
“By you?”
Matteo smiled.
“Not directly.”
“Who?”
“Marco.”
My blood ran cold.
My closest friend.
The man who had served my family for twenty years.
He had been working for Matteo.
I returned to the city.
Marco was gone.
But his files remained.
Thousands of payments.
Messages.
Photographs.
And one final record.
A video of Rosa entering the estate.
Marco had been watching.
He had reported her every move.
I found him at the old train station.
He surrendered.
“I didn't want her dead.”
“But she is.”
“I was told you would be killed.”
“Who told you?”
He looked at me.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
“My mother was alive.”
“She was.”
“And then?”
“Matteo killed her.”
I looked at him.
“Why did you stay?”
“To protect you.”
That phrase had become unbearable.
Everyone claimed to protect me.
Everyone lied.
Everyone chose my life without asking.
I told Marco:
“You don't get to decide what my family needs anymore.”
He nodded.
Then he gave me one final file.
The original inheritance contract.
Both sons had equal rights.
Neither could inherit until I voluntarily dissolved the criminal organization.
If I refused, control passed to the surviving senior family member.
Matteo.
I understood.
He wanted me to die or remain in power.
Either way, he won.
Unless I walked away.
So I did.
I announced publicly that I was dismantling the Moretti criminal network.
Everything.
Accounts.
Properties.
Businesses.
I turned evidence over to federal authorities.
Matteo's power vanished.
The organization collapsed.
But one problem remained.
The inheritance clause.
I had to choose.
Power.
May you like
Or family.
I chose family.
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