Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Came Back from the Dead
My father's younger brother was named Matteo Duca.
He had disappeared when I was nineteen.
The official story was that he had died in a fire in Sicily.
My father refused to discuss him.
My mother never spoke his name.
For years I thought he was a family ghost.
Now Daniel was telling me he was alive.
"Where?"
Daniel looked at Sophie.
"Ask her."
I turned.
Sophie was crying.
"Ask me what?"
"How does your mother know Matteo?"
She wiped her cheek.
"She doesn't."
"Then how does she know him?"
Sophie shook her head.
"My mommy said his name once."
"Where?"
"In the garden."
"What did she say?"
Sophie squeezed her lunchbox.
"She said Uncle Matteo was the man who took the medicine."
My heart pounded.
"Did your mother ever meet him?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
The night before Isabella died.
I remembered the timeline.
Evelyn had been seen leaving the estate that night.
I had assumed she was going home.
Maybe she hadn't.
Maybe she had been meeting someone.
We returned to the library.
Daniel confessed everything.
Matteo had secretly rebuilt a network using old Duca family contacts.
He believed the family business should have been his.
He thought my father had stolen his inheritance.
When my father died, Matteo decided to take what remained.
But he needed leverage.
Lucas became leverage.
The poisoning was designed to make Lucas appear genetically ill.
A prolonged illness would weaken the company, destabilize me, and allow Matteo to manipulate the business through Daniel.
But Isabella discovered the truth.
She confronted Matteo.
She threatened to expose him.
He arranged her death.
I closed my eyes.
For three years I had imagined her final moments.
Now I knew they had been caused by someone carrying my blood.
"Where is he?"
Daniel shook his head.
"He changes locations."
"Find him."
"I can't."
"Everyone can be found."
Daniel looked at me.
"Not this man."
He placed a small flash drive on the table.
"Then what's this?"
"Proof."
I connected it to the computer.
A video appeared.
Isabella.
Alive.
Three days before her death.
She was sitting in her garden.
Her face looked exhausted.
But her voice was steady.
"Lorenzo, if you're watching this, then I've failed to reach you."
My throat tightened.
She continued.
"Lucas is being poisoned. The substance is entering through the irrigation system. Someone has access to every part of this house."
She held up a small vial.
"I sent samples to Amelia Green."
Then she looked directly into the camera.
"I don't know whether I'll survive long enough to prove it."
I touched the screen.
"Isabella..."
She continued.
"There's something else you need to know. Lucas wasn't the target at first."
I froze.
She looked down.
"They were testing the chemical on the house staff."
My blood ran cold.
"They wanted to know how long it would take before people became ill."
A pause.
"And I found evidence that someone higher up ordered it."
She leaned closer.
"If anything happens to me, don't trust the person who tells you to grieve quietly."
Then the screen went black.
I stared.
Daniel lowered his head.
"There's more."
He opened another file.
It contained payment records.
But this time, the accounts didn't belong to Matteo.
They belonged to someone in my own company.
My chief operating officer.
Richard Kane.
My right hand.
The man who had managed my business while I focused on revenge after Isabella's death.
I called Richard.
He answered immediately.
"Lorenzo?"
"Where are you?"
"At the office."
"Stay there."
Silence.
"Is something wrong?"
"Everything."
I ended the call.
Marco looked at me.
"You think Kane is involved?"
"I know he is."
Sophie suddenly whispered,
"He isn't the worst one."
I stared at her.
"Who is?"
She looked frightened.
"Mommy said never say his name."
"Say it."
She shook her head.
"Say it."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Grandpa."
I froze.
"My father?"
She nodded.
"Mommy said Grandpa wasn't really dead."
A terrible realization settled over me.
If my father was alive...
Then the man photographed in the garden might not have been my uncle.
It might have been my father.
And if that was true, I had spent ten years believing a lie.
The next morning, we found Richard Kane dead in his office.
A gunshot to the chest.
Beside him was a handwritten note.
May you like
Lorenzo, stop digging.
Or Lucas dies.
