Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the Glass
I refused to believe it.
Until I saw him.
The security cameras displayed the main entrance.
An older man stood beneath the estate's stone archway.
Gray hair.
Straight posture.
My father's eyes.
Same scar near the jaw that he had acquired in the war.
Same ring.
Same hand gesture.
My father's ring.
I hadn't seen it since his funeral.
"Open the gate," I said.
Marco stared at me.
"Sir?"
"Open it."
"That could be exactly what he wants."
"I know."
We opened the gate.
The man entered alone.
He didn't raise a weapon.
He didn't run.
He walked.
Calmly.
Almost peacefully.
When he reached the foyer, he removed his coat.
"Lorenzo."
My father's voice.
I raised my gun.
"You died."
He smiled.
"No."
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
"I needed you to become strong."
My hatred was so powerful it made my hands shake.
"Isabella knew."
"Yes."
"You killed her."
He didn't deny it.
"She was going to destroy everything."
"You poisoned my son."
"No."
He looked upstairs.
"I ordered it."
My finger tightened on the trigger.
He kept talking.
"Lucas was supposed to be temporary leverage."
"He's dying."
"He wasn't supposed to die."
I wanted to shoot him.
But he continued.
"The medication did more damage than the chemical."
I stared.
"The treatment was corrupted after Isabella died."
He looked at Dr. Hale.
Hale lowered his head.
"I didn't know all of it."
My father laughed.
"Nobody ever knows all of it."
He revealed the larger plan.
The poisoning had been part of a takeover scheme.
My father's objective wasn't simply revenge.
He wanted to rebuild the Duca empire and use me as the public face.
The illness would make me desperate.
My enemies would attack.
The company would collapse.
Then Richard Kane and Matteo would step in.
But Isabella interrupted the plan.
She discovered the chemical.
She contacted Dr. Green.
She created records.
She left instructions.
And before she died, she hid evidence with Evelyn.
My father thought he had erased everything.
He hadn't.
"Where is Matteo?"
I asked.
My father looked amused.
"Closer than you think."
A shot shattered the window.
My father dropped.
For one second, I thought he was dead.
Then blood spread across his shoulder.
Marco's men rushed outside.
Two attackers fled.
Sophie ran toward Lucas.
I turned to my father.
"Who shot you?"
He looked at me.
"Your uncle."
I realized what was happening.
My father and Matteo were fighting for control.
And Lucas was still in the middle.
I dragged my father into the library.
"Tell me where Matteo is."
He smiled.
"Why would I help you?"
"Because I can save your life."
"You would save me?"
"No."
I leaned closer.
"I would keep you alive long enough to watch Matteo destroy everything you built."
His smile vanished.
He gave me a location.
An abandoned pharmaceutical warehouse.
We moved at dawn.
But before we left, Lucas woke up.
"Dad."
I sat beside him.
"I'm here."
"Are we going home?"
I looked at him.
"Yes."
He smiled.
"Mommy said you'd say that."
I swallowed.
"What else did she say?"
Lucas looked at Sophie.
Sophie nodded.
"She said you have to forgive yourself."
I couldn't answer.
Because I didn't know how.
I had spent three years believing I had failed Isabella.
Maybe I had.
But I also realized something.
Saving Lucas wasn't only about revenge.
It was about learning how to live after losing her.
We arrived at the warehouse at sunrise.
It was empty.
Too empty.
A single television sat in the center of the building.
It turned on.
Matteo appeared on screen.
He was older than the photographs.
But his eyes were sharp.
"Hello, Lorenzo."
"You wanted me here."
"Of course."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to meet the man my brother created."
I stared.
"You and my father killed Isabella."
Matteo shook his head.
"No."
He leaned toward the camera.
"Your father ordered her death."
My jaw tightened.
"And you?"
"I helped."
Silence.
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"But there is another person you still haven't found."
"Who?"
He smiled.
"The woman who told us where Isabella hid everything."
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
May you like
Evelyn Bell.
My heart sank.
