Chapter 3 - The Man I Buried With My Father Was Alive—And He Told Me Sophia Had Been Running From Someone Inside My Own FamilyMatteo chose an abandoned church outside Brooklyn.
I arrived with Enzo and six guards.
Matteo stood beneath the broken stained-glass windows.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Scar across one cheek.
But alive.
“You look just like your father,” he said.
“I've heard that before.”
“He'd be proud.”
“You lied about being dead.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Matteo didn't react.
“Sophia was protecting Lily.”
“I know.”
“Then you know why she left.”
“She was threatened.”
“Yes.”
“By who?”
He looked toward Enzo.
Then at me.
“Your family.”
“Which one?”
“Your mother.”
My jaw tightened.
“My mother paid her.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because Sophia came to her.”
“For help?”
“Yes.”
“What did she know?”
Matteo took a breath.
“Your father didn't die in an accident.”
I knew that already.
But hearing it from him made it real.
“He was killed.”
“By whom?”
“Your mother knew.”
I stared.
“Don't say that unless you can prove it.”
Matteo handed me a folder.
Inside were photographs.
My father meeting businessmen.
My mother meeting lawyers.
Sophia pregnant.
Me younger.
Then one photograph made my blood run cold.
My father had a black notebook.
The same notebook mentioned in Sophia's letter.
“What is that?”
“Your father called it the ledger.”
“What was in it?”
“Everything.”
Money.
Names.
Payments.
Criminal connections.
Politicians.
Shipping companies.
The entire structure of the Moretti organization.
My father had planned to leave.
He wanted to give everything to me.
But he needed the ledger first.
My mother tried to stop him.
“Did she kill him?”
Matteo hesitated.
“Not directly.”
“Then who?”
“Vincent.”
I froze.
“Vincent Moretti?”
My father's former cousin.
He had served as my mother's adviser.
He had disappeared after my father's death.
I thought he was dead.
Apparently not.
Matteo continued.
“Your mother arranged the cover-up.”
I sat back.
“Why would she?”
“She believed the ledger would destroy the family.”
“Maybe it should have.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“But she also believed she could control it.”
“What about Sophia?”
“She discovered the ledger.”
“How?”
“She was helping your father.”
I stared.
Sophia had been involved from the beginning.
She hadn't simply been my girlfriend.
She had known about my father's plans.
She knew my family secrets.
And she had gotten pregnant.
Suddenly, I understood why my mother had panicked.
A child connected to the ledger could become leverage.
Matteo continued.
“Sophia was threatened.”
“By Vincent?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did my mother pay her?”
“Because your mother was afraid Vincent would kill Lily.”
“What did she promise?”
“Money.”
“Protection.”
“And one condition.”
“What?”
“You had to believe Sophia abandoned you.”
I closed my eyes.
She had sacrificed herself.
Not because she stopped loving me.
Because she believed the only way to protect our daughter was to make me hate her.
That realization hurt.
Four years of anger.
Four years of thinking she chose another life.
Four years wasted.
I looked at Matteo.
“Where is Sophia now?”
“New Hampshire.”
“I know.”
“She knows you're looking.”
“How?”
“Because she expected you eventually.”
I stood.
“I want to see her.”
“You can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent knows you're here.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
Matteo looked at Enzo.
“He has men everywhere.”
Enzo's hand moved toward his weapon.
A gunshot cracked outside.
Everyone ducked.
Glass shattered.
My men returned fire.
Matteo pulled me behind a stone pillar.
The shooting lasted less than thirty seconds.
Then silence.
One of my guards ran inside.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Matteo's driver is dead.”
“How many attackers?”
“Three.”
“Any captured?”
“One.”
We dragged the surviving attacker inside.
I looked at him.
“Who sent you?”
He smiled.
“You're already too late.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Where is Sophia?”
He laughed.
“She isn't the target.”
“Then who?”
“You are.”
He bit down.
I heard the crack.
Poison capsule.
He was dead before he finished falling.
Matteo stared.
“You see?”
“See what?”
“They don't want Sophia.”
“Then what do they want?”
He looked at me.
“Lily.”
I froze.
My daughter.
The ledger.
The inheritance.
Everything led back to her.
“Why?”
“She is named as beneficiary.”
“Of what?”
“The old Moretti trust.”
I had never heard of it.
Matteo explained.
My father had created a trust years ago.
If he died before I reached twenty-five, the assets would remain protected.
But there was an unusual clause.
If I ever had a daughter—
the trust would transfer control to her at eighteen.
Lily was not just my child.
She was the legal heir to hundreds of millions.
That made her a target.
I looked at Matteo.
“Who else knows?”
“My mother.”
He sighed.
“And Vincent.”
“Anyone else?”
“Isabella.”
My stomach dropped.
I returned to the estate.
Isabella was gone.
Her bedroom was empty.
Her phone was still there.
Her passport too.
She had left voluntarily.
I found a note.
I didn't know how to tell you.
Underneath:
I was trying to stop them.
I turned to Enzo.
“Find her.”
He nodded.
Hours later, we located her.
She was at an old family property.
She surrendered.
“I never meant to hurt you,” she said.
“Then tell me everything.”
She started crying.
“I was working with your mother.”
“For how long?”
“Two years.”
“Why?”
“She promised to protect my family.”
“And Sophia?”
“I didn't know she was alive.”
“Then why did she tell me not to marry you?”
Isabella's face collapsed.
“Because she knew what I had done.”
“What?”
“I helped your mother forge the documents that made it look like Sophia left you.”
I felt betrayed.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me grieve.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Because it's true.”
I stared.
“Who threatened you?”
“Vincent.”
“What does he want?”
“The ledger.”
“Where is it?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I grabbed the table.
“Then what do you know?”
She whispered:
“He isn't alone.”
“Who is with him?”
“My father.”
I froze.
“Your father?”
She nodded.
The man who had supposedly died twenty years ago.
Another dead man.
Another lie.
Another ghost.
The conspiracy was bigger than I had imagined.
Then my phone rang.
Sophia.
I answered.
She said one word.
“Dominic.”
My entire body froze.
“Where are you?”
“Come alone.”
“Why?”
“Because if you bring anyone else, they kill Lily.”
I looked toward my daughter.
She was asleep upstairs.
I closed my eyes.
“Where?”
Sophia gave me an address.
Then the line went dead.
For the first time in four years, I heard her voice.
May you like
And all I could think was:
I'm coming.
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