Chapter 4 - The Night My Brother Confessed What He Had Done

We found Leo in the panic room.

One of the guards had moved him there after the crib alarm was triggered.

He was safe.

But the envelope changed everything.

I no longer looked at Nina as a suspect.

I looked at her as a witness.

We spent the night going through Isabella's hidden files.

At three in the morning, we found a recording.

My wife was sitting at the same desk where she had signed our marriage papers.

"Lorenzo," she said.

Her eyes were swollen.

"I don't know how much time I have."

She explained that she had discovered the Rossi family trust after noticing unexplained withdrawals.

She confronted Marco.

He denied everything.

Then she confronted my father before his death.

That conversation had never been recorded.

But Isabella had found a ledger.

The ledger identified the real controller of the trust.

Not Marco.

Not my father.

A man named Victor Vale.

A former business partner of my father.

Victor had disappeared after my father's death.

My wife believed he had been running the network from overseas.

She also believed Victor was behind the crash.

Then came the part that broke me.

"Marco is not the mastermind."

I replayed it.

Again.

And again.

Isabella knew Marco was involved.

But she believed he was being blackmailed.

That made the photograph of Rachel even more confusing.

We traveled to a private clinic outside the city.

I took twenty armed men.

Nina came with me.

The room was guarded by two men.

They tried to stop us.

They failed.

Rachel was there.

Alive.

Unconscious.

A breathing tube ran beneath her nose.

Nina fell to her knees.

"Rachel."

No response.

I checked the file.

Car accident.

Severe brain trauma.

Unidentified sedatives.

The same compound found in Leo's feeding bottle.

My hands curled into fists.

Someone had been using the same drug on both victims.

Dr. Harrington examined the old test results.

"There is something strange."

"What?"

"The drug was administered repeatedly before the crash."

I stared at him.

"They were drugging her."

"Yes."

Nina looked at me.

"They wanted her quiet."

I looked at Rachel.

"Why keep her alive?"

The answer came from the doctor.

"She knows something."

That afternoon, I confronted Marco.

He was waiting in the family estate.

I walked into his study alone.

He didn't reach for a weapon.

"You found Rachel."

"Yes."

He nodded.

"I knew you would."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I couldn't."

"Who threatened you?"

He looked out the window.

"Victor Vale."

My stomach tightened.

"Tell me everything."

Marco admitted he had discovered Victor's network years ago.

Our father had borrowed money from Victor.

Then Victor created a debt that could never be repaid.

When our father died, the debt became Marco's.

Victor demanded access to the trust.

Marco refused.

So Victor threatened the family.

First, he targeted businesses.

Then politicians.

Then Isabella.

Marco tried to protect her secretly.

But he made a terrible mistake.

He agreed to work with Victor.

Not because he wanted to control the trust.

Because he wanted to buy time.

"You poisoned Leo."

Marco shook his head.

"I contaminated one bottle."

I pulled out my gun.

"You admit it?"

"I had no choice."

"You could have told me."

"If I told you, Victor would have killed Isabella."

My voice dropped.

"Isabella died anyway."

Marco closed his eyes.

"I know."

"What happened?"

"We planned to fake her death."

I stared.

"What?"

"The crash was supposed to be staged."

My heart stopped.

"Then how did she die?"

Marco looked at me.

"Victor changed the plan."

Silence.

"Isabella was transported alive."

I couldn't breathe.

"She died later."

"Where?"

Marco hesitated.

"In the old Rossi warehouse."

I grabbed his collar.

"Why?"

"Because she refused to sign the trust."

My hands shook.

"What happened after?"

Marco whispered, "Victor killed her."

I almost shot him.

Instead, I punched him.

He hit the floor.

"You watched?"

"I arrived too late."

"You're lying."

"I've hated myself every day since."

I stepped back.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Victor had people inside your security team."

Marco showed me a list.

Six names.

Every one of them currently employed by me.

I looked at him.

"You should have told me."

"I know."

"Why now?"

"Because Leo is the last leverage Victor has."

I lowered the gun.

"Then we end this."

Marco nodded.

"There is one more thing."

"What?"

"Victor is coming tonight."

I frowned.

"How do you know?"

"Because he called me."

He handed me a phone.

The message contained one address.

The old warehouse.

The place where Isabella had supposedly died.

At the bottom was one sentence.

Bring the boy.

I felt my blood turn to ice.

I returned to the mansion.

Nina was holding Leo.

I told her what Marco had confessed.

She listened silently.

Then she said, "Your wife knew this would happen."

"How?"

Nina showed me the final page from Isabella's journal.

"If Lorenzo ever learns the truth, Victor will come for Leo. He will assume my husband chooses revenge over survival. He will be wrong."

I frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Nina read the next line.

"Lorenzo's greatest weakness is that he believes power means control."

She looked at me.

"She knew you would try to destroy everyone."

I looked at my son.

My wife knew me better than anyone.

She knew I would start a war.

But she wanted something else.

The final page contained a name.

A federal prosecutor.

Daniel Mercer.

A man I had never met.

Under his name was a date.

Tomorrow.

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And a note.

"Tell him everything."