Chapter 6 - My Wife Wasn't His Only Victim
Rachel's recovery was slow.
She could barely speak.
But she could write.
We gave her a tablet.
Her first message was simple.
ISABELLA TRUSTED MARCO.
I looked at Marco.
He closed his eyes.
Rachel continued.
VICTOR THREATENED MY FAMILY.
Then:
DR. HARRINGTON WAS WORKING FOR HIM.
I felt sick.
The doctor had stood beside Leo every day.
He had watched my son starve.
He had convinced me the problem was neurological.
Rachel wrote:
HE ALTERED THE TESTS.
That explained everything.
We confronted Harrington.
He denied everything.
Until Mercer placed the evidence on the table.
Bank transfers.
Encrypted messages.
Photographs.
The doctor's face collapsed.
He confessed.
Victor had paid him.
But he insisted he never intended to kill Leo.
"Then what was the goal?"
"Keep him weak."
"Why?"
"So Lorenzo would transfer the trust early."
I stared at him.
"That isn't how the trust works."
"It would if Leo were declared medically incapable of surviving without a guardian."
My blood went cold.
They wanted Leo legally classified as incapacitated.
Then Marco would control the trust.
Victor would control Marco.
It was an elaborate scheme.
But something still didn't fit.
"Why kill Isabella?"
Harrington lowered his head.
"She discovered the medical manipulation."
"She knew about Leo?"
"She knew someone was weakening the baby."
He confessed that Victor ordered the poisoning.
But Marco interrupted.
"Who killed her?"
Harrington hesitated.
"I don't know."
Rachel typed.
HE DOES.
Everyone looked at the doctor.
Rachel pointed at his chest.
Harrington began crying.
"He told me not to ask."
"Who?"
Harrington whispered, "Victor."
Mercer arrested him.
For the first time, the picture was clear.
Victor had built the network.
Harrington had altered medical records.
Several guards had assisted.
Marco had tried to resist and had become trapped.
Nina had infiltrated the household to protect Leo.
Rachel had survived long enough to expose the truth.
But Victor was still free.
That night, I sat alone in Isabella's old room.
I found a box beneath her bed.
Inside was a letter.
My name was on it.
I opened it.
Lorenzo,
If you are reading this, then I am gone.
I know you will want to destroy everyone.
Please don't.
Leo needs a father, not a king.
I cried.
Not a little.
Completely.
The last line said:
There is a place Victor never thought to search.
Our home.
Not the mansion.
Our first home.
The little house where we lived before money, power and blood changed everything.
I remembered.
Brooklyn.
A two-story brick house.
Isabella had loved it.
We had lived there for one year.
I drove there with Nina and Marco.
Inside the old kitchen, I found a loose floorboard.
Under it was a box.
Inside:
A birth certificate.
A second trust document.
And a letter from my father.
I read it.
He admitted creating the Rossi trust.
But Victor didn't control it.
My father had deliberately named Leo as the sole future controller.
Then he wrote something unexpected.
"Marco will protect him."
I looked at my brother.
He stared at the letter.
Our father had trusted him.
Not Victor.
Not me.
Marco.
Then another sentence.
"If Victor ever learns of the trust, he will try to use Lorenzo's fear against him."
I stared at the words.
My father had predicted exactly what happened.
I turned to Marco.
"You knew."
"I knew about the trust."
"Not the details?"
"No."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Father made me promise."
"Why?"
"Because he feared what you'd become if you knew."
I almost laughed.
"He was right."
Marco looked at me.
"Maybe."
We stood in silence.
Then Nina found another document.
A transfer agreement.
It had been signed six months before Isabella died.
By whom?
My wife.
She had secretly transferred her own inheritance into Leo's trust.
She had made the decision before she knew she was in danger.
That meant she had planned for Leo's future.
She had believed she might die.
The question was why.
The answer arrived the next morning.
Victor called.
"You finally found it."
I stared at the phone.
"You killed my wife."
"No."
He sounded almost amused.
"She died because she refused to understand the rules."
"What do you want?"
"The trust."
"You'll never have it."
"Oh, Lorenzo."
His voice became colder.
"You still think this is about money."
"What else?"
"Your son's life."
The call ended.
Seconds later, an alarm sounded.
Leo's medical monitor had stopped.
We ran.
A nurse screamed.
May you like
The bunker had been breached.
Leo was gone.
