Chapter 6 - The Dead Man Who Had Been Behind My Empire
I stared at Adrian.
“My father died eighteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“He died in front of me.”
“I know.”
“He couldn't have done this.”
Adrian shook his head.
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
My mind rejected every word.
My father, Daniel DeLuca, had died when I was nineteen.
A heart attack.
That was the official story.
I remembered the funeral.
The closed coffin.
The doctors.
The family.
The grief.
I had become head of the organization one month later.
Adrian had left shortly after.
I had always thought he was afraid of the life.
Now he told me the truth.
“Our father wasn't dead.”
I looked at my mother.
She was crying.
I understood immediately.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“He came back.”
“When?”
“Two years after the funeral.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted control.”
I felt sick.
“Where is he?”
Adrian answered.
“Underground.”
“What does that mean?”
“Everything.”
We returned to the mansion.
The city was still under curfew.
No one knew Adrian was alive.
That was good.
We couldn't tell anyone.
Because if my father had survived, he had been watching me for eighteen years.
We gathered in the library.
Claire.
Elena.
Vittorio.
Adrian.
Enzo.
My mother.
I stood at the center.
“Start from the beginning.”
Adrian looked at my mother.
She closed her eyes.
“Your father built the organization.”
“I know.”
“He believed fear was the only way to keep the family safe.”
“He wasn't wrong.”
She shook her head.
“He became obsessed.”
“Obsessed with what?”
“Control.”
Adrian took over.
“When Dad realized you and I didn't want the same life, he decided to build a system that would force us to depend on him.”
“How?”
“Debt.”
He placed documents on the table.
“Every family in the city owed him.”
“How?”
“Through shell companies.”
I looked at Claire.
She nodded.
“The sixteen million wasn't theft.”
“What was it?”
“Payments.”
“From whom?”
“Families that thought they were paying for protection.”
Vittorio looked sick.
Adrian continued.
“Silas worked for him.”
“And you?”
“I discovered it.”
My mother cried quietly.
“I told Adrian to leave.”
“And you?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought I could stop him.”
I looked at her.
“You let me become him.”
She shook her head.
“I hoped you would become better.”
Silence.
I looked at Vittorio.
“You knew my father was alive.”
He nodded.
“How long?”
“Six years.”
I nearly laughed.
“Everyone knew.”
“No,” Vittorio said. “Not everyone.”
“Who else?”
“Only those directly involved.”
“You.”
“My mother.”
“Adrian.”
“Claire.”
He shook his head.
“Claire learned later.”
I looked at Claire.
“Why did you help?”
“Because your brother asked me.”
She glanced at Elena.
“And because I had a daughter.”
Elena moved closer.
I knelt beside her.
“You've been very brave.”
She nodded.
“Are you going to send Bruno away?”
“No.”
“But I gave him to you.”
I smiled.
“I think we should share him.”
She smiled for the first time.
“Really?”
“Really.”
The emotional moment lasted about five seconds.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
My father's voice came through.
“Hello, Matteo.”
I couldn't speak.
Adrian closed his eyes.
“You finally found me,” my father said.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“This is my home.”
He laughed.
“No.”
I looked around the library.
“Send me the address.”
“You already know it.”
The call ended.
Adrian whispered.
“The old estate.”
Our childhood home.
The property had been abandoned after my father's death.
We arrived forty minutes later.
The gates opened automatically.
The house lights came on one by one.
A speaker crackled.
My father's voice filled the driveway.
“You always were curious.”
I stepped inside.
The house was exactly as I remembered.
Photographs.
Furniture.
The piano.
My mother's old painting.
Then a man stepped from the hallway.
Older.
Gray hair.
Walking cane.
But unmistakably my father.
Daniel DeLuca.
Alive.
He smiled.
“Welcome home.”
I raised my gun.
Adrian grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
My father laughed.
“You see?”
He looked at Adrian.
“Still protecting him.”
He turned to me.
“You could have had everything.”
“You stole six years.”
“I gave you six years to become strong.”
“You destroyed my family.”
“I built it.”
“You manipulated wars.”
“I prevented worse ones.”
“By kidnapping women?”
“By controlling information.”
“You used Elena.”
He looked at the child.
For the first time, his expression softened.
“No.”
I moved in front of her.
“You will never look at her again.”
He smiled.
“She is the reason you came.”
He tapped his cane.
A screen descended from the ceiling.
Footage appeared.
My entire life.
My meetings.
My relationships.
My business.
Every mistake.
Every betrayal.
Every enemy.
He had been watching.
Then the screen showed something that made my blood run cold.
Vittorio.
Meeting with my father.
Six years earlier.
My father said:
“Keep Matteo alive.”
Vittorio answered:
“I will.”
Then the footage ended.
I turned toward Vittorio.
He didn't defend himself.
“You worked for him.”
“Yes.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I did.”
My father smiled.
“But not for the reason you think.”
Vittorio removed a hidden drive from his coat.
“I was his inside man.”
I stared.
“And I spent six years destroying his system from within.”
He placed the drive in my hand.
“The files to bring him down are here.”
My father didn't move.
“You foolish man.”
Vittorio looked at me.
“I couldn't save Adrian.”
“But I can still save you.”
My father raised his gun.
Everything happened at once.
Vittorio fired.
The weapon flew from my father's hand.
Enzo tackled him.
I grabbed Elena.
Claire pulled my mother behind a pillar.
Adrian ran toward the control room.
The house erupted in chaos.
Then my father shouted:
“You think this ends with me?”
He smiled through the struggle.
“There are ten men outside who will take Elena the moment you leave.”
I looked toward the windows.
Headlights appeared beyond the gates.
Ten vehicles.
My father wasn't alone.
Adrian came running back.
“We need to go now.”
I looked at my father.
For eighteen years, I thought fear made me powerful.
Now I understood something.
Fear had made me predictable.
And predictable men were easy to control.
I looked at Elena.
Then at Claire.
Then at Adrian.
Then Vittorio.
“Not tonight.”
May you like
I raised my weapon.
“Tonight, we end the system.”
