Chapter 6 - The Secret Isabella Hid for Eight Years
Isabella finally told me everything.
We sat in the library while Lily slept upstairs.
Eight years earlier, after saving me, Isabella had discovered she was pregnant.
She had planned to tell me.
Then someone followed her.
A man approached her outside her apartment.
He knew about me.
He knew about Lily.
And he told her one thing.
“If Moretti ever learns the child exists, she dies.”
Isabella believed him.
She left New York.
She spent the first two years of Lily's life moving between apartments.
Then she came back.
Not because she felt safe.
Because she was tired.
“Tired of running.”
I understood.
She had raised Lily alone.
Worked jobs.
Saved money.
Protected a child who didn't even know why her father was absent.
“And then you applied to my foundation.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I saw your name.”
“And?”
“I wondered what kind of man you had become.”
She looked at me.
“I saw you from across a charity event.”
“You never approached.”
“I didn't know if you would remember me.”
“I did.”
She smiled sadly.
“I knew you would.”
“Then why become my maid?”
“Because I wanted to be close enough to know whether you were safe.”
“And?”
“You weren't.”
I almost laughed.
“Still honest.”
“Always.”
I took her hand.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“I could have protected you.”
“You couldn't protect me from what you didn't know.”
She was right.
But I still hated the years we had lost.
Upstairs, Lily called for us.
We entered her room.
She was holding a small box.
“I found this.”
I opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
My father.
Isabella.
And me.
Eight years ago.
I stared.
“How did you get this?”
“My father gave it to me,” Isabella said.
I looked at her.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My father worked for yours.”
I sat down.
“What?”
“Your father hired him to investigate Matteo.”
Everything aligned.
The family.
The ambush.
The pendant.
The witness.
The missing ledger.
The child.
Isabella's father had been a secret investigator.
He had discovered Matteo's plan.
He had died protecting the evidence.
And Isabella had inherited the secret.
That night, Samuel contacted me.
He wanted a meeting.
I went.
Alone.
He waited in an abandoned theater.
“Alessandro.”
“Where's Matteo?”
“Close.”
“Where's your loyalty?”
He smiled.
“Where the money is.”
I raised my gun.
He laughed.
“You won't shoot.”
“Why?”
“Because I know what your father hid.”
I stared.
“Tell me.”
“The ledger isn't the real secret.”
“What is?”
“The Moretti bloodline.”
He explained.
My father had created a legal trust that transferred control of his legitimate businesses to his firstborn child.
I had always assumed that was me.
But the trust had one condition.
If I had a biological daughter born before my marriage to Sofia, she would become the primary beneficiary.
Lily.
Matteo wanted Lily because controlling her would give him leverage over the entire Moretti fortune.
I stared at Samuel.
“How do you know this?”
“Because I wrote the trust.”
My anger was immediate.
“You betrayed my father.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I served the person who could guarantee my future.”
“Matteo.”
“Yes.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“He wants Lily alive.”
“For now.”
“For as long as it takes.”
I saw red.
“Where is he?”
“You'll find him.”
“How?”
Samuel handed me a key.
“The old Moretti chapel.”
Then he smiled.
“Bring your family.”
He left.
I returned to the mansion.
Isabella was waiting.
“You found something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
I told her.
She went pale.
“So Lily is the heir.”
“Yes.”
“I never wanted that.”
“I know.”
“I never wanted your money.”
“I know.”
“I wanted her safe.”
I knelt beside her.
“So did I.”
She touched my face.
“And now?”
I kissed her forehead.
“Now she gets both.”
“Both what?”
“A safe home.”
“And?”
“A father.”
She cried.
Then Lily appeared in the doorway.
“Daddy?”
I turned.
“Yes?”
She held out a drawing.
It showed three people.
Me.
Her.
Isabella.
Above them was a crooked yellow sun.
“At school they asked us to draw our family.”
I stared.
Our family.
A sentence I had not believed I would ever hear.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes.”
Lily smiled.
“Good.”
She ran back upstairs.
Isabella wiped her eyes.
“I don't know if I deserve this.”
I answered:
“You've deserved it for eight years.”
Then the mansion alarm sounded.
A message appeared on the security screen.
MATTEO HAS ISABELLA'S FATHER'S FILE.
And beneath it:
May you like
COME TO THE CHAPEL.
ALONE.
