Chapter 6 - My Aunt Admitted She Had Known the Truth All Along
My aunt stepped into the room.
She had disappeared when I was eighteen.
I had been told she moved overseas.
I believed it.
Now she stood beside Anthony.
Luca's gun was aimed directly at them.
"Drop it."
Anthony laughed.
"Not tonight."
My aunt looked at me.
"Sophia."
I couldn't speak.
"Why?"
She lowered her eyes.
"Because your father asked me to protect you."
"You protected me by disappearing?"
"He knew people were watching."
"Then why work with them?"
"I didn't."
Anthony interrupted.
"She did what she had to do."
My aunt shook her head.
"No."
She looked at me.
"I was undercover."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"Explain."
She told us everything.
After James Bennett died, my aunt discovered that Bellini had infiltrated the entire Moretti organization.
She tried to expose them.
They threatened my life.
So she disappeared.
She secretly collected evidence.
Anthony wasn't working for Bellini.
He had been working with her.
The apparent payment records were a cover.
The camera loop had been intentional.
They had been trying to get inside the archive before Bellini did.
I looked at Luca.
"Then why did Anthony attack us?"
"To make Bellini believe the archive had been compromised."
It was a double deception.
And it had almost worked.
My aunt handed me a small flash drive.
"This is everything."
"What is it?"
"Proof of who ordered your father's murder."
I plugged it into Luca's laptop.
A video appeared.
Bellini.
Luca's mother.
And someone else.
Rinaldi.
They were meeting years before.
The recording showed them discussing James Bennett.
My father's death had been ordered because he discovered their plan to replace Luca.
But then the conversation changed.
Bellini said:
"What about the girl?"
Luca's mother answered:
"Leave her alive."
"Why?"
"Because one day she'll know enough to lead Luca where we want him."
I stared at the screen.
They had planned to use me.
But they didn't know what my father had really left.
A second recording appeared.
James Bennett speaking directly into a camera.
"If Sophia ever reaches Luca, she must choose whether to trust him."
My eyes filled with tears.
He had known.
He had planned everything.
Not the romance.
Not the danger.
Only the chance for us to expose the truth together.
The recording ended.
I looked at Luca.
He was staring at me.
"What?"
He shook his head.
"Your father trusted me more than I knew."
I reached for his hand.
"So did mine."
Then the security chief entered.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Bellini has escaped custody."
Luca's expression hardened.
"How?"
"Someone attacked the transport vehicle."
My aunt's face changed.
"Rinaldi."
"No," Luca said.
"Then who?"
A new message arrived.
From Bellini.
You found the truth.
Now come find me.
Beneath it was an address.
The old Moretti estate.
May you like
Luca looked at me.
"This ends tonight."
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