Chapter 2 - My Aunt Told Me the Woman I Trusted Most Had Been Hiding Her for Years, but the Evidence Suggested Lorenzo Had Ordered the Original MurderI brought them back to the estate.
Not through the front entrance.
No one knew Claire was alive.
Not yet.
Beatrice followed with Nora.
Claire stayed in a private guest suite under heavy security.
The moment the doors closed, she looked at me.
“You shouldn't have brought us here.”
“You were living in an abandoned warehouse.”
“We survived.”
“That isn't living.”
She looked away.
I hated how quickly anger returned.
“You allowed me to bury you.”
“You didn't bury me.”
“I stood beside a coffin.”
“It was empty.”
I stared.
“What?”
Claire nodded.
“Your father knew I had been targeted.”
“By whom?”
“Lorenzo.”
The name felt wrong in the room.
I had known Lorenzo since childhood.
He had taught me to shoot.
He had protected me when my father died.
He had been the man who stood beside me when I took control of the organization.
He had taken bullets for me.
Or so I had believed.
Claire opened another envelope.
Inside were bank transfers.
Payments from shell companies.
Private security invoices.
Medical records.
Names.
Dates.
Lorenzo's signature appeared repeatedly.
My hands tightened.
“This could be forged.”
“Yes.”
“So why should I believe you?”
“Because I know something only you and I know.”
She leaned closer.
“When you were nine, you broke your father's antique watch.”
I stared.
“How…”
“You hid the pieces inside the library fireplace.”
No one knew that.
Not even my father.
I had forgotten the detail.
Claire hadn't.
“You were crying,” she continued.
“You told me you were afraid he would hate you.”
“What did you say?”
She smiled sadly.
“I told you broken things can sometimes be repaired.”
I looked down.
The memory returned.
A rainy afternoon.
Claire sitting beside me.
My father's watch in pieces between us.
I hadn't thought about it in years.
“You're really her.”
She nodded.
I sat down.
For the first time in twelve years, I allowed myself to believe it.
Claire survived.
But she had been hiding.
Why?
She told me everything.
She discovered my father had created a secret financial network.
Not for profit.
For control.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officials.
Competitors.
Anyone who could influence the Moretti organization had been compromised.
Claire discovered it.
She planned to expose him.
Lorenzo found out.
He attempted to kill her.
Claire escaped.
My father staged her death.
Then secretly protected her.
But after his death, Lorenzo became too powerful.
Claire went underground.
Beatrice found her six months earlier.
She had been working at a community shelter when she discovered Claire collapsed outside.
Since then, she had secretly brought her food.
Medicine.
Clothes.
Never money.
Never anything that could be traced.
“What about Nora?”
Claire looked toward the sleeping girl.
“She is my granddaughter.”
I stared.
“Her father?”
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Twelve years ago.”
My blood froze.
The timing.
“Who?”
Claire hesitated.
“My son.”
I stared.
“You had a son?”
“Yes.”
“He was never in the family records.”
“Because Lorenzo made sure he disappeared.”
I couldn't speak.
The Moretti family had been hiding more than one secret.
Nora was the granddaughter of a woman officially dead.
She was descended from the Moretti bloodline.
Which meant she might have a claim to the family trust.
And if Lorenzo knew...
I understood why he would kill to keep Claire hidden.
Then I remembered Nora's eyes.
She didn't just look like Claire.
She looked like someone else.
Someone I knew.
“Who was Nora's father?”
Claire's expression changed.
“Your brother.”
I stared.
“I don't have a brother.”
“You do.”
My heart stopped.
“His name was Michael.”
I remembered the old family portraits.
A boy beside me.
A name removed from every document.
Michael.
My father's firstborn son.
The child I had been told died in infancy.
He hadn't.
He had grown up.
He had secretly married.
And had a daughter.
Nora.
The entire family history was a lie.
The door opened.
Beatrice entered.
She looked at me.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Yes?”
“There's something you need to see.”
She held out a phone.
A security recording.
Lorenzo.
In my mansion.
Speaking to someone.
His voice was clear.
“Find Beatrice.”
A pause.
“Find the woman she's feeding.”
Another pause.
“Bring me the child.”
My blood turned cold.
He already knew.
He knew Claire was alive.
He knew about Nora.
And he knew about Beatrice.
Then Lorenzo's voice came through the recording again.
“If Adrian discovers the truth before I control the trust, kill them all.”
The video ended.
I looked at Beatrice.
Then Claire.
Then Nora.
I understood something.
The dinner theft was never the beginning.
It was the moment the lie finally became visible.
May you like
Lorenzo had been hunting my family for years.
And now he knew I was watching.
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