Chapter 6 - The Blood on the Family Crest
They escaped through the river tunnel again, but this time the enemy followed.
Damon drove harder than Leo had ever seen him drive.
Victor sat in the passenger seat.
Clara was in the back.
Nobody trusted anyone.
But all three knew the same thing.
Someone wanted the entire family dead.
At an abandoned garage, Victor finally spoke.
“The Morettis aren't running this.”
Leo looked at him.
“Who is?”
Victor placed a phone on the hood.
A recording played.
Arthur's voice.
“We need the ledger before Leo finds out.”
Another voice answered.
Female.
Calm.
“I'll handle my son.”
Leo froze.
He knew that voice.
His mother's.
He stared at Victor.
“That recording is impossible.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
The recording was real.
But not recent.
It had been made fifteen years earlier.
Leo listened.
The voices discussed the ledger.
The trust.
Mara.
And a plan to protect all three children.
Then came the final sentence.
“If Leo ever learns the truth, he will destroy everything trying to save us.”
The recording ended.
Leo sat on the hood.
“My mother knew this.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I found out five years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Victor looked away.
“Because I was afraid.”
Leo laughed bitterly.
“You?”
“I grew up surrounded by men who taught me fear was weakness.”
Victor swallowed.
“They were wrong.”
Clara stood nearby.
She finally spoke.
“The real enemy wants you to believe the family is divided.”
Leo looked at her.
“Who benefits?”
She held up a document.
A list of shell corporations.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Rossi Holdings.
But beneath it was a second controlling entity.
Bennett Security Trust.
Leo frowned.
“That's your father's.”
“No.”
Clara shook her head.
“That's what everyone thinks.”
She pointed to the final page.
The beneficial owner was listed as Eleanor Kane.
Leo's blood froze.
Arthur's mother.
Leo looked at Victor.
“You're telling me Arthur has been connected to this from the beginning?”
Victor nodded.
“His mother worked for my father.”
“And she created the trust?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To steal it.”
Everything became clear.
Arthur's family had been close to the Rossi empire for decades.
They had helped maintain security.
They had access to documents.
They had watched.
Waited.
Then they began manipulating the family from within.
Samuel Bennett discovered them.
Vincenzo found out.
Elena created a hidden trust.
Arthur's mother stole part of it.
The Morettis became involved.
Marco died because he got too close.
Mara was hidden.
Victor was raised by the enemy.
And Leo inherited an empire built on lies.
But Arthur had one thing they didn't.
The original ledger.
“Where is it?” Leo asked.
Victor answered.
“Arthur's keeping it.”
“Then we take it.”
Damon frowned.
“Boss, that's a war.”
Leo looked at him.
“It already is.”
They returned to the city.
Arthur had taken over Rossi headquarters.
Half the guards were on his side.
The other half were waiting to see who won.
Leo entered through the front door.
Arthur stood in the lobby.
“Boss.”
Leo walked forward.
“You stole from me.”
Arthur smiled.
“Your entire life is stolen.”
Leo stopped.
Arthur held up a file.
“Your father stole from me.”
“He did.”
“Your mother destroyed my family.”
“She tried to save yours.”
“She chose the Rossis.”
“No.”
Leo's voice sharpened.
“She chose her children.”
Arthur's expression twisted.
“You were never supposed to find Mara.”
Clara stepped into the lobby.
Arthur's eyes widened.
“So you're alive.”
Clara nodded.
“You should have burned the body.”
“You were seven.”
“I remember your face.”
Arthur went pale.
Clara stared at him.
“I remember you starting the fire.”
Leo turned to Arthur.
“You killed Samuel.”
Arthur laughed.
“No.”
He pointed at Clara.
“Her father killed himself.”
Clara flinched.
Arthur continued.
“He knew the government was closing in.”
Leo raised his weapon.
“Enough.”
Arthur smiled.
“You want to know where Marco died?”
Leo went still.
Arthur whispered.
“Your brother wasn't killed by the Morettis.”
“Then who?”
“Your mother.”
Leo's heart stopped.
Arthur pulled a final photograph from his coat.
Marco lying beside a crashed car.
Elena Rossi standing nearby.
Leo stared.
The photograph was grainy.
But it was enough.
His mother.
At the scene.
Leo's hands shook.
Arthur smiled.
“She pushed the car.”
Leo looked at Clara.
Clara shook her head.
“It's fake.”
Arthur laughed.
“You don't know that.”
Leo stared at the photograph.
He remembered his mother's grief.
The funeral.
The silence.
If she had killed Marco, why had she cried?
Why had she spent years visiting his grave?
Why had she hidden Mara?
Leo lowered his weapon.
“Where's the ledger?”
Arthur's smile faded.
“You won't survive long enough to read it.”
A gunshot came from the upper floor.
Arthur's chest jerked.
He dropped.
Everyone turned.
A sniper.
Chaos exploded.
Guards ran.
Damon shouted.
“Move!”
Leo grabbed Clara.
Victor fired upward.
They escaped through a service corridor.
Behind them, Arthur was bleeding.
But alive.
In the confusion, someone took him.
Leo realized it too late.
May you like
Arthur disappeared.
And with him went the final key to the past.
