Chapter 3 - My Fiancée Admitted Her Pregnancy Was Part of a Larger Scheme, and I Realized the Woman Who Saved Me Had Been Protecting My Family From the Same Enemy for Eight YearsI didn't sleep.
I spent the night reviewing every financial record Sofia had touched.
The results were disturbing.
Small transfers.
Consulting fees.
Charitable donations.
Property purchases.
Nothing obvious.
But when I traced the accounts backward, I found a pattern.
Nathan's network.
Sofia wasn't stealing.
She was being paid.
I met Isabella the next morning.
She brought Lily.
I asked:
“Where is Luca?”
She looked away.
“I don't know.”
“You said he was alive.”
“I said he was alive when Lily was born.”
That distinction crushed me.
I looked at Lily.
“Does she know?”
“She believes he's coming back.”
My heart hurt.
“Did he promise her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The last time he saw her.”
“How long ago?”
“Four years.”
Lily was two.
She remembered almost nothing.
But she remembered his voice.
His hands.
The wolf symbol.
Her father had left her clues.
One of those clues was a music box.
Isabella gave it to me.
Inside was a recording.
Luca's voice.
“Little wolf, if you're hearing this, you've grown.”
I couldn't breathe.
He spoke directly to Lily.
Then:
“Your uncle Sebastian will protect you.”
I closed my eyes.
He knew.
He had always known.
The recording continued.
“Don't trust anyone who tells you I abandoned you.”
Then one final sentence.
“If Sofia becomes part of his life, ask him to look beneath the nursery floor.”
I opened my eyes.
I had built the nursery.
I had never known.
We drove there.
I brought Isabella and Lily through a private entrance.
The room was untouched.
The crib.
The toys.
The boxes.
I lifted the rug.
Nothing.
Then Lily pointed toward the floor.
“Daddy said three knocks.”
I tapped.
Three.
Nothing.
Again.
Three.
A panel clicked.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Luca's handwriting.
I opened it.
Inside:
Bank keys.
A hard drive.
Photographs.
A passport.
And one letter.
Sebastian,
If you found this, I'm either dead or very close to it.
I stopped breathing.
The letter explained everything.
Luca had discovered Nathan's network.
But Nathan wasn't acting alone.
He had an ally inside the Moretti family.
Someone who had access to my financial records.
Someone who knew every movement.
Someone who had been near me since childhood.
Luca named the person.
I stared.
“No.”
Isabella looked at me.
“Who?”
I showed her.
Her face went pale.
“Marco.”
The same name.
My legal adviser.
My trusted man.
The man I'd been preparing to promote.
The man who had helped arrange my wedding.
The man who knew about Sofia.
The man who knew where the nursery was.
The man who had access to every trust document.
It all made sense.
He wasn't simply assisting Nathan.
He was the architect.
I looked at Lily.
“Why would he want her?”
“Because of the trust.”
“What happens if she dies?”
“The inheritance passes to whoever controls the legal guardianship.”
I understood.
Marco wanted me married to Sofia.
He wanted me dead.
Then Sofia would become guardian.
Then the assets could be controlled.
And Lily would disappear.
The baby story had been a distraction.
The wedding was the real trap.
I sat on the nursery floor.
For the first time, I felt something worse than anger.
Shame.
I had nearly married the woman helping destroy my family.
Isabella sat beside me.
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
“You were manipulated.”
“I'm supposed to be better than that.”
“You're human.”
I looked at her.
“You saved my life.”
She smiled.
“And now I'm trying to do it again.”
Our eyes met.
Something changed.
It wasn't romance.
Not yet.
It was recognition.
Two people who had both spent years protecting the same secret.
Lily suddenly tugged on my sleeve.
“Uncle Sebastian.”
“Yes?”
“Are we a family?”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
Then the mansion security alarm sounded.
Someone had entered through the east gate.
May you like
Marco.
And he wasn't alone.
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