Chapter 10: The Father Who Stole Every Child
Victor Moretti entered the archive carrying no weapon.
He didn't need one.
Six armed men followed him through the steel doorway, their shoes striking the concrete floor in perfect rhythm. Behind them came two men carrying a stretcher, and I realized with a sickening jolt that Victor hadn't come to negotiate.
He had come to collect what he considered his property.
His eyes moved from Elena to Luca, then settled on me.
“Look at you,” he said.
“Twenty-eight years, and you still have your mother's eyes.””
Elena raised her pistol.
“Take another step, Victor, and I'll kill you.””
He glanced at the weapon.
“Put that down, Elena. You haven't killed anyone in twenty-eight years, and I doubt you're going to start now.””
“You don't know what I'm capable of.””
“I know exactly what you're capable of. That's why I chose you.””
His words struck her harder than a slap.
I moved closer to Luca, pressing my hand against the wound in his chest.
“Call an ambulance,” I whispered to Adrian.
He shook his head.
“The building's security system is blocking outside communications.””
“Then get him out.””
“I can't carry him and keep the upload running.””
The terminal continued counting down.
02:31.
Victor glanced at the screen.
“You opened the archive.””
I stood.
“Yes.””
“Excellent.””
He smiled as if I had just completed an assignment he had given me.
“Now shut it down.””
“No.””
His smile disappeared.
“Anna, I don't think you understand the position you're in.””
“I understand that you stole children, falsified their records, and burned a hospital to hide the evidence.””
“Those are ugly words for complicated decisions.””
“Tell that to the families.””
He looked almost disappointed.
“Your mother has filled your head with moral outrage. It was always her weakness.””
Elena took a step forward.
“Don't speak about my daughter.””
Victor turned toward her.
“Your daughter? Which one?””
Elena froze.
He smiled.
“Did Isabella tell you everything?””
I looked at Isabella.
She stood near the terminal with her gun hanging at her side. Her face had lost its earlier confidence.
Victor continued.
“You know about Anna and Luca. You know about the twins. But do you know why I separated them?””
“Because you wanted control,” I said.
“Partly.””
He removed his watch and placed it on the terminal.
“I wanted to know whether children inherit their nature or acquire it from the people who raise them. Anna was given to a kind woman. Luca was placed in a home where violence was ordinary. Michael was raised by me.””
His eyes settled on me.
“Three children. Three environments. Three different outcomes.””
I felt sick.
“You experimented on us.””
“I studied you.””
“You stole our lives.””
“I gave you lives worth living.””
Luca stirred behind me.
“Go to hell,” he whispered.
Victor looked at him.
“Ah. My son.””
Luca tried to sit up, but pain forced him back down.
“I'm not your son.””
“Biologically, you are.””
“Then biology can go to hell, too.””
For a moment, Victor said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“Your mother always did prefer the boy who fought back.””
He looked at Elena.
“Did you ever tell them about the fourth child?””
The room went silent.
Elena's gun lowered a fraction.
“What did you say?””
Victor reached into his jacket and removed a thin folder.
“Four babies were delivered at Saint Agnes that night. Not two. Four.””
He opened the folder.
Inside were photographs of newborns, each bearing a small numbered tag.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
My hands began to tremble.
“Who were the other two?””
“One was Isabella's child,” Victor said.
“The other belonged to a woman who died before she could name him.””
Isabella shook her head.
“No.””
Victor turned toward her.
“Did you really believe I would let you raise a child who might one day challenge me?””
“You told me he died.””
“I told you what you needed to hear.””
She stared at him with something close to horror.
“You said the fire—”
“The fire was useful. It erased records, destroyed evidence, and gave me twenty-eight years to rebuild the organization without anyone questioning my decisions.””
He tapped the folder.
“But it did not destroy every child.””
The terminal chimed.
01:54.
Victor's gaze returned to the screen.
“Shut it down, Anna.””
I stepped between him and the computer.
“No.””
He sighed.
“I was hoping you would be sensible.””
He nodded to his men.
Two guards seized my arms.
Elena fired, striking one man's shoulder. The room erupted into chaos. Adrian tackled another guard, while Isabella ducked behind the terminal.
Victor grabbed my wrist and twisted until the pain forced me to my knees.
“Listen carefully,” he whispered.
“I have spent twenty-eight years protecting you from people who would have used you as a weapon. You owe me your life.””
I spat in his face.
His expression changed.
He struck me across the mouth.
Blood filled my mouth.
“Your mother taught you that defiance was courage,” he said.
“She was wrong.””
He dragged me toward the terminal.
“Courage is knowing when to surrender.””
I looked at the countdown.
01:12.
Then I looked at the silver pendant around my neck.
Victor followed my gaze.
For the first time, genuine alarm crossed his face.
“Give me that.””
I pulled the pendant free.
He reached for it.
I threw it against the terminal.
The casing cracked.
The screen flickered.
Victor shouted.
“No!””
A hidden compartment opened beneath the terminal, revealing a narrow slot containing a small black drive.
Adrian stared.
“The master key.””
Victor released me and lunged toward it.
I got there first.
My fingers closed around the drive.
The terminal chimed.
*ARCHIVE UPLOAD COMPLETE.*
Every name. Every photograph. Every payment. Every forged certificate.
The evidence was out.
Victor stood motionless.
For the first time in my life, I saw a powerful man discover that money could not buy his way out of a mistake.
Then he began to laugh.
Quietly at first.
Then harder.
“You think this ends with a computer?””
He pointed at the screen.
“Half the people on that list control the institutions you're planning to run to. Judges. Police commissioners.
Prosecutors. Politicians.””
“Then they'll be exposed, too.””
“And when they come for you?””
I held the drive tightly.
“They'll have to get through everyone who knows the truth.””
Victor's eyes moved to Elena.
Then Luca.
Then Isabella.
Something in his face hardened.
“Kill them all.””
His guards raised their weapons.
A gunshot exploded from the doorway.
One guard dropped.
Another spun around.
Michael Moretti stood at the entrance, blood running down his temple and a gun in his hand.
Behind him stood Daniel Cross.
Michael's eyes found mine.
“Anna!””
I ran toward him.
He caught me with one arm and pulled me behind him.
“Are you hurt?””
“Not badly.””
He glanced at the blood on my mouth.
His expression turned murderous.
Victor smiled.
“Hello, son.””
Michael raised his weapon.
“You should have stayed dead.””
“And you should have stayed obedient.””
Daniel stepped forward, aiming his gun at Victor.
“You took my son from me.””
Victor's smile faded.
“Daniel.””
“You told me my boy died at Saint Agnes. You let me bury an empty coffin.””
“I did what I had to do.””
Daniel's hands shook.
“No. You did what you wanted.””
Michael looked at Daniel.
Then at Victor.
Then at the archive.
Something clicked behind his eyes.
“Anna,” he said quietly, “you need to know one more thing.””
I turned toward him.
He lowered his weapon slightly.
“The woman who gave birth to me wasn't Isabella Moretti.””
Victor's face went pale.
Michael looked directly at me.
“She was Daniel's wife.””
Daniel closed his eyes.
And Victor whispered a name none of us had heard before.
“Rachel.””
The lights went out.
A gun fired in the darkness.
And when the emergency lights came back on, Victor Moretti was gone.
So was the master key.
And on the floor beside the terminal lay a photograph of a woman holding four newborn babies.
May you like
On the back, in Victor's handwriting, were seven words.
*ONE OF THEM WAS NEVER MEANT TO SURVIVE.*
