Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW THE TRUTHEleanor Vale was found forty-eight hours later.
She wasn't hiding in another city.
She wasn't hiding overseas.
She was living less than thirty miles from the Moretti mansion.
Under another name.
She had spent eight years waiting for someone to find her.
When Dominic entered the small house, she was sitting beside a window.
She looked older than her photographs.
Tired.
Frightened.
But alive.
She looked at Dominic.
“You finally found me.”
Dominic stopped.
“You knew I was looking.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because you would have killed me.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“I don't kill people without a reason.”
Eleanor laughed sadly.
“You did.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Silence.
“Adrian.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“You killed the wrong man.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
She reached for a photograph.
It showed Adrian.
Standing beside a younger Dominic.
The brothers were smiling.
Then Eleanor pointed to another person in the background.
Their father.
“Your father knew Adrian was alive.”
Dominic felt his stomach drop.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He told me Adrian died.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian was investigating him.”
Dominic stared.
“Investigating what?”
Eleanor took a deep breath.
“The family business.”
Dominic said nothing.
Eleanor continued.
“Your father had been secretly moving money through shell companies for years.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“My father built this organization.”
“He also stole from it.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you know what he was hiding.”
Eleanor placed another document on the table.
Dominic picked it up.
The accounts showed millions transferred from the Moretti organization into private trusts.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Victor Moretti.
Dominic's father.
He felt dizzy.
“My father died before Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Then who was behind the transfers?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Your uncle.”
Dominic froze.
“My father's brother?”
“Yes.”
Dominic had barely known his uncle.
He had left the family when Dominic was young.
He was supposedly living abroad.
“Where is he now?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“He died.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Dominic frowned.
“Then why does it matter?”
“Because he left something behind.”
She opened a drawer.
Inside was a small black notebook.
Dominic recognized the handwriting.
His father's.
He opened it.
The first page contained only one sentence.
If Adrian fails, Dominic must never learn about the girl.
Dominic looked up.
“What girl?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Lily.”
Dominic's heart stopped.
“What does Lily have to do with my family?”
Eleanor didn't answer immediately.
“She isn't just Anna's daughter.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Then who is she?”
Eleanor whispered:
“She is Adrian's daughter.”
The room went silent.
Dominic stared at her.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian had a daughter?”
“Before the accident.”
Dominic looked at the photograph again.
The dates suddenly made sense.
Lily was three.
Adrian had supposedly died eight years ago.
But if he had disappeared…
then everything was possible.
Dominic remembered the way Lily had recognized Adrian.
The way she wasn't simply afraid of him.
She knew him.
She had seen him before.
Eleanor continued.
“Adrian believed his daughter would eventually inherit something your family had hidden.”
“What?”
“The original Moretti trust.”
Dominic frowned.
“I control the trust.”
“You control the public trust.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“There is another one.”
She placed a document on the table.
Dominic read it.
His name appeared first.
Then Ethan's.
Then a third name.
Lily Moretti.
Dominic looked up.
“She's an heir?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because your father removed her name.”
“Why?”
“Because Lily's mother knew about the money.”
Dominic thought of Anna.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“She was working for Adrian.”
“No.”
Eleanor's voice softened.
“Anna was protecting Lily.”
Dominic stared at her.
“From Adrian?”
“From everyone.”
Dominic returned home that night.
He found Lily sitting beside Ethan in the library.
Ethan was showing her how to build a tower with wooden blocks.
Lily looked up.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You can call me Dominic.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
He sat beside her.
“Lily, can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know a man named Adrian?”
She looked at him.
“My daddy.”
Dominic's breath stopped.
“Your father?”
She nodded.
“He comes sometimes.”
“When?”
“When Mommy is sleeping.”
Dominic stared at Anna.
She was standing in the doorway.
Tears were running down her face.
Dominic stood.
“You knew.”
Anna nodded.
“I was afraid.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Adrian told me you would take Lily away.”
Dominic looked at the child.
“I would never do that.”
Anna cried harder.
“I know that now.”
Suddenly, the mansion lights went out.
The entire house plunged into darkness.
Security alarms began screaming.
Dominic immediately grabbed Lily.
Ethan shouted:
“Dad!”
“Stay behind me!”
Marco rushed into the library.
“Boss!”
A gunshot echoed somewhere outside.
Dominic pushed the children behind the heavy desk.
“Lock the doors.”
Marco did.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Dominic checked the security monitors.
Every camera had gone black.
Every single one.
Someone had hacked the system.
Then a voice came through the mansion speakers.
Adrian.
“Brother.”
Dominic froze.
“Let the girl go.”
Dominic looked down at Lily.
She was shaking.
He held her tighter.
“No.”
Adrian laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
Dominic stared at the speaker.
“Come get her yourself.”
A pause.
Then Adrian said:
“I will.”
The lights suddenly came back.
The library door opened.
Nobody was there.
Except for a small envelope lying on the floor.
Dominic picked it up.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Lily as a baby.
Adrian was holding her.
And beside him stood Dominic's father.
On the back, six words had been written:
YOUR FATHER KNEW SHE WAS ALIVE.
Dominic looked at the photograph.
Then at Lily.
She was no longer crying.
She was staring at the picture.
And she whispered:
“That's Daddy.”
Dominic's heart tightened.
Before he could say anything, Marco's radio crackled.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found someone at the east gate.”
“Adrian?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Marco looked toward the doorway.
His face had gone pale.
“Your father's old driver.”
Dominic stared.
“He died eight years ago.”
Marco swallowed.
“He says he has proof your father is alive.”
Dominic's blood ran cold.
Because suddenly the enemy wasn't simply Adrian.
Someone had been hiding the truth about his family for years.
And Lily…
May you like
the little girl who had saved Ethan…
might be the only person who could lead Dominic to the man behind it all.
