Chapter 4 - THE DRIVER WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEADDominic stared at the man standing beyond the security gate.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The rain fell between them.
Marco kept one hand near his weapon.
Dominic walked closer.
“Say your name.”
The old man lifted his face.
“Joseph.”
Dominic's heart tightened.
Joseph Moretti had been his father's driver for nearly thirty years.
He had also supposedly died eight years ago.
Dominic remembered the funeral.
He remembered seeing the wreckage of Joseph's car.
He remembered his father's men telling him there had been no survivors.
Yet Joseph stood in front of him.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Dominic opened the gate himself.
Joseph stepped inside.
“You shouldn't have come here,” Dominic said.
Joseph looked toward the mansion.
“I should have come years ago.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because your father told me what would happen if I did.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“My father is dead.”
Joseph shook his head.
“No.”
Silence.
“He isn't.”
Dominic felt the ground shift beneath him.
“Then who did I bury?”
Joseph looked at him.
“Someone else.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Explain.”
Joseph pulled a worn envelope from inside his coat.
“Your father knew Adrian was alive.”
Dominic stared.
“Everyone knew except me.”
“Not everyone.”
Joseph handed him the envelope.
“Your mother knew.”
“She's dead.”
“She knew before she died.”
Dominic opened the envelope.
Inside was an old photograph.
His father stood beside Adrian.
Both men were alive.
But there was a third person.
A young woman.
Dominic recognized her immediately.
Anna.
She looked barely twenty.
And she was holding a baby.
Lily.
Dominic's breathing stopped.
“Where was this taken?”
“The old Moretti estate.”
“That house burned down.”
“No.”
Joseph looked at him.
“Your father made everyone believe it burned down.”
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“Why?”
“Because that's where he kept the original records.”
“Records of what?”
Joseph lowered his voice.
“Everything.”
They moved into the security room.
Joseph explained that eight years ago, Dominic's father had discovered Adrian was investigating the family.
Adrian had learned about the hidden trust.
He had also learned that his father had secretly accumulated property and money outside the Moretti organization.
The two brothers confronted each other.
Then Adrian disappeared.
Dominic's father told everyone he was dead.
But Joseph knew the truth.
“Adrian wasn't killed?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic slammed his palm against the table.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Joseph didn't flinch.
“I saw him alive three months ago.”
Dominic froze.
“Where?”
“Outside the old estate.”
“What was he doing?”
“Watching Lily.”
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
“Why?”
Joseph hesitated.
“Because she is his daughter.”
“I know.”
“And because he believes she is the key to the Moretti trust.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“What key?”
Joseph reached inside his coat again.
This time he pulled out a small brass key.
Dominic recognized the crest.
His grandfather's private seal.
“This opens the original family vault.”
“Where?”
Joseph looked directly at him.
“Under the old chapel.”
Dominic immediately stood.
Marco stopped him.
“Boss, it could be a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
Dominic looked toward the stairs.
Ethan was standing there.
Lily was beside him.
Both children had heard everything.
Ethan looked frightened.
“Dad?”
Dominic walked over.
“You're staying here.”
“But Lily—”
“She stays too.”
Lily shook her head.
“I know the chapel.”
Dominic froze.
“How?”
She looked down.
“Daddy took me there.”
Anna rushed into the room.
“Lily!”
The girl flinched.
Anna stopped.
Dominic turned.
“You knew?”
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
“He came to see her.”
“When?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought he would take her.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Did he hurt her?”
“No.”
“Did he ever threaten Ethan?”
Anna shook her head.
“He only asked about the family.”
Dominic crouched beside Lily.
“What did your father tell you?”
Lily looked at him.
“He said there was a room under the chapel.”
“What room?”
“He said it belonged to Grandpa.”
Dominic felt a chill.
“What else?”
Lily whispered:
“He said there was a picture there.”
“What picture?”
“Of two brothers.”
Dominic stood.
Adrian.
His father.
The missing piece.
They drove to the old chapel before sunrise.
Dominic brought Marco and six guards.
Anna stayed with the children.
The chapel had been abandoned for years.
Vines covered the stone walls.
The wooden doors were almost rotten.
Joseph inserted the brass key into a hidden lock beneath the altar.
A section of stone shifted.
A staircase appeared.
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Stay behind me.”
They descended.
The room below was enormous.
Shelves covered every wall.
Boxes filled the floor.
Old ledgers.
Photographs.
Contracts.
Birth certificates.
Death certificates.
Dominic opened one box.
Inside were records about his family.
He found his own birth certificate.
Then Adrian's.
Then another.
A third birth certificate.
Dominic stared.
The name on it was:
Lily Moretti.
Father:
Adrian Moretti.
Mother:
Anna Bell.
But beneath the official information was a handwritten note.
Inheritance rights withheld by order of Victor Moretti.
Dominic's father.
He kept reading.
Reason: child possesses primary claim to original Moretti trust.
Dominic's hands trembled.
Lily wasn't simply Adrian's daughter.
She was the rightful heir to something worth hundreds of millions.
But there was another document.
A medical record.
Ethan's name.
Dominic opened it.
The file contained genetic testing.
Ethan was listed as the biological son of Dominic.
Lily was listed as Adrian's biological daughter.
Then came a second genetic report.
Dominic stared.
The children shared something unexpected.
Their fathers were brothers.
That meant Ethan and Lily were cousins.
But someone had tried to make it appear otherwise.
Dominic suddenly understood why someone had targeted Ethan.
The cake.
The hidden corridor.
The photograph.
The message.
They wanted Ethan dead because his death would change the inheritance structure.
But Lily's existence complicated everything.
If Lily survived…
she had a claim.
And if Ethan survived…
he had another.
Someone wanted both children controlled.
Dominic turned to Marco.
“We've been looking at this wrong.”
Marco nodded.
“Someone doesn't want the children dead.”
Dominic looked at the documents.
“They want them separated.”
A sound echoed from the staircase.
Footsteps.
Dominic immediately turned.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Adrian.
Alive.
Older.
Scarred.
And holding a photograph of Dominic's father.
Dominic raised his weapon.
Adrian didn't move.
“Put it down, brother.”
Dominic stared.
“You've been alive all these years.”
“Yes.”
“You watched my son.”
“I watched my daughter.”
“You attacked Ethan.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who poisoned the cake?”
Adrian looked toward the stairs.
“Someone who wants you to believe it was me.”
Dominic's expression changed.
Adrian slowly held out another photograph.
It showed Samuel Moretti.
Dominic's former security adviser.
Standing inside the mansion kitchen.
Beside the birthday cake.
Dominic's blood ran cold.
Samuel had been one of the few men trusted enough to move freely through the house.
Adrian whispered:
“He is the one you should fear.”
Then the lights beneath the chapel went out.
A gunshot echoed above them.
Adrian grabbed Dominic's arm.
“Get the children.”
Dominic's heart stopped.
May you like
Because Lily and Ethan were still at the mansion.
And Samuel knew exactly where they were.
