Chapter 7 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIEDVictor Moretti stood beneath the gray Tennessee sky as if he had never disappeared.
Dominic couldn't move.
For eight years, he had carried the image of his father's coffin in his mind.
He remembered the funeral.
The black cars.
The flowers.
His mother's tears.
Adrian's disappearance.
And the unbearable silence afterward.
But the man standing twenty yards away was Victor.
Older, thinner, with silver hair replacing the dark hair Dominic remembered.
Yet his eyes were the same.
Cold.
Calculating.
Unforgiving.
Dominic slowly raised his weapon.
Victor smiled.
“Put it down, son.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“You're not my father.”
Victor laughed softly.
“Of course I am.”
“You died.”
“No.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
Victor's expression hardened.
“Because your family was collapsing.”
Lydia stepped forward.
“You mean because you were destroying it.”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time, his expression changed.
“You.”
Lydia stood beside Ethan and Lily.
“You should have stayed hidden.”
“I did.”
“For years.”
“Because you made me.”
Victor sighed.
“I never wanted any of this.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“You built it.”
Victor looked at him.
“I built this family.”
“No.”
Dominic lowered his weapon slightly.
“You built a prison.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“You have no idea what I've protected you from.”
“I know what you did to Mom.”
Victor became still.
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“You believe Lydia?”
“I believe the evidence.”
Victor smiled.
“Evidence can be manufactured.”
Lydia shook her head.
“Not what I have.”
Victor's face hardened.
“What do you have?”
Lydia reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“Your original confession.”
Victor stared.
Dominic looked at her.
“What confession?”
Lydia handed him the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten document.
Victor had signed it.
It described the original Moretti trust.
The research.
The disappearance of Ethan's mother.
And a secret agreement between Victor and Samuel.
Dominic read quickly.
His hands began shaking.
“You ordered the attack on Lydia.”
Victor said nothing.
“You ordered Adrian to disappear.”
Nothing.
“You knew about Lily.”
Victor's eyes moved toward the little girl.
“Yes.”
Dominic's voice cracked.
“And you tried to erase her inheritance.”
Victor finally spoke.
“I was protecting the family.”
Dominic stared.
“You call this protection?”
Victor stepped closer.
“You think money is the reason they came after you?”
“What else?”
“Power.”
Victor pointed toward Lily.
“That child carries something that can change the balance of this entire organization.”
Lily pressed closer to Ethan.
Dominic immediately stepped in front of them.
“Don't come near her.”
Victor smiled.
“You sound like your mother.”
Dominic froze.
“My mother?”
“Eleanor.”
Lydia looked away.
Victor continued.
“She was the only person who understood what was coming.”
Dominic stared.
“You said she was afraid of Lily.”
“She was.”
“Why?”
Victor's expression became unreadable.
“Because Eleanor knew Lily's existence would expose the original trust.”
Dominic looked at Lydia.
“What is inside it?”
Lydia answered quietly.
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“The entire Moretti estate.”
Dominic frowned.
“I already control it.”
“No.”
Lydia shook her head.
“You control the modern holdings.”
She looked at Victor.
“He never gave you the original assets.”
Victor smiled.
“They were never yours.”
Dominic stared.
“Then whose?”
Victor pointed toward Lily.
“Her family's.”
Dominic's heart stopped.
Lily.
A three-year-old girl.
The hidden heir.
A black SUV suddenly appeared on the road.
Victor looked toward it.
His expression changed.
“Samuel.”
Dominic turned.
Three vehicles were approaching.
Armed men stepped out.
Marco immediately moved in front of Ethan.
“Get the children inside!”
Dominic grabbed Lily.
Adrian pulled Ethan behind the farmhouse.
Lydia ducked beside the porch.
Gunfire erupted.
The sound tore through the morning.
Dominic pushed Lily behind a stone wall.
“Stay down!”
She cried.
“Where's Mommy?”
“She's right there.”
Dominic looked toward Lydia.
She was crouched behind the porch.
“Lydia!”
“I’m here!”
Another burst of gunfire struck the wooden railing.
Dominic moved.
He and Adrian covered the children while Marco's men pushed the attackers back.
Victor didn't run.
He stood in the middle of the yard.
Dominic shouted:
“Get down!”
Victor looked at him.
“I'm not afraid of Samuel.”
Then a man stepped from the last SUV.
Samuel.
He wasn't carrying a weapon.
He simply stood there.
Smiling.
“You should have stayed dead,” Samuel said.
Victor's expression became cold.
“You should have stayed loyal.”
Samuel laughed.
“Loyalty ended the day you betrayed your own sons.”
Dominic stared between them.
“You two were working together.”
Samuel looked at him.
“For years.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
Samuel lifted his hand.
A man behind him raised a weapon.
Dominic reacted instantly.
He shoved Lily down behind the wall.
The shot struck the ground.
Adrian tackled the attacker.
Marco's team moved forward.
Samuel fled toward the vehicles.
Dominic started after him.
But Victor grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
Dominic turned.
“Let go.”
“Samuel isn't the threat.”
“Then who is?”
Victor looked at the children.
“Your uncle.”
Dominic froze.
“Adrian?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed toward the woods.
“Someone else.”
A figure stood among the trees.
Dominic couldn't see the face.
The man turned.
Then disappeared.
Victor whispered:
“He has been watching all of you.”
“Who?”
Victor looked directly at Dominic.
“The man who started this entire war.”
Before Dominic could ask another question, Victor collapsed.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Dominic caught him.
“Dad!”
Victor looked up.
“Listen.”
Dominic knelt.
“Who shot you?”
Victor's eyes moved toward the trees.
“I did not come here to take Lily.”
“Then why?”
“To save her.”
Victor struggled to breathe.
“Your grandfather left something for her.”
“What?”
Victor grabbed Dominic's wrist.
“The cemetery.”
Then his eyes closed.
Dominic shouted for medical help.
Lydia rushed toward him.
“He's still alive.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What did he mean?”
Lydia stared toward the woods.
“The original trust isn't in a vault.”
“Then where?”
“In your father's grave.”
Dominic froze.
“But he isn't dead.”
May you like
Lydia nodded.
“Exactly.”
