Chapter 4
Luca felt as if the floor had disappeared beneath him.
“My father is dead.”
Samuel Reed slowly sat against the wall.
“That’s what you were supposed to believe.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Luca looked at her.
“You knew.”
She remained silent.
He dragged himself upright using the desk.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word shattered something inside him.
Fourteen years earlier, Vittorio Moretti’s private plane had supposedly crashed over the Atlantic.
No survivors.
No body.
Only wreckage.
Luca had inherited Moretti Holdings at twenty-nine.
Two years later came the car accident.
Then Voss.
Then the wheelchair.
The timeline suddenly felt designed.
“Where is he?” Luca asked.
Samuel looked toward Margaret.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Liar.”
“I was hired by him indirectly. Instructions came through secure channels.”
“To spy on me?”
“To protect Maya.”
Elena stared.
“From whom?”
Samuel glanced at Margaret.
“From them.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“You think Vittorio was protecting anyone?”
Samuel ignored her.
Luca stepped closer.
“Why would my father let Voss drug me?”
Samuel hesitated.
“He may not have known at first.”
Margaret burst out laughing.
Everyone turned.
“You people still worship him.”
Luca grabbed the back of a chair.
“Tell me.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Your father disappeared because federal investigators were closing in on his offshore operations.”
Benjamin frowned.
“Moretti Holdings was cleared.”
“The legal company was.”
Margaret leaned against the desk.
“Vittorio had another empire.”
Luca felt nauseated.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She smiled sadly.
“You spent your whole life believing your father built hospitals, shipping companies, and hotels.”
“He did.”
“He also moved money for people whose names you were never allowed to know.”
Luca looked at Samuel.
“Is she telling the truth?”
Samuel didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Margaret continued.
“When Vittorio vanished, you inherited the legitimate business. He expected you to follow instructions.”
“I never received instructions.”
“You did.”
She pointed toward Luca’s old leather desk.
“Your first three years as CEO. Acquisition proposals. Shipping routes. Charity partnerships. You thought they came from your advisers.”
Luca remembered.
Anonymous recommendations had arrived through trusted executives.
He had rejected many of them.
Margaret nodded as understanding crossed his face.
“You refused to cooperate.”
“So he had me crippled?”
“I said Vittorio expected obedience. I didn’t say he ordered the accident.”
“Who did?”
Margaret looked toward the captured guard.
The man suddenly bit down hard.
Samuel lunged.
“Stop him!”
Too late.
The guard collapsed unconscious.
Benjamin stared.
“What happened?”
“Emergency sedative capsule,” Samuel said. “Professional training.”
Maya whispered, “Is he dead?”
“No,” Samuel said quickly.
Elena covered Maya’s ears.
“This ends now.”
She turned to Luca.
“We take Maya and leave.”
Luca shook his head.
“If my father is alive, leaving won’t end it.”
“It keeps our daughter alive.”
Maya tugged Luca’s sleeve.
“Dad.”
He looked down.
“Why does Grandpa want to hurt you?”
Luca knelt painfully so they were eye level.
“I don’t know.”
“Then ask him.”
Luca stared at her.
Maya pointed at Margaret’s secure phone.
“If he can send messages, you can send one back.”
Samuel immediately said, “That could expose us.”
Luca picked up the phone.
“Good.”
He opened the latest encrypted conversation.
The sender had no name.
Only the letter V.
Luca typed.
I CAN WALK.
Seconds passed.
A reply appeared.
I KNOW.
Everyone stared at the screen.
Luca typed again.
YOU LOST.
The response came immediately.
DID I?
Then another message.
COME HOME, SON.
An address appeared beneath it.
Benjamin looked at the location.
“That’s impossible.”
Luca recognized it too.
It was the old Moretti family estate in Connecticut.
The house where Luca had grown up.
The house had supposedly burned down fifteen years earlier.
Margaret whispered, “Don’t go.”
Luca looked at her.
“You’re afraid.”
“For once in your life, listen to me.”
“Why?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with something Luca had never seen from her.
Terror.
“Because Vittorio didn’t disappear to save himself.”
She swallowed.
“He disappeared because your mother discovered what he really was.”
Luca’s heart stopped.
“My mother died when I was nine.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No, Luca.”
Maya gripped his hand.
May you like
Margaret’s next words barely came out.
“Your mother may still be alive too.”
