Chapter 14 – The Brother No One Suspected
The room fell into absolute silence.
Even the humming of the damaged servers seemed to disappear.
Marco lowered his radio.
"He died thirty seconds after saying it."
No one spoke.
No one needed to.
The final words of a dying man carried a different weight than any accusation made in anger.
Don't trust your brother.
Alessandro stood perfectly still.
His face betrayed nothing.
But after working in his mansion for three years, I recognized the smallest signs.
His right thumb had stopped moving.
Whenever Alessandro faced a truth he didn't want to believe...
He became unnaturally still.
"My brother..."
he repeated quietly.
The words sounded foreign, as if he hadn't spoken them in years.
Luca Moretti.
The younger son of the Moretti family.
Unlike Alessandro, Luca avoided newspapers, charity galas, and board meetings.
Officially, he managed the family's European investments from Milan.
Unofficially...
No one seemed to know exactly what he did.
He appeared only at Christmas, funerals, and shareholder meetings.
Then vanished again.
Marco broke the silence.
"Should I bring Mr. Luca here?"
Alessandro shook his head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"If the message is true..."
He looked toward the dead intruder.
"...he already knows we've discovered something."
A detective from the NYPD entered the surveillance room.
"Mr. Moretti."
He removed his cap respectfully.
"We've identified the intruder."
Marco accepted the report.
His expression darkened.
"He isn't a professional criminal."
"Who is he?"
"A former employee of Harbor Construction."
My heart skipped.
Harbor.
Again.
"He worked under Daniel Carter."
The detective continued.
"According to employment records..."
"...he disappeared the same week Daniel died."
Alessandro looked up.
"Missing?"
"No."
The detective hesitated.
"He received a settlement."
"What kind of settlement?"
"Five million dollars."
The room stirred.
A construction foreman earning barely sixty thousand dollars a year...
Receiving five million?
It wasn't compensation.
It was silence.
Marco suddenly asked,
"Where is the settlement money now?"
The detective gave a grim smile.
"Gone."
"Spent?"
"No."
"Transferred."
"To whom?"
The detective slid another document across the table.
The recipient's name sat at the bottom.
Moretti International Holdings
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
The money had somehow returned to his own company.
Round-tripped through shell corporations.
Someone inside the empire had been laundering bribes through its own accounts.
Meanwhile, upstairs...
Vanessa sat alone inside the mansion's library.
A female security officer stood outside the door.
She was no longer treated as a guest.
She was no longer treated as a fiancée.
She was being detained.
One of the maids quietly entered carrying tea.
Vanessa didn't look up.
"I don't want anything."
The maid set the tray down anyway.
Then whispered just loudly enough for Vanessa to hear.
"They found the envelope."
Vanessa's head snapped upward.
The maid smiled.
Not kindly.
"You underestimated the wrong child."
Before Vanessa could respond...
The maid quietly walked away.
Vanessa stared after her.
She had never seen that woman before.
Because she wasn't a maid.
She was an undercover federal agent.
Downstairs, Emma had fallen asleep again.
Dr. Harris checked her temperature.
"One hundred and three."
I panicked.
"She needs a hospital."
The doctor nodded.
"Immediately."
Before I could even reach for my phone...
Alessandro spoke.
"My helicopter."
I blinked.
"What?"
"It'll be faster than an ambulance."
"I can't..."
"You won't pay."
His tone left no room for argument.
"You are my employee."
Then he looked directly at me.
"And tonight..."
"...your daughter protected this family."
For the first time since Daniel's death...
I felt tears I could no longer stop.
Not because of fear.
Because someone had finally chosen to protect us.
As preparations were made to take Emma to the hospital...
Marco's phone rang again.
He answered immediately.
"Marco speaking."
His expression changed.
"Repeat that."
Silence.
Then he slowly looked toward Alessandro.
"Sir..."
"What is it?"
"The forensic team searched Vanessa's phone."
"And?"
"They recovered deleted messages."
"From Adrian Pierce?"
"Yes."
Marco swallowed.
"But there was another contact."
"Who?"
He handed Alessandro the phone.
Only one name appeared.
L.M.
The messages were brief.
Keep him distracted.
The board meeting must happen before he learns the truth.
The fake pregnancy is working.
After the wedding, we'll own everything.
The final message had arrived only yesterday.
If the maid becomes a problem... remove her.
A cold wave swept through me.
Remove her.
Me.
Emma.
Daniel had already been killed.
Now they had planned to eliminate us too.
Alessandro quietly locked the phone screen.
He didn't look angry.
He looked disappointed.
Which, somehow, felt even more dangerous.
"L.M."
Marco nodded.
"Luca Moretti."
"No."
Alessandro surprised everyone.
"It could be."
"But assumptions get people killed."
He turned toward the detectives.
"I want confirmation."
"DNA."
"Financial records."
"Travel history."
"Everything."
"No arrests until we know."
Hours later...
Nearly dawn.
Rain still fell against the mansion windows.
The ballroom was empty now.
Champagne had gone flat.
The orchestra had long since left.
Broken crystal remained scattered across the marble floor.
The celebration that was supposed to announce an heir had become the beginning of a criminal investigation.
Alessandro stood alone beneath the twelve chandeliers.
His father's portrait hung above the grand staircase.
He stared at it for a long time.
Then quietly asked the empty room,
"What didn't you tell me?"
There was, of course, no answer.
Only silence.
Until Marco approached once more.
"Sir."
"The laboratory called."
"So quickly?"
"They expedited the testing."
"And?"
Marco handed him a sealed report.
Alessandro opened it.
His eyes scanned the page.
For the first time that entire night...
His composure broke.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
He looked up at Marco.
"This..."
he whispered,
"...is impossible."
"What happened?"
Marco asked.
Alessandro slowly lowered the report.
"The DNA recovered from the silicone pregnancy prosthetic..."
He paused.
"...contains neither my DNA..."
"...nor Adrian Pierce's."
The room froze.
Marco frowned.
"Then whose is it?"
Alessandro looked back at the report.
His voice was barely audible.
"It belongs..."
"...to someone in my own bloodline."
A long silence followed.
Then he spoke the name that changed everything.
"Luca."
At that exact moment, every phone in the mansion vibrated simultaneously.
A breaking news alert flashed across the screens:
MORETTI INTERNATIONAL STOCK COLLAPSES AFTER ENGAGEMENT SCANDAL. EMERGENCY BOARD MEETING CALLED.
Marco stared at Alessandro.
"They're making their move."
Alessandro folded the DNA report and slipped it into his jacket.
His eyes had become cold once again.
"They wanted an empire."
May you like
He turned toward the doors.
"They've just declared war."
