Chapter 6 - The Moretti Bloodline
The truth about Dante's father was worse than any affair.
His father, Carlo Moretti, had not died eight years earlier.
The funeral had been staged.
Lucia explained everything.
Carlo had discovered Victor was stealing money from the family trust.
He confronted him.
Victor responded by arranging Carlo's disappearance.
Lucia tried to protect him.
She was nearly killed.
Instead of dying, she disappeared.
Carlo survived in hiding.
For years, the two had been gathering evidence.
Then Dante inherited the empire.
Carlo realized the only way to protect his son was to let the world believe he was dead.
But Victor had never stopped hunting him.
Now Victor had discovered the existence of Dante's children.
That changed the game.
“He needs your babies,” Lucia said.
“Why?”
“Because whoever controls the legal heirs controls the trust.”
Dante looked at me.
“You're not just carrying my children.”
I understood.
“I am carrying the key to your family's fortune.”
He nodded.
“And someone wants to make sure those children belong to them.”
We went to the Moretti Trust building that night.
The building was empty.
Too empty.
Dante immediately knew something was wrong.
“Everyone stay behind me.”
We entered the vault.
Inside was a wall of locked cabinets.
Lucia approached one.
She placed her palm against a scanner.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a black box.
Carlo's voice began playing from a speaker.
“If you're hearing this, Victor has failed to kill me.”
Dante froze.
The recording continued.
“The Moretti Trust was never designed to make one man rich. It was created to fund medical research and protect families who couldn't protect themselves.”
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“Dante, your wife is the rightful guardian of the trust if you die.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Dante looked equally shocked.
Carlo continued:
“I chose Lena because she is not a Moretti by blood.”
The room went silent.
“She cannot be bought by our family name.”
My eyes filled.
The trust wasn't designed to protect the Moretti bloodline.
It was designed to protect the person least corrupted by it.
Me.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire exploded.
Dante pulled me behind the vault wall.
Marco returned fire.
Sofia dragged Lucia toward the emergency exit.
I heard someone scream.
Then silence.
When the lights came back, Sofia was gone.
So was the black box.
Dante looked at me.
“Victor took them.”
“No.”
A voice came through the speaker.
Victor.
“Not quite.”
The vault doors locked.
A screen illuminated.
Victor appeared.
Behind him stood Sofia's brother Evan.
Dr. Warren.
And Carlo Moretti.
Alive.
Victor smiled.
“You always were your father's favorite mistake.”
Dante stepped toward the screen.
“Let them go.”
Victor laughed.
“Give me Lena.”
“No.”
“Then your father dies.”
Carlo looked directly at Dante.
“Don't do it.”
Victor raised a gun.
“Choose.”
Dante looked at me.
I knew what he wanted to do.
He would sacrifice himself.
He would sacrifice everything.
I shook my head.
“No.”
He whispered:
“Lena—”
“No.”
I stepped toward the camera.
Victor's smile widened.
“You finally understand.”
I looked directly into the lens.
“You made one mistake.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“You assumed I'm helpless because I'm pregnant.”
Dante stared at me.
I continued.
“You forgot I'm the person your father trusted.”
Then I held up the black cross hanging from my neck.
It had belonged to Carlo.
Inside it was a tiny storage chip.
Victor's face went white.
“You don't have that.”
“Oh, I do.”
I smiled.
“And you just admitted on camera that you kidnapped three people.”
For the first time, Victor looked afraid.
Dante understood.
We had been recording everything.
But Victor wasn't finished.
He leaned toward the camera.
“Then you should know something else.”
“What?”
“The babies aren't all Dante's.”
Silence.
Dante's face changed.
May you like
Victor smiled.
“One of them belongs to me.”
