Chapter 10 - THE DEAD MAN AT THE WINDOW
Vittorio Moretti was alive.
Alessandro understood it before Sofia finished the sentence.
He was already moving.
“Where’s Leo?”
“With Valentina.”
“Call Marco.”
“I did.”
“Police?”
“On the way.”
Alessandro grabbed his coat.
Sofia blocked the door.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Sofia.”
“No.”
For once, he did not argue.
They reached Valentina’s safe house in nine minutes.
The front door was open.
No blood.
No bodies.
Inside, Leo stood behind the kitchen counter holding a baseball bat.
Valentina was beside him with a knife.
Sofia ran to him.
“Are you okay?”
Leo nodded.
“He left.”
“Who?”
“The old man.”
Alessandro entered.
Leo looked at him.
“He said you’d know where to find him.”
Alessandro’s face hardened.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
Leo handed him an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Vittorio taken that morning.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
On the back:
SON, YOU’VE LET WOMEN DESTROY YOUR JUDGMENT.
COME HOME.
Sofia looked at Alessandro.
“Home?”
He knew exactly what it meant.
The original Moretti estate outside Lake Geneva.
The house where Alessandro grew up.
The house abandoned after Vittorio’s “death.”
Federal authorities surrounded it before dawn.
But Vittorio was prepared.
He had lawyers.
Documents.
Evidence that he had staged his death after surviving an assassination attempt.
He claimed he had remained hidden to protect the family.
No arrest warrant existed for being alive.
Not yet.
Alessandro met him in the old dining room.
Sofia stayed beside him.
Vittorio looked at her with contempt.
“Elena’s daughter.”
Sofia stared.
“Don’t say my mother’s name.”
He smiled.
“You always were dramatic.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“Careful.”
Vittorio looked amused.
“There he is.”
Then he saw Leo through the window with federal agents.
For one second, emotion crossed his face.
“My grandson.”
Sofia’s anger exploded.
“You stole him.”
“I saved him.”
“You stole twelve years.”
“I kept him alive.”
“You had no right.”
“Rights are luxuries for people without enemies.”
Sofia looked at Alessandro.
She saw the old logic.
The same language.
Protection through control.
Love through captivity.
Alessandro saw it too.
And rejected it.
“You’re done.”
Vittorio smiled.
“You think you control the family now?”
“No.”
Alessandro’s voice was calm.
“I think the family is done controlling people.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
Then he revealed why he had returned.
The Covenant Fund contained evidence proving crimes committed by dozens of powerful men.
Vittorio wanted the vault opened before federal authorities found it.
Only Sofia could legally access it.
“If you refuse,” he said, “people will come for Leo.”
Alessandro moved.
Sofia stopped him with one hand.
Then looked at Vittorio.
“Where is the vault?”
Vittorio smiled.
“Under the west bedroom.”
The room where her mother died.
The room Alessandro had pretended to betray her in.
The room everything had begun.
May you like
And suddenly Sofia understood.
Her mother had chosen that room for a reason.
