Chapter 12 - THE BROTHER EVERYONE BELIEVED WAS DEAD
I'd worked at the Moretti estate for three years.
I'd heard stories about Dominic's father.
His cousin.
His ruthless rise to power.
But nobody had ever mentioned a brother.
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“His name was Alessandro,” he said.
“What happened to him?”
“He died when I was twenty-four.”
“How?”
Dominic's voice became distant.
“A warehouse fire.”
My stomach twisted.
“The same fire?”
He nodded.
“Seventeen years ago.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Two young men stood beside Vittorio.
Dominic was unmistakable.
The other had darker hair and a softer expression.
“He was your older brother?”
“By four years.”
“What happened that night?”
Dominic leaned against the SUV.
“My father told me Alessandro had been stealing from the family. He said my brother started the fire to destroy evidence.”
“And you believed him?”
“I was nineteen, Emily. I believed almost everything my father told me.”
He looked away.
“Alessandro disappeared that night. They found remains inside the building. My father arranged the funeral.”
I stared at him.
“Just like your mother's funeral.”
Dominic turned.
We understood at the same moment.
The fire.
The staged deaths.
The hidden identities.
Vittorio had been rewriting his family's history for years.
Detective Whitmore approached.
“We've recovered additional files from Patricia's apartment.”
She handed Dominic a tablet.
A video began playing.
The image was grainy.
A warehouse office.
A younger Vittorio Moretti stood beside a man in a black coat.
Then Alessandro entered.
He was furious.
“You can't keep those children here!”
Vittorio calmly poured himself a drink.
“Lower your voice.”
“They're human beings!”
“They're assets.”
Alessandro slammed his hand against the desk.
“I'm calling the police.”
Vittorio smiled.
“No, you're not.”
The video ended abruptly.
I looked at Dominic.
His eyes were wet.
“I thought he was a criminal,” he whispered.
I squeezed his hand.
“He was trying to save them.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
Then Sarah opened another file.
A medical report.
A man admitted to a private rehabilitation facility after suffering severe burns.
His name had been changed.
But his fingerprints matched Alessandro Moretti.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Where is he?”
Sarah hesitated.
“That's the problem.”
“What problem?”
“He disappeared from the facility last month.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Who signed him out?”
Sarah turned the tablet.
A name appeared.
Lily Bennett.
I stared.
“My sister?”
Sarah nodded.
“And according to the facility's records, she wasn't alone.”
A second signature appeared.
Caleb Moretti.
Dominic slowly closed his eyes.
“Caleb wasn't working for my father.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“He was helping Alessandro.”
Sarah nodded.
“Possibly.”
Then her phone rang.
She answered, listened, and turned pale.
“What happened?” Dominic demanded.
She lowered the phone.
“Caleb escaped custody at the estate.”
Dominic stared at her.
“And?”
“He left a message.”
May you like
Sarah swallowed.
“He says Alessandro is coming to the terminal tonight.”
