Chapter 9 - THE FATHER NO ONE KNEW
Arthur's plane never left the runway.
Rocco intercepted him at a private terminal just before midnight. When I arrived, Arthur sat in an interrogation room with a glass of water and an expression of exhausted defeat.
"You wanted to tell me about Mia's father," I said.
He nodded.
"Her father was your half brother, Adrian."
I had never known I had a half brother.
Arthur explained that Adrian was my father's son from an earlier relationship. He had been raised far from the family business and returned as an adult, determined to expose the corruption that had made our fortune.
My father had treated him as a threat.
When Adrian fell in love with Elena, he planned to leave the country with her and their unborn daughter.
He died in a car crash three months before Mia was born.
The police called it an accident.
Arthur admitted that he had helped conceal the evidence because my father threatened to destroy his family.
"Was the crash deliberate?" I asked.
Arthur lowered his eyes.
"I believe your father arranged it. But I never saw the order."
"And Vivien?"
"She learned about Mia from the trust records. She wanted the money before the child could claim it."
I leaned forward.
"Where are the original records?"
Arthur looked toward Rocco.
"In the Duca family chapel. Your mother hid them beneath the floor."
We returned to the mansion before dawn.
Beneath a loose stone in the chapel, we found a sealed metal box containing bank ledgers, letters, and a second recording.
This one held my father's voice again.
But it also contained something else.
A conversation between my father and Vivien, recorded years before I met her.
"You'll marry Lorenzo," my father said. "Make him trust you. When the time comes, the child must be removed."
Vivien's younger voice answered without hesitation.
"And if Elena refuses to cooperate?"
May you like
My father's reply was chilling.
"Then use the same method we used on Adrian."
