Chapter 13 - THE HOUSE WHERE EVERYTHING BEGAN
The old Moretti estate had been empty since my father's death.
That night, every light was on.
Julian stood in my father's study when we arrived.
He looked enough like my father to make my stomach turn.
Same jaw.
Same dark eyes.
Same habit of standing with one hand behind his back.
Helen sat nearby.
Alive.
Frank Bell stood beside the fireplace.
Holding no weapon.
That surprised me.
Julian looked at Evelyn first.
“You have Caroline's eyes.”
Evelyn said nothing.
I stepped between them.
“If you came for my children—”
“I didn't.”
“Then why did you follow her?”
“To understand whether she was using you the way your father used my mother.”
Evelyn's voice was cold.
“So you destroyed my marriage?”
Julian lowered his eyes.
“I believed I was saving you.”
“You sound exactly like Victoria.”
My mother flinched.
Julian almost smiled sadly.
“That's the tragedy of this family. Everybody commits cruelty and calls it protection.”
Frank moved toward the desk.
Marcus blocked him.
“No.”
Frank stopped.
He looked older than I remembered.
Tired.
“I sabotaged Evelyn's car.”
There was no hesitation.
Evelyn gripped my arm.
“Why?”
“Because Patrick Moretti promised my sister he would acknowledge Julian. Then he abandoned them.”
“So you tried to kill a pregnant woman?”
“I didn't know she was pregnant.”
“That makes nothing better.”
“No.”
For once, he didn't defend himself.
“I wanted Adrian to lose something. I wanted Patrick's beloved son to understand what Julian lost.”
I wanted to destroy him.
Instead, Evelyn's hand tightened around my sleeve.
Not here.
Not this way.
Daniel Reed stepped forward.
“Frank Bell, you're under arrest.”
Frank nodded.
“I know.”
Then Julian opened my father's desk and removed a sealed envelope.
“This is why we're all here.”
He handed it to me.
My father's handwriting covered the front.
TO ADRIAN, AFTER MY DEATH.
Inside was a revised will.
Not the public one.
The real one.
My father had divided his private fortune equally between me and Julian.
He had acknowledged his first son after all.
But someone had hidden the document.
Julian stared at Victoria.
“You knew.”
My mother shook her head.
Helen interrupted.
“She didn't.”
Everyone turned.
Helen's voice trembled.
“I hid it.”
Julian looked stunned.
“Why?”
“Because Patrick told me to wait until his sons were ready to choose family over power.”
Silence.
My father, the man who had caused so much damage, had apparently understood one thing at the end.
Money would destroy us if we let it.
Then Helen removed a second envelope.
“This one was written for Evelyn.”
Evelyn opened it.
Inside was a legal document.
A trust.
Created three years earlier.
For two unborn children.
Grace and Noah.
Someone had known they existed before I did.
The trustee's signature sat at the bottom.
May you like
Victoria Moretti.
My mother had secretly created a trust for my children before Evelyn ever left Chicago.
