Chapter 12 - The ShotThe gunshot struck the ceiling.
Gabriel had moved.
Alessandro stared at him in disbelief.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You killed my mother.”
“No.”
Gabriel's voice broke.
“I tried to save her.”
He told the story.
Their mother discovered that Antonio Moretti had been laundering the family empire through shell companies.
She planned to expose him.
Antonio ordered Gabriel to silence her.
Gabriel refused.
So someone else did it.
Then they staged her death.
Gabriel took the blame because the alternative was Alessandro.
A twelve-year-old boy who knew nothing.
Alessandro lowered the gun.
“You should have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“You let me hate you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were alive.”
The words shattered something inside him.
Luca suddenly shouted.
“There's someone coming!”
Footsteps echoed.
Marina smiled.
“You've run out of time.”
The doors burst open.
Armed men entered.
Marco immediately returned fire.
The room exploded into chaos.
Alessandro grabbed Lily.
Gabriel pulled Elena's old map from his coat.
“There is a tunnel under the house.”
“Where does it lead?”
“To the original Moretti estate.”
“The place we just left?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Someone wants us to go there.”
Alessandro stopped.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at Lily.
“Because that is where your father hid the final record.”
They escaped through the tunnel.
Behind them, Marina's voice echoed:
“You cannot hide from your family's blood!”
They emerged beneath the old estate.
The hidden room was waiting.
Alessandro noticed something new.
The wall of names had changed.
A seventh name had appeared.
Lily.
Beside it was a date.
Tomorrow.
Alessandro touched the wall.
Marco whispered:
“Sir.”
A hidden drawer had opened.
Inside was a passport.
Not Lily's.
Not Sophia's.
Alessandro's.
But the photograph showed him as a child.
The name on the passport was not Alessandro Moretti.
It was Gabriel Moretti.
Alessandro stared.
“What is this?”
Gabriel went pale.
Marina's voice came through the hidden room's speaker.
“Now you understand.”
Alessandro looked at Gabriel.
“Who am I?”
May you like
Gabriel whispered:
“You're not who Father said you were.”
