Chapter 15 - IsabellaThe woman entered the library without making a sound.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakably alive.
Alessandro looked at her.
His entire body went numb.
“Mom?”
Isabella Moretti smiled through tears.
“My boy.”
He crossed the room.
For a moment, he was not the feared head of the Moretti family.
He was twelve again.
A child waiting for a mother who never came home.
He hugged her.
Then stepped back.
“Why?”
Isabella looked at Gabriel.
“Because your father wanted you both dead.”
She told them everything.
Antonio had discovered Isabella planned to leave the family.
He could not allow it.
So he staged her death.
Gabriel helped her escape.
Daniel helped them.
Sophia hid Emilia.
Everything had been connected.
But one piece remained missing.
The person who kept sabotaging every attempt to reunite them.
Alessandro looked at Victor.
Victor shook his head.
“I work for him.”
“You don't know who he is?”
Victor laughed.
“He never showed me his face.”
Alessandro looked at the ledger.
A final page contained a symbol.
A crown.
With a line through it.
Underneath were four words:
THE KING NEVER DIED.
Gabriel went pale.
“That's not Antonio.”
“Who, then?”
Gabriel whispered:
“Grandfather.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Our grandfather died before we were born.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
The entire room went silent.
“Your grandfather faked his death before Antonio took control.”
Alessandro stared.
“Where is he?”
Isabella looked toward Lily.
“He has been watching her.”
Lily suddenly smiled.
“Grandpa is here.”
Everyone turned.
A shadow moved behind the curtains.
An old man stepped into the room.
Alessandro's hand moved toward his gun.
The old man raised one finger.
“You should not point that at family.”
He removed his hat.
Antonio's father.
The original founder of the Moretti empire.
Alive.
Ancient.
Cold.
May you like
And smiling.
“I have been waiting twenty years for my family to come home.”
