Chapter 16 - The Last KingThe old man's presence changed the room.
Even Victor stopped smiling.
Alessandro stared.
“You were behind this?”
The old man nodded.
“Most of it.”
“Why?”
“To correct a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Your father.”
The old man spoke calmly.
“Antonio believed the family existed to serve him.”
“He was wrong.”
“The family exists to survive.”
Alessandro looked at Lily.
“And she?”
“The last piece of the family.”
The old man revealed the truth.
The Moretti empire had been designed to pass to Gabriel.
But Gabriel refused.
So Antonio chose Alessandro.
When Alessandro resisted, Antonio created an elaborate system of secrets, forcing the brothers into conflict.
The birthday was supposed to expose them.
But the old man had underestimated one variable.
Lily.
The child remembered everything.
“She is the witness,” he said.
“To what?”
“The night the empire was sold.”
Alessandro frowned.
“What?”
His grandfather opened the ledger.
Inside was proof that Antonio had secretly sold the family network to an outside organization.
The Moretti empire had been compromised from within.
Victor had been only one piece.
Marina another.
Luca another.
The real enemy was not one traitor.
It was the organization behind them.
And it wanted Lily because she had heard the final name.
Alessandro looked at the child.
“What name?”
Lily whispered:
“Mr. Snow.”
Everyone froze.
Gabriel's face turned pale.
“There is no Mr. Snow.”
The grandfather stared at him.
“That is what they want you to believe.”
Then the estate windows shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
The old man fell.
Alessandro grabbed Lily.
Gabriel pulled Isabella down.
Marco returned fire.
For seconds, chaos swallowed the room.
Then Sophia screamed.
Lily was gone.
Alessandro spun around.
The child had disappeared.
A note lay on the floor where she had stood.
He picked it up.
May you like
Three words.
COME TO THE CAKE.
