Chapter 11 - Beneath the Burned ChurchThe old church stood on a hill beyond the city.
Its roof was gone.
The stained glass windows had been shattered.
Blackened stones surrounded the entrance.
Vincent and Dominic entered with Isabella.
Rain fell through the open ceiling.
No lights.
No electricity.
Only the sound of water.
Isabella led them behind the altar.
“There.”
A stone slab.
Vincent helped move it.
A staircase descended.
The air below was warm.
Too warm.
They found a medical room.
Empty.
A chair.
A blood-stained blanket.
An oxygen tank.
Vincent's face went cold.
“She was here.”
Isabella nodded.
“She was moved yesterday.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic found a wall covered with photographs.
Again.
Sofia.
Luca.
Vincent.
Isabella.
Grace.
But there was one new photograph.
Charles sitting beside an older man.
Vincent stared.
The older man was dead.
Or supposed to be.
His father.
Vincent stepped closer.
The date on the photograph was six months after his father's funeral.
Impossible.
“That's not him,” Dominic said.
“It is.”
“No.”
Vincent looked.
The man had the same face.
Same scar.
Same hands.
But there was something wrong.
The right wrist.
His father had broken it in a hunting accident.
The man in the photograph had no scar.
A fake.
An impersonator.
Vincent turned to Isabella.
“Who was he?”
“A decoy.”
“For what?”
“To keep everyone believing your father was still controlling the empire.”
Vincent frowned.
“Who hired him?”
Isabella shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Dominic looked at the wall.
“There.”
A hidden compartment.
Inside was a stack of recordings.
Vincent played the first.
His father's voice came through.
“If Vincent ever discovers this, Charles has already lost control.”
Vincent froze.
His father continued.
“The Moretti trust is not mine.”
“It belongs to Sofia.”
Vincent stared.
“She is the only person I trusted to break the cycle.”
The recording crackled.
“Charles will attempt to control the trust through marriage.”
Vincent looked at Isabella.
His father's voice continued:
“If Isabella returns, protect her.”
“She is innocent.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
The recording ended.
Another started.
Sofia's voice.
“Vince, I know you will come.”
A pause.
“So I'm going to tell you the truth.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“I did not disappear because I stopped loving you.”
“I disappeared because I loved you enough to let you hate me.”
He swallowed.
“Charles had Luca.”
Vincent's face twisted.
“I'm sorry.”
Then:
“But Charles isn't the one who started this.”
Vincent looked at Dominic.
Sofia continued:
“The person behind everything is someone you see every day.”
The recording stopped.
A final message appeared.
LOOK AT THE MAN WHO NEVER LEAVES YOUR SIDE.
Dominic stepped back.
Vincent stared.
Dominic's face hardened.
“I swear to God…”
Then the church doors above slammed.
Someone had entered.
Footsteps descended the stairs.
One.
Two.
Three.
A voice echoed.
“She's right.”
Vincent raised his gun.
The voice continued.
“You should have looked at Dominic sooner.”
The figure appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Not Charles.
Not Isabella.
Not Grace.
The Moretti security chief.
The man who had vanished from the estate earlier.
He held a child in his arms.
Luca.
Vincent's heart stopped.
May you like
The man smiled.
“Say hello to your son.”
