Chapter 9 - The Grandmother's Order"She's dead."
Hattie shook her head.
"Your family's paperwork says she is."
Salvatore stared at her.
"You're lying."
Hattie pointed toward the basement.
"The person who ordered Adelaide's starvation is not Nolan."
Adelaide's face turned white.
"Don't."
Hattie continued.
"She wanted Adelaide broken."
"Why?"
"Because Adelaide refused to surrender the vault."
Salvatore looked at his mother.
"Did you know she was alive?"
Adelaide shook her head.
"I believed she died."
Hattie laughed.
"Of course you did."
Matteo stepped forward.
"Enough."
Hattie looked at him.
"You were always the sentimental one."
Matteo's expression hardened.
"Where is she?"
"Below."
"Below what?"
"The old chapel."
Nobody understood.
Hattie smiled.
"The clinic wasn't the real facility."
She pointed toward a service tunnel.
"This place was only the front door."
Salvatore ordered his men to search.
The tunnel led beneath the clinic.
They descended through concrete corridors lined with old family photographs.
Birthdays.
Weddings.
Funerals.
Every generation of the Moretti family appeared.
At the deepest level was a chapel.
Small.
Stone.
Beautiful.
And in the center sat an elderly woman in a wheelchair.
Her silver hair was perfectly styled.
Her hands rested calmly on a black cane.
She looked seventy years younger than the stories described her.
Salvatore stopped.
"Grandmother."
The old woman smiled.
"Come closer."
He didn't.
"Why did you do this to my mother?"
She looked at Adelaide.
"Because she betrayed me."
Adelaide whispered:
"I protected my son."
"You destroyed your family."
"I saved my son."
The old woman turned back to Salvatore.
"Do you know why I wanted the vault?"
"You built it."
"No."
She pointed toward Luciano.
"He did."
Luciano had been brought into the chapel on a stretcher.
He looked at her.
"You never understood."
The grandmother smiled.
"I understood perfectly."
She gestured to a table.
On it sat dozens of documents.
"It wasn't a crime ledger."
Salvatore approached.
"What is it?"
"A succession record."
He looked at the papers.
Names.
Dates.
Bloodlines.
Marriages.
Birth certificates.
Then one line caught his eye.
ELLA MORETTI.
Beneath it:
PRIMARY SUCCESSOR.
Salvatore stared.
"She's four."
The grandmother smiled.
"Age is temporary."
Matteo stepped forward.
"Why would a child inherit?"
"Because every other heir can be bought."
She looked at Salvatore.
"Except a child."
Salvatore shook his head.
"This is insane."
"No."
She pointed toward the walls.
"This is tradition."
Adelaide stepped forward.
"You're going to kill her."
The grandmother's eyes hardened.
"I am going to preserve the family."
Salvatore raised his weapon.
The old woman didn't flinch.
"Do it."
He hesitated.
She smiled.
"Then the vault opens."
Salvatore froze.
"Why?"
"Because the security system recognizes a violent breach."
Her eyes moved toward Ella.
"And once it detects that the blood key is present, the vault enters emergency release."
Matteo cursed.
The grandmother laughed.
"You see?"
She looked at Ella.
"She has always been the answer."
Ella stepped closer to Salvatore.
"Uncle."
He knelt.
"I'm here."
"Grandma said my mommy is alive."
Salvatore's stomach tightened.
He turned toward the old woman.
"Where is her mother?"
The grandmother smiled.
"Ask Nolan."
Then the chapel doors slammed shut.
The lights went out.
A voice came through the speakers.
Nolan.
"Welcome to the real family."
A monitor turned on.
The screen showed a woman sitting in a dark room.
Ella gasped.
"Mommy."
Her mother looked directly at the camera.
Then whispered:
"Run."
A second figure entered behind her.
Nolan.
He leaned toward the woman.
And she screamed.
Salvatore slammed his fist against the locked door.
"NOLAN!"
Nolan smiled through the monitor.
"You have ten minutes."
"Ten minutes for what?"
"To choose which family member dies."
The screen showed three doors.
One contained Adelaide.
One contained Luciano.
The last contained Ella's mother.
May you like
Then Nolan's voice returned.
"And only one door can be opened."
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