Chapter 6 - The ConservatoryThe dead man waiting behind the glassThe Moretti conservatory was already burning when we arrived.
Flames climbed the glass walls overlooking the Charles River.
My family had hosted weddings, political dinners, and secret negotiations there for decades.
Tonight, it looked like hell wearing crystal.
I took the five boys through the service entrance.
Elena stayed close.
Sloane followed.
Marco led us toward the underground archive.
Then he stopped.
“This is where we separate.”
“No.”
“You need to get them out.”
“I'm not leaving you.”
Marco smiled sadly.
“I've been waiting six years for you to hate me.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because hatred kept you alive.”
He pulled a key from his pocket.
“Your father had enemies inside the family.”
“Who?”
Marco looked toward Sloane.
“She knows.”
Sloane's face tightened.
“My father.”
I turned.
“You're saying my father and hers worked together?”
“Not together.”
Marco whispered.
“They worked against each other.”
A gunshot cracked through the archive.
Marco fell.
I fired toward the doorway.
The shooter disappeared.
I grabbed Marco.
“Stay with me.”
He coughed blood.
“The fifth…”
He looked toward Gabriel.
“Your father didn't take him.”
I froze.
“Who did?”
Marco's eyes moved toward Sloane.
She went pale.
“No.”
Marco smiled.
“Ask her.”
Then he died.
I slowly turned toward Sloane.
“What did Marco mean?”
She didn't answer.
“Tell me.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“My father had Gabriel.”
“But you said you rescued him.”
“I did.”
“From whom?”
“My father.”
She looked at the boy.
“He kept Gabriel in a private clinic.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“He needed his DNA.”
My heart stopped.
“For what?”
Sloane's voice broke.
“To prove the Moretti bloodline.”
She looked at the four boys.
“And to activate the second will.”
I stepped toward her.
“You knew everything.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Elena was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my sons existed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Gabriel existed.”
“Yes.”
“And you still agreed to marry me.”
Her face crumpled.
“I was trying to stop a war.”
I laughed.
“You were trying to own the empire.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I was trying to keep your brothers from killing you.”
I went still.
“Brothers?”
Sloane looked toward the darkness.
“You don't have one enemy.”
“You have three.”
The lights flickered.
A projector in the corner suddenly turned on.
My father's face appeared on the wall.
It was an old recording.
He looked directly at the camera.
“Dominic.”
I stepped closer.
“If you're watching this, then my plan failed.”
My father's voice remained calm.
“The children are alive.”
Elena began crying.
“But that is not the danger.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“The danger is the woman who betrayed you.”
I looked at Elena.
She shook her head.
“No.”
My father continued.
“She knows which child is not mine.”
I stared at the five boys.
Every child looked terrified.
“Your mother never gave birth to five Moretti boys.”
The recording cut to black.
May you like
And one sentence appeared on the screen.
ONE OF THEM ISN'T YOUR SON.
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