Chapter 12 - THE WEDDING TRAPThe wedding was supposed to be the final piece.
A beautiful ceremony.
Two families.
One empire.
One bride.
One groom.
And beneath the flowers, a legal trap capable of changing ownership of everything my father had built.
We canceled nothing.
We changed everything.
Vanessa insisted on attending.
“I won't run.”
“You might die.”
“So might you.”
She was right.
Nicholas wanted us to leave the city.
Elena wanted us to disappear.
Grace wanted Peter moved somewhere no one could find him.
I had another plan.
We would let the wedding happen.
But we would control the room.
Marco recruited thirty men.
Adrian prepared duplicate copies of every ledger.
Grace contacted the hospital records department.
Nicholas disappeared.
Again.
The morning of the ceremony, I received a message.
COME ALONE. DOOR 214.
I went.
The old maternity ward was empty.
Except for a woman sitting in Room 214.
Elena.
She placed a folder on the table.
“This is why your father built the registry.”
I opened it.
Names.
Births.
Deaths.
Adoptions.
Inheritance transfers.
It wasn't only criminal.
It was bureaucratic.
Organized.
Precise.
A machine.
“Who controls it now?”
Elena looked at me.
“Your father did.”
“He's dead.”
“Yes.”
“So who took over?”
She said one name.
“Vanessa.”
I stared.
“No.”
“The moment she signs the marriage papers, control transfers to her.”
“But she doesn't know.”
“She doesn't need to.”
The wedding contract had a clause allowing the legal beneficiary to assume administrative authority upon marriage.
And Vanessa was the beneficiary.
I suddenly understood Lucia's desperation.
If Vanessa married me, she would legally control the registry.
Lucia wanted the system.
But then why kill Vanessa?
“Your mother wanted Vanessa to sign.”
Elena nodded.
“And then?”
“She planned to kill her.”
I looked at Elena.
“So Vanessa dies.”
“Yes.”
“And I become the scapegoat.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the registry would show you responsible.”
My hands tightened.
We had hours.
At noon, the cathedral filled.
Politicians.
Businessmen.
Judges.
Old family allies.
Everyone smiled.
Nobody knew the room was sitting on a powder keg.
Vanessa walked down the aisle.
She looked terrified.
But she kept walking.
I stood at the altar.
The priest spoke.
The cameras rolled.
Then the doors opened.
Lucia entered.
Alone.
She smiled at me.
“Beautiful day.”
I said nothing.
She walked to the front.
Then the lights dimmed.
A projector came alive.
Images appeared on the cathedral wall.
My mother's death.
My father's meetings.
Nicholas's supposed murder.
Peter's birth.
And finally...
me.
Holding a gun.
Standing beside my mother's body.
The room erupted.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
I couldn't breathe.
“That isn't real.”
Lucia smiled.
“Oh, Dominic.”
She leaned close.
“It's footage.”
The screen changed.
A timestamp appeared.
Twenty years ago.
My fingerprints were shown.
My face.
My gun.
My mother lying dead.
It looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Marco shouted:
“Fake!”
Police officers entered.
Guns raised.
One of them pointed directly at me.
“Dominic Moretti, step away from the altar.”
Vanessa looked at me.
Tears in her eyes.
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
Then someone shouted from the balcony.
“Of course he didn't.”
Everyone turned.
Nicholas stood there.
Alive.
Holding a laptop.
“Because I know who did.”
The projector changed.
A second video appeared.
My father.
Lucia.
And a third person.
The third person turned toward the camera.
I recognized him.
My future father-in-law.
Vanessa's supposed dead father.
Alive.
Then he spoke.
“I ordered the hit.”
Vanessa collapsed.
Lucia screamed.
The room erupted.
And then every phone in the cathedral began receiving the same message.
THE REGISTRY HAS BEEN RELEASED.
Nicholas looked at me.
“We have ten minutes.”
“Until what?”
He looked toward the exits.
“Until every powerful family in this city knows their children are listed.”
The cathedral doors locked.
Outside, engines roared.
May you like
We were no longer trapped with the enemy.
The enemy was trapped with us.
