Chapter 12 - When the lights returned, Beatrice was gone.Luca was gone.
The vault was empty.
Except for me.
And the man standing behind the door.
He looked exactly like Elias.
But he wasn't.
I raised my gun.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“I've been waiting twenty years for you to ask.”
He removed a false skin from his face.
A stranger stared back.
Not Elias.
Not Aaron.
Someone else.
He handed me a photograph.
It showed five children.
Me.
Elias.
Samuel.
Aaron.
And a boy I didn't recognize.
“Who is he?”
“The fifth.”
I stared.
“There were five sons?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“There were six.”
My head spun.
“How many brothers did my father have?”
“Seven children in total.”
I lowered my gun.
“This is impossible.”
“Your family was built on lies.”
He moved closer.
“I am Daniel Moretti.”
Another brother.
The last one.
The one no one had mentioned.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel doesn't exist.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To help you survive.”
He pulled out a small device.
“This is a tracker.”
“For Victor?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“For Luca.”
I frowned.
“You said Luca confessed to killing Elias.”
“He did.”
“But Elias is alive.”
“The man upstairs wasn't Elias.”
“Then where is the real Elias?”
Daniel's face darkened.
“Dead.”
I stared.
“When?”
“Twelve years ago.”
I felt something collapse inside me.
The man I had seen.
The brother I believed alive.
A fake.
Then Luca had lied.
But why?
Daniel answered before I asked.
“Because Victor has been replacing people.”
“With what?”
“Copies.”
I stared at him.
“Copies?”
“Plastic surgery. Voice training. Digital manipulation.”
“People disguised as family.”
“Yes.”
“The man downstairs…”
“Was one of them.”
I remembered every conversation.
Every expression.
Every moment something felt wrong.
I had been speaking to an impostor.
My phone rang.
Victor.
“Adrian.”
“Where is Samuel?”
“Closer than you think.”
“What do you want?”
“The master key.”
“You mean me.”
Victor laughed.
“Exactly.”
The line went dead.
Daniel took my hand.
“There is a helicopter on the roof.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wants you alive.”
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“To open the trust.”
Daniel nodded.
“And then?”
“He'll kill you.”
I smiled coldly.
“Then we'll make him believe he succeeded.”
We returned to the mansion.
Victor's men filled the streets.
Police cruisers surrounded the property.
News helicopters circled above.
The city watched.
And that was exactly what we needed.
I walked through the front gate.
Hands visible.
Victor's people surrounded me.
Dominic approached.
“You should have stayed dead.”
I stared at him.
“Which one of us?”
He hesitated.
I knew.
He wasn't Dominic.
Not entirely.
Someone had replaced him too.
His eyes were wrong.
The real Dominic had a scar beneath his left eye.
This man didn't.
I smiled.
“You should check your face.”
He pulled his gun.
Daniel shot him first.
Chaos erupted.
We ran into the mansion.
My mother appeared from the hidden passage.
Samuel followed.
Alive.
Behind them stood the real Luca.
He looked exhausted.
He had tears in his eyes.
“I tried to tell you.”
I lowered my gun.
“Tell me what?”
He whispered:
“I didn't kill Elias.”
I looked at the man pretending to be him.
“Then who did?”
Luca's face hardened.
“Victor.”
My mother stepped forward.
“You need to hear the rest.”
“What?”
She pointed toward the dining room.
The same table.
The same place where Beatrice had first been caught stealing.
Underneath it was a hidden safe.
Inside was a single recording.
My father's final message.
His voice said:
“The first betrayal was mine.”
I stared.
“He didn't betray us,” my mother whispered.
“He sacrificed himself.”
Then my father's voice continued.
“To destroy Victor, one of my sons must become the villain.”
The recording stopped.
Luca looked at me.
“I was that son.”
Then the mansion doors exploded inward.
Victor walked through the smoke.
He held a gun against Beatrice's head.
“Beautiful story.”
May you like
He smiled.
“But it ends tonight.”
