Chapter 9 - I read the sentence three times.It didn't change.
THE FOURTH IS ADRIAN.
“What does that mean?”
Elias looked sick.
Beatrice closed the curtains.
Then locked every door.
“Your father didn't consider you his first son.”
She spoke slowly.
“You were the fourth member of a succession plan.”
I stared.
“What succession plan?”
“The Original Five built an empire that couldn't belong to one family forever.”
She pointed toward the ledger.
“They chose heirs.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
I laughed.
“You're telling me this entire war is about inheritance?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It's about who gets to rewrite the rules.”
I opened the ledger.
The final pages contained a sequence of symbols.
Five circles.
Four were crossed out.
One remained.
Mine.
Elias spoke quietly.
“Your father knew they would come after you.”
“Then why didn't he protect me?”
“He tried.”
“Apparently not hard enough.”
“He gave you the ledger.”
I stared at him.
“That isn't protection.”
“It was.”
He pointed at the symbols.
“You were the key.”
“To what?”
“The trust.”
I shook my head.
“What trust?”
“The Moretti Foundation.”
I frowned.
“That died with my father.”
“No.”
Elias pointed to a hidden code inside the ledger.
“It controls every property and account your father owned.”
I stared.
Billions.
My entire empire.
Could disappear overnight.
“Who can access it?”
“Only you.”
“Why?”
“Your DNA.”
I looked at Beatrice.
She nodded.
“Your father knew they might kill you.”
“So he designed the system to require me.”
“Yes.”
“And Luca?”
“Can't access it.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
“Dominic?”
“No.”
I understood.
“They need me alive.”
Beatrice nodded.
“That is why they haven't killed you.”
Suddenly the phone rang again.
Luca.
I answered.
“Where is Samuel?”
“He's safe.”
“Prove it.”
A video arrived.
Samuel sat in a basement.
Alive.
Behind him was a clock.
I recognized the room.
My father's old private vault beneath the mansion.
Luca spoke.
“You have six hours.”
“To do what?”
“Come home.”
“My mansion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who has been betraying you is already there.”
The line ended.
We returned to the mansion.
The lights were on.
The front door was open.
No guards.
No security.
Every camera had been shut down.
I entered first.
The house smelled like smoke.
The dining room was destroyed.
Chairs overturned.
Glass shattered.
Blood on the floor.
I followed it toward the kitchen.
There was someone lying beside the pantry.
One of my guards.
Dead.
A message had been written on the wall.
USING THE FOOD WAS CLEVER.
I stared.
My entire body went cold.
Someone had known how this started.
Beatrice entered behind me.
“We need to leave.”
A voice came from upstairs.
“No.”
We looked up.
Dominic stood on the balcony.
Gun in hand.
“You need to stay.”
I aimed at him.
“Where is Samuel?”
Dominic laughed.
“You still think Luca has him?”
He shook his head.
“Luca isn't holding anyone.”
“Then who is?”
Dominic descended the staircase.
“Your mother.”
I stared.
“She died.”
Dominic stopped.
“She didn't.”
The room went silent.
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed an elderly woman sitting inside a hospital.
She was older.
Gray hair.
Wrinkles.
But the face was unmistakable.
My mother.
Alive.
Dominic looked at me.
“She has been watching you for eight years.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where is she?”
He leaned closer.
“In the room beneath your childhood bedroom.”
I ran upstairs.
Behind my old bookshelf was a hidden door.
I opened it.
A staircase descended.
At the bottom was a small room.
A woman sat in a chair.
Her back was turned.
I whispered:
“Mom?”
She slowly turned.
My mother looked at me.
And smiled.
“Adrian.”
My knees almost gave out.
She stood.
“I knew you'd find me.”
May you like
Then she looked at the ledger in my hand.
“And now you finally know why I had to let your father die.”
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