Chapter 10 - THE MAN WITH ONE BLUE EYEStefano Moretti had been dead for twelve years.
At least according to every official record.
Alejandro spent the next six hours tearing apart those records.
Birth certificates.
Death certificates.
Bank accounts.
Property transfers.
Passport histories.
Everything.
Then he found the first crack.
Stefano's death certificate had been filed four days after the date of his supposed death.
The signature belonged to a doctor who had disappeared two years later.
Victor found a second crack.
A property in upstate New York had received monthly payments under the name of a shell company.
For twelve years.
The account was still active.
Alejandro stared at the address.
“Go.”
They drove through the night.
The house stood alone in the woods.
No lights.
No cars.
Alejandro entered.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
Except one room.
A child's bedroom.
Toys.
Drawings.
Books.
On the wall were photographs of Emma.
Hundreds.
Alejandro's heart sank.
Someone had been watching her since birth.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“You finally came.”
Stefano stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Scarred.
One blue eye.
The other covered by a black patch.
Alejandro raised his gun.
Stefano smiled.
“Don't.”
“You're dead.”
“Many useful men are.”
“Where is my father?”
Stefano laughed.
“Still chasing ghosts.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“You monitored Emma.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was never supposed to survive.”
Alejandro's finger tightened on the trigger.
“Explain.”
Stefano sat.
“Your father created the Black Ledger.”
“You said that already.”
“No.”
Stefano leaned forward.
“He created it because he believed governments couldn't be trusted.”
“And?”
“And he put every transaction, every secret, every payment inside one system.”
Alejandro looked around.
“Where is it?”
Stefano smiled.
“Inside Emma.”
Alejandro looked toward the child's room.
“How?”
“Your father knew people would kill for the Ledger.”
“So he turned his granddaughter into a vault.”
“Not exactly.”
Stefano explained that Project Eve wasn't a computer program.
It was a biometric encryption system.
The final access key had been divided into pieces.
One encoded into DNA markers.
One into fingerprints.
One into voice patterns.
One into memory.
Emma had inherited all four.
Alejandro stared.
“She doesn't know.”
“Of course not.”
“So why are they hunting her?”
“Because your father wants the key.”
“Where is he?”
Stefano looked at Alejandro.
“You're still asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Who is pretending to be your enemy?”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Stefano fell.
Alejandro turned.
Snipers.
He dragged Stefano behind a wall.
Victor returned fire.
Then the building erupted in flames.
Stefano handed Alejandro a small metal drive.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“The first location.”
“Of what?”
“The second child.”
Alejandro stared.
“There really is another.”
Stefano nodded.
“Your father had two children marked by Project Eve.”
“Who?”
Stefano whispered the name.
Alejandro's expression changed.
The second child was not Matteo's.
Not Clara's.
Not Valentina's.
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It was Alejandro's own son.
And he had no idea the boy existed.
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