Chapter 7 - THE SECOND CHILDValentina survived the shooting.
Barely.
She woke in a private medical room beneath the Moretti estate at 2:10 a.m.
Alejandro stood beside the bed.
“You have five minutes.”
Valentina laughed weakly.
“You've become impatient.”
“You were shot because of me.”
“No.”
“Because of Emma?”
“No.”
“Then tell me why.”
Valentina looked at him.
“Because your father had a second heir.”
Alejandro froze.
“You said another child.”
“I said another child.”
“Whose?”
Valentina looked away.
“Matteo's.”
Alejandro's mind raced.
“Matteo had a child?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“And where is that child?”
Valentina's eyes filled with fear.
“That's what they want.”
Alejandro understood.
Someone was searching for the second heir.
But why?
Valentina whispered.
“Because your father's fortune wasn't built on the Moretti empire.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“There was another organization.”
She paused.
“Bigger than ours.”
“What organization?”
“The Black Ledger.”
Alejandro had heard the name.
Every criminal family had.
A shadow network that controlled debts, contracts, offshore accounts and political favors across continents.
Most believed it was a myth.
Valentina shook her head.
“It isn't.”
She reached beneath her pillow.
Pulled out a folded document.
“Your father was one of its founders.”
Alejandro stared.
“He was a member?”
“Worse.”
“He controlled it.”
The room became silent.
Valentina continued.
“When he died, control should have passed to Matteo.”
“But Matteo disappeared.”
“Exactly.”
Alejandro looked at the document.
At the bottom was a clause.
IN THE EVENT OF THE PRIMARY HEIR'S DEATH, AUTHORITY PASSES TO THE CHILD OF THE SECOND HEIR.
Alejandro's eyes widened.
“So Emma…”
Valentina shook her head.
“Emma is connected to this.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why was she targeted?”
Valentina closed her eyes.
“Because someone believes she carries information.”
“What information?”
“The location of the Black Ledger.”
Alejandro stood.
“Where is Matteo?”
Valentina whispered.
“Here.”
The word hit him like a bullet.
Alejandro turned.
“What?”
“He's been living in New York.”
“Where?”
Valentina looked toward the window.
“Closer than you think.”
Before Alejandro could answer, a phone began ringing.
Not his.
Valentina's.
She answered.
A distorted voice said:
“You have one hour.”
Then a photograph appeared on the screen.
Emma.
She was standing beside a man.
Alejandro recognized him.
Thomas Reed.
Under the photograph was a message.
BRING THE GIRL TO THE OLD MILL.
Alejandro grabbed the phone.
“You took her.”
The voice answered.
“No.”
Alejandro froze.
“We didn't take Emma.”
“Then who did?”
A pause.
Then:
“Your brother.”
The call ended.
Alejandro immediately turned to Victor.
“Find Thomas.”
“We already lost him.”
“No.”
Alejandro looked at the screen.
“He wants me to find him.”
Victor didn't understand.
Alejandro pointed at the photograph.
“Look at Emma's shoes.”
Victor stared.
There was mud on them.
“What's special?”
Alejandro zoomed in.
A small red line had been drawn across the left shoe.
Victor frowned.
Alejandro remembered something Clara had once told him.
Emma marked everything she wanted to remember with red crayon.
It wasn't mud.
It was a signal.
“She left us a trail.”
Alejandro smiled for the first time that day.
May you like
His daughter was alive.
And she was fighting back.
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