Chapter 8 - THE OLD MILLThe old mill had been abandoned for thirty years.
No electricity.
No functioning doors.
No reason for anyone to be there.
Except people who wanted to disappear.
Alejandro arrived at midnight.
He entered alone.
The air smelled like rust and rain.
“Matteo.”
His voice echoed.
Nothing.
Then a light appeared upstairs.
A man stepped into view.
Older.
Thinner.
Scarred across one side of his face.
Alejandro knew immediately.
He had seen the face in the photograph.
Matteo.
His younger brother was alive.
The two men stared at each other.
Neither moved.
“You look like Father,” Matteo said.
Alejandro's voice was cold.
“You look dead.”
Matteo laughed quietly.
“I was.”
“Where is Emma?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Behind you.”
Alejandro spun.
Emma sat inside a wooden crate.
Thomas was beside her.
She wasn't crying.
She was eating a biscuit.
Alejandro nearly collapsed from relief.
He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
Emma hugged him.
“You came.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
“Of course I came.”
Matteo watched.
“You didn't even ask why she matters.”
Alejandro turned.
“I don't care.”
“That is why you will lose.”
“What?”
Matteo walked down the stairs.
“Your entire life has been built around power.”
He pointed at Emma.
“But she will destroy you.”
Alejandro held his daughter closer.
“You kidnapped her.”
“No.”
“I did not.”
“Then why is she here?”
“Because she followed me.”
Alejandro frowned.
Emma looked up.
“I followed Uncle Matteo.”
Alejandro went still.
“You know him?”
Emma nodded.
“He came to Mommy's room last week.”
Clara.
Alejandro's expression darkened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Emma looked at him.
“Mommy said not to.”
Alejandro's eyes moved toward Matteo.
“What did you tell her?”
Matteo crouched beside Emma.
“I told her the truth.”
“What truth?”
Matteo looked at Alejandro.
“That you're her father.”
Silence.
Alejandro swallowed.
Emma stared at him.
“You're my daddy?”
The question broke something inside Alejandro.
He looked at the child he had believed was a stranger.
He remembered every time he had walked past Clara in the hallway.
Every time Emma had watched him from behind her mother's skirt.
Every time he had ignored her.
Emma waited.
Alejandro slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
Her little face brightened.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She hugged him again.
For the first time in his life, Alejandro Moretti felt something more powerful than fear.
Responsibility.
Then Matteo spoke.
“You have another problem.”
Alejandro looked up.
“What?”
Matteo tossed a file onto the table.
Alejandro opened it.
Inside were photographs of the Moretti estate.
Every room.
Every corridor.
Every employee.
At the very end was a photograph of Alejandro and Emma.
Taken tonight.
From outside the mill.
Alejandro's face changed.
“They're watching us.”
Matteo nodded.
“You brought them here.”
A gunshot tore through the ceiling.
Emma screamed.
Alejandro pulled her down.
Bullets rained through the wooden walls.
Thomas tackled Matteo.
Victor's men opened fire from outside.
A vehicle exploded.
The mill caught fire.
Alejandro carried Emma toward the back exit.
Matteo shouted:
“THE LEDGER!”
Alejandro turned.
“What?”
Matteo pointed toward the flames.
“They know where it is!”
Then the roof collapsed between them.
Alejandro escaped with Emma.
May you like
But Matteo was gone.
Again.
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