Chapter 12 - The cemetery was empty.Rain fell across the graves.
Adrienne stood before the Moretti family plot.
His father's grave was sealed.
Or appeared to be.
Tony crouched beside it.
“This was opened recently.”
Adrienne looked at the stone.
His father's name was engraved across the front.
Beneath it:
LOVING FATHER.
Adrienne almost laughed.
He touched the stone.
“Open it.”
Tony looked at him.
“Boss?”
“Open it.”
The groundskeeper arrived with equipment.
Within minutes, the grave was exposed.
The coffin was empty.
Adrienne stared into the hollow space.
Inside lay one object.
A bloodstained dog tag.
Bruno barked.
Adrienne picked it up.
A name was engraved.
MARA MORETTI.
His father's sister.
Adrienne looked at Isabella.
“You knew her?”
Isabella nodded.
“She was the first person to discover Anthony's plan.”
“Where is she?”
Isabella looked down.
“Dead.”
“Who killed her?”
Silence.
Sofia answered:
“Your father.”
Adrienne's jaw clenched.
He looked at Vivien.
“You said my father was alive.”
Vivien nodded.
“He has been hidden for twelve years.”
“Where?”
“The place he trusted most.”
Adrienne looked at the estate.
“My house.”
“No.”
Vivien shook her head.
“Your mother's grave.”
Adrienne froze.
They returned to the cemetery.
The grave of his mother stood beneath an old oak tree.
Bruno walked directly toward it.
He scratched the earth.
Adrienne stared.
“Dig.”
The ground was softer than it should have been.
They uncovered a steel hatch.
Beneath it was a bunker.
Inside were medical supplies.
Old monitors.
A bed.
A wall of photographs.
Adrienne saw himself as a child.
Sofia.
Mia.
Bruno.
Isabella.
Even Vivien.
Every person had been watched.
For years.
Then a cough came from the darkness.
Adrienne raised his weapon.
A man stepped into the light.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
Adrienne's father.
Alive.
Adrienne's entire body went rigid.
His father looked at him.
“Hello, son.”
Adrienne's gun shook.
“You're dead.”
His father smiled.
“That's what I needed everyone to believe.”
Adrienne stepped closer.
“You killed Mom.”
“No.”
“You ordered it.”
“I protected her.”
Adrienne laughed bitterly.
“You call murder protection?”
“She knew too much.”
“She knew about Mia.”
“Yes.”
“She knew about Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“She knew about the trust.”
His father nodded.
Adrienne's voice cracked.
“And Bruno?”
His father looked at the dog.
“Bruno saved you.”
Adrienne stared.
“From what?”
“From yourself.”
Adrienne frowned.
His father pointed toward a file.
“You weren't supposed to survive the night Mia was born.”
Adrienne looked at the papers.
His father's plan had been simple.
Fake Adrienne's death.
Hide Mia.
Move the trust.
Make everyone believe the bloodline was broken.
Then wait.
Anthony ruined the plan.
He found Mia.
He turned the trust into a weapon.
His father looked at Adrienne.
“I needed you to come home.”
“You kidnapped Bruno.”
“No.”
“I drugged him.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
His father sighed.
“Vivien.”
Adrienne looked at her.
Vivien collapsed to her knees.
“I didn't know.”
His father continued.
“I instructed Vivien to move Bruno temporarily.”
Adrienne's eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he had found the vault.”
Adrienne looked at Bruno.
His father smiled.
“The dog remembered where I buried the original trust.”
Adrienne shook his head.
“You used everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Even Mia?”
His father's expression changed.
“I regretted that.”
Adrienne stared.
“You don't get to regret it.”
Then a gunshot echoed through the bunker.
His father dropped.
Sofia screamed.
Adrienne spun around.
Anthony stood at the entrance.
“Enough family reunions.”
He raised the gun.
“Now we finish the inheritance.”
The bunker doors slammed shut.
May you like
Anthony smiled.
“And this time, there will be no survivors.”
