Chapter 13 - The Last BetrayalEvery eye turned toward Alessandro.
He didn't deny it.
That frightened me more than anything.
“You knew,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“You betrayed them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Because I had no choice.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You always had a choice.”
Alessandro's face tightened.
“I was nineteen.”
“So were we.”
“They had Emma's mother.”
“They had Nora.”
“I was trying to save her.”
I stepped back.
“Save me from what?”
He looked at me.
“My father.”
I remembered the fire.
The music.
The smoke.
My mother screaming.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“The man standing beside us wasn't my father.”
“What?”
“My father died six months earlier.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then who was he?”
Alessandro answered.
“Matteo.”
The room went silent.
Matteo laughed.
“Finally.”
He lowered his weapon.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
I stared.
“You impersonated Alessandro’s father?”
“Yes.”
“For years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To control the empire.”
Everything clicked.
The fire.
The murders.
Daniel’s disappearance.
Elena's fake death.
The surveillance.
My daughter's identity.
Matteo hadn't been cleaning up the family.
He had been running it.
Alessandro had spent years trying to stop him.
But there was one thing nobody knew.
Alessandro reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small drive.
Matteo's face changed.
“No.”
Alessandro smiled.
“The real ledger isn't in the vault.”
Matteo raised his gun.
“Where?”
Alessandro looked at me.
“Nora has it.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The vault was a decoy.”
Daniel understood.
“The entire chamber.”
“Yes.”
Alessandro pointed toward the floor.
“The real data was transferred years ago.”
“To whom?”
He looked at Emma.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Her.”
My blood went cold.
“You implanted it?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
He touched my temple.
“You memorized it.”
I felt dizzy.
The numbers.
The melodies.
The symbols.
The dreams.
They weren't dreams.
They were memories.
Stored inside me.
Matteo fired.
Victor tackled him.
Elena shot the gun from his hand.
Daniel pulled me toward the emergency stairs.
“Go!”
We ran.
Behind us, the vault exploded.
The tunnel collapsed.
I heard Alessandro shout.
“TAKE EMMA!”
Then silence.
I stopped.
“No.”
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“He's gone.”
I fought him.
“No!”
Then Emma pointed behind us.
“Mama.”
A small red light blinked beneath the rubble.
A phone.
It was Alessandro's.
May you like
The screen displayed one message.
RUN. HE IS ALREADY INSIDE YOUR HOME.
