Chapter 5 - THE MAN BEHIND THE FAMILYLuca spent the morning tearing apart the Valenti archives.
Every document.
Every photograph.
Every sealed box.
Every ledger.
He found nothing.
Not one piece of evidence connecting him to anyone except Victor Valenti.
Which meant someone had built the perfect lie.
Matteo entered the archive room.
“You need to eat.”
“I need answers.”
“You've been awake for thirty hours.”
“I'll sleep when I'm dead.”
Matteo placed a folder on the table.
“What is that?”
“Adriano's private records.”
Luca looked up.
“Where did you get them?”
“From his office.”
“You broke into his office?”
“I assumed you'd prefer I break into his office than his skull.”
Luca opened the folder.
Bank transfers.
Medical records.
Travel documents.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Stefano Bellini.
Luca recognized it.
The hotel owner.
“The Bellini family.”
Matteo nodded.
“Dr. Stefano Bellini was your father's physician.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
Luca turned another page.
There it was.
A medical file.
Patient: Elena Valenti.
Luca froze.
“Who is Elena Valenti?”
Matteo looked confused.
“I don't know.”
Luca flipped through the pages.
The records had been sealed.
But one date was visible.
Twenty-one years ago.
A newborn girl.
Hospital.
Mother: unknown.
Father: unknown.
Guardian: Isabella Valenti.
Luca stared.
“Elena.”
Matteo understood.
“Your family raised Elena.”
“But Elena's last name is Russo.”
“Maybe that's the lie.”
They found Elena at a warehouse by the river.
She listened in silence as Luca explained the file.
Then she began laughing.
Not because she was amused.
Because she was terrified.
“That's impossible.”
“You tell me.”
“My mother gave birth to me.”
“Yes.”
“My father was Gabriel Russo.”
“Maybe.”
She shook her head.
“No. My birth certificate is real.”
“Certificates can be changed.”
“My entire childhood?”
“Can be fabricated.”
“My memories?”
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“Then your family didn't just hide something from you.”
Luca said nothing.
“They built both our lives.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Matteo raised his weapon.
The warehouse door opened.
Adriano walked in.
Luca immediately pointed his gun at him.
“Stop.”
Adriano raised his hands.
“I came alone.”
“You lied to me.”
“So did everyone else.”
“You attacked Elena.”
“No.”
“You threatened her.”
“No.”
“You were in the library.”
“Yes.”
“You touched her.”
“To save her.”
Luca stared.
“From whom?”
Adriano took a slow breath.
“From Isabella.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Your mother?”
“My mother ordered the attack.”
“Why?”
Adriano looked at Luca.
“Because she thought Elena had your father's ledger.”
“She didn't.”
“She didn't know that.”
“Why was Marco taken?”
“Because Marco found the real ledger.”
Luca's expression changed.
“What?”
Adriano reached into his coat.
He pulled out a photograph.
Marco.
Standing beside Victor Valenti.
But Victor looked much younger.
The photograph was dated fifteen years after Victor supposedly died.
Luca stared.
“That's impossible.”
Adriano looked at him.
“Your father didn't die twelve years ago.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“He faked his death.”
“Why?”
“Because someone was trying to kill him.”
“Who?”
Adriano looked toward Elena.
“Her mother.”
Elena stepped backward.
“My mother was dead.”
“So you were told.”
Adriano placed another photograph on the table.
A woman leaving an airport.
Older.
Healthy.
Alive.
Elena touched the photograph.
Her hand trembled.
“That's her.”
Luca looked at Adriano.
“Where is she?”
Adriano didn't answer.
“Where?”
“She died three months ago.”
Elena stared at him.
“How?”
“Poison.”
“Who poisoned her?”
Adriano’s eyes hardened.
“Your father.”
Elena shook her head.
“My father?”
“No.”
Adriano looked at Luca.
“Victor.”
Luca suddenly understood.
They weren't hunting a killer.
They were chasing a family war that had been buried for decades.
A war between two people who had both been declared dead.
His father.
And Elena's mother.
Adriano turned toward the door.
“You have six hours.”
“For what?”
“To find Marco.”
“Where is he?”
Adriano paused.
“In the one place your father never wanted you to discover.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Where?”
Adriano looked back.
“The basement beneath your childhood home.”
Then he left.
Luca and Elena looked at each other.
The old Valenti mansion had no basement.
At least, that was what everyone had always told him.
Luca whispered:
“There's a room under my room.”
Elena stared.
“How do you know?”
He looked toward the wall.
“Because when I was a child…”
May you like
His voice broke.
“…I used to hear someone crying beneath my floor.”
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