Chapter 7 - VICTORVictor Valenti stood halfway down the staircase.
He looked older.
Gray hair.
A scar over one eyebrow.
But his eyes were unchanged.
Cold.
Measured.
Untouched by time.
Luca raised his gun.
“You're dead.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“You've said that twice tonight.”
“You faked your death.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To save you.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“You murdered people.”
“I did.”
“You built the shell companies.”
“I did.”
“You manipulated the family.”
“I protected the family.”
“Same thing.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“And you brought her.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Did you kill my mother?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Your mother was not innocent.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“No.”
Elena stared at him.
“Then who did?”
Victor looked at Luca.
“This is what your grandfather built.”
“Grandfather?”
Victor nodded.
“The Bellini trust began before I was born.”
“It owned people.”
“It controlled institutions.”
“It ruined families.”
“Yes.”
“Then why continue it?”
“Because leaving it untouched would have gotten you killed.”
Luca's voice hardened.
“You're lying.”
Victor looked toward Marco.
“Ask him.”
Marco looked away.
Luca turned.
“Marco?”
Marco spoke quietly.
“Your father didn't create the trust.”
“Who did?”
“Your grandfather.”
“That still doesn't explain anything.”
Marco took a breath.
“Your grandfather had four children.”
Victor.
Isabella.
Adriano’s father.
And…”
He looked at Elena.
“…Gabriel's mother.”
Luca frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Because Gabriel Russo wasn't Elena's father.”
Everyone fell silent.
Elena whispered.
“Then who was?”
Marco looked at Victor.
Victor answered.
“Me.”
Luca stared at him.
“What?”
Victor’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Before your mother married me, I loved Elena's mother.”
Elena stepped backward.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“You had an affair?”
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“I was her husband.”
Elena shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“Your mother changed her name.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather wanted her dead.”
Victor continued.
“She discovered the trust was being used to traffic information, judges, contracts, even people.”
“She tried to expose it.”
“And your grandfather tried to erase her.”
“She escaped.”
“She thought she escaped.”
Elena stared at him.
“Then who was Gabriel Russo?”
“A bodyguard.”
Her face went pale.
“The man who raised you.”
Luca stepped between them.
“Why was Elena brought into our family?”
Victor's expression became grave.
“Because she was the key.”
“To what?”
“The trust.”
Silence.
Victor looked at Luca.
“You and Elena were raised around each other for a reason.”
Luca suddenly remembered.
Childhood dinners.
Summer holidays.
Elena visiting the mansion.
His mother always keeping them apart.
The locked study.
The warnings.
The strange feeling that he had known Elena much longer than he actually had.
“You knew this would happen.”
“Yes.”
“You planned everything.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Victor didn't answer.
A gunshot came from behind him.
Victor stumbled.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Luca caught him before he fell.
“Dad!”
Victor grabbed his wrist.
“Listen.”
“Who shot you?”
“Isabella.”
Luca looked up.
At the top of the stairs stood Isabella.
She held a gun.
Her face was calm.
“You always were your father's weakness.”
Luca raised his weapon.
“You killed him.”
Isabella smiled.
“No.”
She fired again.
The bullet shattered the lamp beside Luca.
The basement plunged into darkness.
When emergency lights flickered on, Isabella was gone.
So was Victor.
The chair where Marco had been sitting was empty.
Elena was gone too.
Luca spun around.
“ELENA!”
Nothing.
He ran up the stairs.
The mansion was silent.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
YOU WANTED THE TRUTH.
Another.
NOW FIND YOUR SISTER.
Luca stared.
Sister.
He read it again.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph of Isabella.
Holding a baby.
The baby was Elena.
And beside them stood Luca’s mother.
On the back was written:
THERE WERE TWO CHILDREN.
Luca's hands began to shake.
May you like
The final message appeared.
ONE OF THEM WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
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