Chapter 13 - Lorenzo could not hear anything after that.The room blurred.
Vincent was his brother?
His father's other son?
The man who had stood beside Isabella's coffin?
Richard insisted the evidence was circumstantial.
The ledger contained coded names.
The photograph showed the child.
A birth record existed under a different surname.
But the matching date was clear.
So was the scar beneath Vincent's jaw.
The same scar visible in the photograph.
Lorenzo refused to believe it until they obtained DNA.
Vincent was already gone.
His office had been emptied.
Every file removed.
Every computer destroyed.
Mason searched the property.
One hidden drive remained.
Inside was a video.
Vincent looked directly into the camera.
“Lorenzo.”
The recording began.
“If you're watching this, you've found the ledger.”
Lorenzo watched without blinking.
“You think this is about money.”
Vincent smiled.
“It isn't.”
“This family destroyed itself because everyone believed inheritance meant blood.”
He leaned closer.
“You were never supposed to be the heir.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
“You were never supposed to exist.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
Vincent continued.
“Your father wanted to choose you anyway.”
“He believed you were different.”
“So I had to make him change his mind.”
“The company.”
“The accounts.”
“The accidents.”
“The false identities.”
“All of it was designed to make you dependent on me.”
Rachel frowned.
Vincent looked directly at the camera.
“Your father died because he tried to expose me.”
“Your mother disappeared because she helped him.”
“Isabella survived because she refused to stop digging.”
Lorenzo felt his fists tighten.
Then Vincent said something unexpected.
“I never intended to kill Isabella.”
Lorenzo froze.
“I needed her alive.”
“Because she knew where the original ledger was.”
“That was all.”
Rachel whispered:
“Then why stage the death?”
Vincent answered in the recording.
“Because dead people stop being protected.”
Lorenzo stared.
Vincent continued.
“I knew you would search for her.”
“I knew you would find the trail.”
“And I knew you would eventually come here.”
Then the screen changed.
A live feed.
Emma.
Sophia.
Both tied to chairs.
Lorenzo stood.
“Where are they?”
Vincent's voice returned.
“Come alone.”
The coordinates appeared.
An abandoned cannery near the river.
Lorenzo reached for his coat.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“My daughter?”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go alone.”
Vincent's voice came through the speaker one final time.
“If anyone else enters the building, Emma dies first.”
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
He took the weapon from his belt.
“I'll go.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“You won't.”
He looked at her.
“You've already survived enough.”
“So have you.”
“You don't understand.”
“I do.”
She touched his face.
“They took me because I tried to protect you.”
Lorenzo looked at the photograph of Emma.
Then at Isabella.
Finally he nodded.
They would go together.
Not as a rescue team.
As bait.
The cannery was abandoned.
One entrance.
Three visible guards.
Too easy.
Rachel whispered through the earpiece.
“Don't enter yet.”
Lorenzo looked through the window.
Emma was inside.
Alive.
Sophia beside her.
Vincent stood behind them.
And next to him was a man Lorenzo had never seen before.
Older.
Tall.
Silver hair.
Lorenzo recognized the face.
His father.
Enzo DeLuca.
Alive.
Lorenzo's breath caught.
Rachel whispered:
“That can't be him.”
Lorenzo watched the man walk toward Emma.
He crouched.
Spoke to her.
Emma looked at him.
Then toward the window.
Straight at Lorenzo.
Her lips moved.
He couldn't hear the words.
But he understood them.
“That's him.”
Vincent turned.
He smiled.
Then he pointed directly at the window.
“Bring Lorenzo inside.”
The doors opened.
Lorenzo entered.
Enzo looked at him.
For the first time in twenty years.
Father and son stood face to face.
Enzo smiled.
“You look exactly like me.”
Lorenzo's voice shook.
“You're dead.”
Enzo laughed.
“So is your wife.”
Isabella stepped from behind Lorenzo.
Enzo's smile vanished.
“You.”
Isabella raised her weapon.
“Yes.”
Enzo looked at Vincent.
“Why is she alive?”
Vincent answered calmly.
“Because I made a mistake.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Emma screamed.
And when the emergency lights came back on...
Vincent was gone.
So was Enzo.
May you like
And Isabella was lying on the floor.
Blood spreading across her coat.
