Chapter 7: The Enemy Inside The Mansion
The drive back to the Moretti mansion was silent.
Too silent.
Alejandro sat in the back seat, staring through the window at the city lights passing by.
Normally, he would analyze every detail.
Every possibility.
Every threat.
But tonight...
His mind was trapped inside a memory that might not even be real.
"The person who erased your memories is still inside your mansion."
Adrian Vale’s final words repeated again and again.
Someone inside his home.
Someone close.
Someone who had access to him every day.
Alejandro looked at Emma sitting beside him.
For the first time, he understood something terrifying.
They were not two strangers caught in the same mystery.
They were two missing pieces of the same puzzle.
Someone had taken both of their memories.
Someone had designed their lives.
Someone had controlled them from the shadows.
When they arrived at the mansion, Alejandro immediately noticed something wrong.
The lights were on.
The guards were standing normally.
The servants were moving around.
Everything looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
A trap did not always look dangerous.
Sometimes it looked like home.
“Lock every exit,” Alejandro ordered.
The guards immediately reacted.
Emma looked at him.
“You think someone here is the enemy?”
“I know someone is.”
“Who?”
Alejandro looked toward the mansion.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
Every person in the mansion was gathered in the main hall.
Servants.
Security.
Employees.
Everyone.
Alejandro stood at the center.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody dared.
“For eleven months,” Alejandro said, “someone inside this house has been hiding information from me.”
The servants looked nervous.
“Someone knew about Isabella.”
Silence.
“Someone knew about Emma.”
A few people exchanged confused looks.
Alejandro noticed.
Good.
Fear revealed things.
“You all believed Isabella was gone.”
He looked around.
“But someone knew she was alive.”
Nobody moved.
Then an old servant stepped forward.
Maria.
“Sir…”
Alejandro looked at her.
“You knew.”
Maria lowered her head.
“I knew Isabella had a plan.”
“You knew she was alive?”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“But I knew she expected something to happen.”
Alejandro narrowed his eyes.
“What something?”
Maria looked at Emma.
“Her return.”
The room became silent.
Again.
Everything led back to Isabella.
Then Alejandro noticed something.
One person was missing.
His personal doctor.
Dr. Victor Laurent.
The man who had treated him for years.
The man who knew his medical history.
The man who was always available whenever Alejandro needed him.
“Where is Victor?”
Nobody answered.
A guard checked.
“He’s not in the mansion.”
“When did he leave?”
The guard hesitated.
“Two hours ago.”
Alejandro’s expression changed.
Two hours ago.
Exactly when they entered the warehouse.
Exactly when Adrian was shot.
“Find him.”
Emma watched Alejandro carefully.
“You think it’s him?”
“I don’t know.”
“That scares you.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“What?”
“You always know what to do.”
He said nothing.
Emma continued.
“But now you don’t.”
She was right.
For the first time in his life, Alejandro Moretti was fighting an enemy he couldn’t see.
An enemy who knew his past.
His weaknesses.
His memories.
Inside Isabella’s old bedroom, Emma discovered something.
A hidden drawer.
Another secret.
Another piece of the puzzle.
Inside was a small audio recorder.
She pressed the button.
At first, only static.
Then...
A voice.
Isabella.
Emma froze.
“Alejandro…”
She immediately called him.
He entered seconds later.
When he heard Isabella’s voice, he stopped.
The recording continued.
“If you are hearing this, then I failed.”
Alejandro’s expression changed.
“No…”
Isabella’s voice was calm.
But tired.
“I tried to protect you.”
A pause.
“But you cannot protect someone from a truth they refuse to remember.”
Emma looked at Alejandro.
The words hurt him.
Because they sounded like something Isabella would say.
“I know you will search for me.”
Isabella continued.
“I know you will blame yourself.”
A long silence.
“Don’t.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
Then Isabella said something that made him open them.
“Because the night I disappeared…”
Her voice became softer.
“You were not my enemy.”
A pause.
“But you were not innocent either.”
The recording stopped.
Alejandro stood frozen.
Emma looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Because somewhere deep inside...
Something was moving.
A memory.
A hidden piece of his own past.
A room.
A storm.
Isabella crying.
His own hands covered in blood.
Then darkness.
Alejandro grabbed the table.
Emma immediately supported him.
“What happened?”
He breathed heavily.
“I remembered something.”
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“I saw Isabella.”
“When?”
“The night she disappeared.”
Emma waited.
“And?”
Alejandro looked at his hands.
“I was holding a gun.”
Before Emma could respond, the mansion alarm suddenly activated.
A guard rushed inside.
“Boss!”
“What?”
“We found Dr. Victor.”
“Where?”
The guard looked afraid.
“In the underground basement.”
Alejandro frowned.
“There is no basement.”
The guard swallowed.
“That’s what we thought.”
They followed the guard beneath the mansion.
Behind another hidden door.
Another secret.
The Moretti mansion was becoming a place full of ghosts.
Inside the underground room was a medical facility.
Old equipment.
Files.
Photographs.
And in the center...
A chair.
A chair designed for memory experiments.
Alejandro stared.
“No…”
Emma looked at the files.
Then screamed.
Because one file had her picture.
Another had Alejandro’s.
The title on both documents was the same.
PROJECT REBIRTH
Suddenly, a monitor turned on.
A video began playing.
Dr. Victor appeared on screen.
“Hello, Alejandro.”
Everyone froze.
The doctor smiled.
“I know you’re confused.”
Alejandro clenched his fists.
“Victor…”
The recording continued.
“You spent years believing you were building an empire.”
A pause.
“But the truth is…”
The doctor looked directly into the camera.
“You were created to inherit one.”
Emma stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
The video showed old footage.
A young Alejandro.
A young Emma.
And Isabella standing beside them.
All three together.
The doctor’s voice continued:
“The Moretti family was never fighting The Vipers.”
The screen changed.
Showing a symbol.
The same symbol on Emma’s neck.
“The Moretti family was The Vipers.”
Alejandro felt his heart stop.
Impossible.
His entire identity.
His entire history.
Everything he believed...
Was a lie.
Then the final message appeared.
A date.
The date Isabella disappeared.
And below it:
SUBJECT ALEJANDRO MEMORY RESTORATION: FAILED
Emma looked at him.
“Failed?”
Alejandro stared at the screen.
Because one horrifying question entered his mind.
If his memories had been erased...
Who was he before?
May you like
And what had he done?
To be continued...
