Chapter 11 - The Betrayal of Marco RizziMarco raised both hands.
“I never hurt her.”
Alessandro’s gun remained steady.
“Then why were you watching her?”
“I was protecting her.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
The room was silent.
Marco took a breath.
“Luca contacted me six years ago.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“Six years ago?”
“Before Emma ever entered this house.”
Marco looked at Luca.
“You knew?”
Luca nodded.
“I needed someone inside the Moretti organization.”
Alessandro stared at both men.
“You planned this.”
“No,” Luca said. “We planned for her survival.”
Marco pulled a small USB drive from his pocket.
“Your father knew Emma existed.”
Alessandro froze.
“Before I did?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Sophia wasn’t only a cleaner.”
Sophia looked down.
Alessandro turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
She began crying.
“I was hired by your father.”
“To spy on us?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
“I fell in love with Isabella.”
Silence.
Sophia looked at Emma.
“And when Isabella asked me to protect her daughter, I became her mother.”
Alessandro slowly lowered his weapon.
Everything was collapsing around him.
The lies.
The deaths.
The years.
All of it.
“What did my father know?”
Sophia whispered:
“He knew Emma was the heir.”
“And Luca?”
“He knew Luca had survived.”
Alessandro stared.
“Why did he never tell me?”
Luca answered.
“Because he was afraid of you.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Me?”
“He believed you would choose family over the empire.”
“And that frightened him?”
“It threatened everything.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Marco raised his gun.
A figure entered.
Richard.
He looked exhausted.
But alive.
Alessandro aimed.
“You have one chance.”
Richard smiled.
“I know.”
“Where is Matteo?”
“Dead.”
“Who killed him?”
“Isabella.”
Everyone turned.
Isabella said nothing.
Richard continued.
“She killed him because he tried to take Emma.”
Alessandro looked at his sister.
“You killed him?”
“I protected my daughter.”
Richard reached into his coat.
“Then protect her from this.”
He threw a folder onto the table.
Alessandro opened it.
Inside were bank records.
Government documents.
Names.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
Congressmen.
And one final page.
The original Moretti trust agreement.
At the bottom was a condition.
The inheritance transfers fully to Emma Moretti upon her eighteenth birthday, unless the trustee is murdered or imprisoned.
Alessandro looked at the trustee name.
His own name.
Which meant if Alessandro died…
Emma inherited everything.
Richard smiled.
“Now do you understand?”
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“They’re not trying to kidnap her.”
May you like
Richard shook his head.
“They’re trying to kill you.”
