Chapter 16 - The Man Who Owned the DeadAlessandro spent three hours in federal custody.
The entire time, he said nothing.
He knew the arrest was staged.
He knew the murder evidence was fabricated.
But he also knew someone with extraordinary influence had ordered it.
Then the cell door opened.
Luca stood there.
“You’re leaving.”
“How?”
“The trust.”
Alessandro looked up.
“Emma?”
“She invoked emergency authority.”
Alessandro almost smiled.
“She’s six.”
“She’s six and apparently terrifying.”
Outside, Emma waited with Sophia.
“I told them you were coming home.”
Alessandro hugged her.
Then he asked:
“Who taught you how to activate the trust?”
Emma shrugged.
“Aunt Isabella.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“I thought she should know how to protect herself.”
Alessandro looked at the screen.
“Where is my father?”
“Blackwood.”
“Then we end it there.”
They traveled to Blackwood Estate.
No gunfire.
No guards.
No ambush.
That was worse.
They entered the ballroom.
Richard stood beside Alessandro’s father.
Sophia held Emma.
Luca raised his weapon.
Alessandro stepped forward.
“Why?”
His father smiled.
“Because you were weak.”
“You killed your own children.”
“I protected the empire.”
“You destroyed it.”
“No.”
His father looked at Emma.
“She restored it.”
Alessandro looked at his daughter.
His father continued.
“Emma was always the final piece.”
“The final piece of what?”
“Succession.”
He opened a book.
Inside was the original Moretti bloodline.
Names going back centuries.
Every heir.
Every marriage.
Every death.
At the bottom was Emma.
Her name had been written before she was born.
Alessandro stared.
“How?”
“Your mother told me the prophecy.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“My father believed blood could predict power.”
“He was right,” the old man said.
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Emma.
“People decide what they become.”
Her father laughed.
“That is why I chose fear.”
He pressed a button.
Doors locked.
Gas began filling the ballroom.
Sophia screamed.
“Move!”
Alessandro grabbed Emma.
Luca broke a window.
Everyone rushed toward the opening.
But Isabella stopped.
She was coughing.
“Go.”
Alessandro shook his head.
“I’m not leaving you.”
She smiled.
“You always did have your father’s stubbornness.”
The gas thickened.
Alessandro dragged her toward the window.
Then a shot rang out.
Luca fell.
Emma screamed.
The old man smiled.
“Now.”
May you like
He pointed at Emma.
“Take her.”
