Chapter 18 - BloodNeither of us spoke.
Impossible.
It had to be.
Dante read the document again.
Then again.
“This is a lie.”
I wanted it to be.
The confession continued.
My mother had loved a man before my father.
That man was Dante's real father.
The Moretti family had taken him.
My mother had later had me.
But Dante was born from the same father.
Half-siblings.
My stomach turned.
Everything between us.
Every feeling.
Every touch.
Suddenly poisoned by one sentence.
I stepped backward.
Dante did the same.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“We don't know if this is authentic.”
“Your mother's handwriting.”
“That doesn't prove the DNA.”
“You know.”
He stared.
“That's not enough.”
Then the vault doors locked.
Someone had trapped us inside.
The speakers came alive.
Luca's voice.
“You finally found it.”
Dante shouted:
“Luca!”
“You shouldn't have.”
“Open the door.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because there is someone else with you.”
I froze.
Dante looked at me.
“Who?”
Luca laughed.
“Your mother.”
The lights came on.
Isabella Moretti stood behind a glass wall.
Alive.
She held a gun.
Dante stared at her.
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
“I lied.”
He stepped toward the glass.
“You're my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Is she my sister?”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Dante froze.
“I forged the document.”
“What?”
“To protect you.”
“From what?”
She looked at me.
“To protect her.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Then who is Elena?”
Isabella whispered:
“The daughter of the man who destroyed us all.”
The vault doors opened.
A man stepped inside.
Michael.
Alive.
Smiling.
He looked at me.
“You finally remember.”
Dante raised his gun.
Michael laughed.
“I told you.”
He looked at me.
“She was never your sister.”
May you like
Then he said:
“She is the woman who inherited everything.”
