Chapter 15 - THE LAST SECRETThe message remained on my screen.
Nobody spoke.
Luca read it twice.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Trace it.”
“I already am.”
My mother looked worried.
“There is still someone else.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Someone I thought had disappeared.”
Luca stared at her.
“Who?”
My mother looked toward the old photograph.
The one showing her beside my father and Bruno.
“There was another member of the consortium.”
“Name.”
“Elias Moretti.”
Luca's face changed.
“Impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Elias was my father's attorney.”
My mother nodded.
“And your father's secret keeper.”
Daniel's phone beeped.
He looked at the screen.
“We found the sender.”
“Who?”
Daniel turned the phone around.
A surveillance camera showed a man standing across the street from the mansion.
Older.
Gray suit.
Walking cane.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then removed his glasses.
Luca stared.
“Elias.”
The man smiled.
Then the screen went black.
For a moment, everyone stood frozen.
The police had taken Matteo.
Frank Bellini had surrendered.
Anthony was being questioned.
Vanessa had confessed to the part she played.
My mother was alive.
The ledger was secured.
The original recording was safe.
But the story wasn't over.
Not yet.
Three days later, I visited Bruno at the Moretti estate.
His kennel had been rebuilt.
No locked rear gate.
No chain.
No metal latch.
Just a wide open door.
A new photograph of Vivian sat beside his bed.
Luca stood nearby.
“You still want to quit?”
I smiled.
“I've seen enough billionaires for one lifetime.”
He laughed.
“Fair.”
I looked at Bruno.
He was sleeping peacefully.
“You know,” I said, “he saved all of us.”
Luca nodded.
“My mother knew.”
“What happens now?”
He looked toward the city.
“The consortium files are with federal investigators.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She testified.”
“Will she go to prison?”
“I don't know.”
“And Anthony?”
“He's cooperating.”
“And your family?”
He looked at me.
“My family is rebuilding.”
I nodded.
Then my mother appeared in the doorway.
She was holding the old cassette.
“I found something else.”
Luca frowned.
“What?”
She handed it to him.
“It was hidden inside Bruno's old bed.”
Luca looked at me.
“Another tape?”
My mother nodded.
We played it.
Vivian's voice filled the room.
Only one sentence.
“Emma, there is one truth I couldn't tell you while I was alive.”
I looked at my mother.
She whispered,
“Keep listening.”
Vivian continued.
“Your father did not hide the ledger for Luca.”
Luca stared.
“He hid it for Emma.”
Silence.
The tape ended.
I looked at the old photographs.
My childhood.
The kennel.
Bruno.
My father.
Vivian.
I suddenly noticed something I had never noticed before.
In every photograph, Bruno was looking at the same wall.
The kennel wall.
I stood.
“Wait.”
Luca followed me.
“What's wrong?”
I pointed at the photograph.
“The wall.”
We went outside.
Bruno lifted his head when we entered the kennel.
I approached the old brick wall.
There was a tiny crack.
I pressed it.
A section moved.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a small wooden box.
No lock.
No key.
I opened it.
Inside lay a single envelope.
My name was written across the front.
Not in Vivian's handwriting.
Not in my mother's.
My father's.
I unfolded the letter.
Only one paragraph.
Emma, if you found this, it means Bruno remembered what people forgot. There is one person you must never trust. He has been beside you since childhood.
My hands began to shake.
Below the words was a name.
I stared at it.
Luca read over my shoulder.
His face went pale.
Because the name belonged to the person who had been protecting me all along.
And the final line of the letter was even worse.
He was the one who ordered them to watch you.
I slowly turned toward the doorway.
A figure was standing there.
Gray suit.
Walking cane.
Elias Moretti.
He smiled.
“Hello, Emma.”
Bruno stood between us.
Growling.
And this time...
Luca drew his weapon.
The old man didn't move.
He only smiled and said:
May you like
“You finally remembered me.”
THE END.
