Chapter 13: The Truth Alessandro Buried
The abandoned orphanage waited beneath the moonlight.
Silent.
Empty.
Forgotten.
At least, that was what the world believed.
But Dominic Vale had learned one important lesson.
Nothing connected to his family was ever truly forgotten.
Not the people.
Not the secrets.
Not the sins.
Dominic arrived alone.
Exactly as Adrian requested.
No guards.
No weapons visible.
No backup.
Only Dominic.
The man who had spent his entire life surrounded by protection now walked into danger by himself.
Because this was no longer a rescue mission.
It was a confrontation between two people carrying the same blood.
Two people shaped by the same family.
Two people who had become completely different.
The front door opened before Dominic touched it.
A message.
A welcome.
Or a warning.
He stepped inside.
The hallway was dark.
Old paintings hung from the walls.
Children’s drawings covered parts of the faded wallpaper.
A place that was supposed to represent kindness.
Instead, it felt like a grave.
Then a voice came from the end of the hallway.
“You came.”
Adrian stepped into the light.
Dominic stopped.
For the first time, he saw the resemblance.
Not obvious.
Not at first.
But the eyes.
The expression.
The way he carried himself.
Adrian looked like a version of what Dominic could have become.
“You have Harper.”
Adrian nodded.
“She’s safe.”
“Bring her to me.”
Adrian smiled slightly.
“You still give orders.”
Dominic’s expression remained cold.
“You took a child.”
“I protected a child.”
“You kidnapped her.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Did you ask why?”
Dominic stepped forward.
“I don’t need a philosophy lesson.”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice became quieter.
“You need the truth.”
A door opened behind Adrian.
Harper appeared.
She was holding her rabbit.
The moment she saw Dominic, her eyes brightened.
“Mr. Dominic!”
She ran toward him.
Adrian did not stop her.
Dominic immediately crouched down.
“Are you hurt?”
Harper shook her head.
“No.”
“Did he hurt you?”
She looked back at Adrian.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Dominic looked surprised.
Harper whispered:
“He’s sad.”
The answer caught him off guard.
“What?”
“He talks like someone who misses something.”
Dominic looked at Adrian.
The man who had kidnapped her.
The man everyone described as dangerous.
And for a moment…
He saw something else.
A lonely child who never stopped being abandoned.
After Harper was taken to another room with a trusted guard who had secretly followed Dominic’s instructions, Adrian finally spoke.
“Your father told you I was dangerous.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He was right.”
That honesty surprised him.
“But he never told you why.”
“Then tell me.”
Adrian walked toward the old staircase.
“Because I was the first person who discovered the truth about the Vale family.”
“What truth?”
“That our empire was built on a lie.”
Dominic followed.
“My grandfather.”
“Yes.”
“Alfred.”
Adrian nodded.
“He created the family legacy.”
A pause.
“But he also destroyed his own children.”
Dominic looked at him.
“How?”
Adrian stopped.
“By teaching us one thing.”
“What?”
“That love was weakness.”
Silence.
“He divided us.”
Adrian continued.
“Alessandro became the perfect heir.”
“Lucian became the angry son.”
“And I became the forgotten one.”
Dominic listened.
“Why?”
“Because Alfred wanted control.”
A bitter smile.
“He believed only one child should inherit power.”
Dominic understood.
The same pattern.
The same disease.
The family always chose one person.
And destroyed everyone else.
“Your father knew about you.”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
Dominic froze.
“What?”
Adrian nodded.
“Alessandro found me when he was young.”
“Then why hide you?”
“Because Alfred ordered him to.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“My father followed orders?”
“Back then, yes.”
Adrian looked away.
“Your father was not always the man you remember.”
That hurt.
Because Dominic’s entire life was built around the image of Alessandro.
A strong father.
A perfect leader.
A man who sacrificed everything.
“What changed?”
Adrian answered:
“You.”
Dominic frowned.
“Me?”
“When you were born, Alessandro realized something.”
A pause.
“He did not want you to become like us.”
Dominic remained silent.
“He wanted to break the cycle.”
Adrian looked at him.
“But he failed.”
“Why did he disappear?”
The question finally came.
The question Dominic had carried for fifteen years.
Adrian became quiet.
“Because he discovered Elena’s plan.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“She wanted Harper gone.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
Adrian looked toward the room where Harper sat.
“Because Harper was proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Alessandro had another heir.”
Dominic understood.
The inheritance.
The power.
The endless war.
“But why fake his death?”
Adrian looked at him.
“Because your father realized something.”
“What?”
“He could not protect Harper while controlling the empire.”
A pause.
“So he chose.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“He chose to disappear.”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than he expected.
His father had not been killed.
He had left.
Not because he hated Dominic.
But because he believed leaving was the only way to protect him.
Adrian walked into another room.
Inside were dozens of files.
Documents.
Photographs.
Evidence.
He opened one folder.
“This is what your father discovered.”
Dominic looked inside.
His face changed.
Because the documents showed something impossible.
Financial records.
Secret transfers.
Names.
Dates.
And one signature.
Dominic stared.
“No.”
Adrian watched him.
“Yes.”
The signature belonged to someone Dominic trusted.
Someone who had been beside him for years.
Someone who had helped build his empire.
The person who had always claimed loyalty.
The person who had saved his life.
Nathan Cross.
Dominic looked up.
“Nathan was involved before I was even born.”
Adrian nodded.
“He inherited the war from his father.”
Dominic flipped through more documents.
Then stopped.
One file was different.
A medical report.
A birth certificate.
A name.
He read it slowly.
Then froze.
Because the document was not about Harper.
Not about Adrian.
Not about Nathan.
It was about him.
Dominic Vale.
The room became silent.
“What is this?”
Adrian looked at him.
“The truth your father hid from you.”
Dominic stared at the document.
A DNA report.
A family record.
A secret that changed everything.
“You are not…”
His voice stopped.
Adrian finished the sentence.
“You are not Alessandro Vale’s biological son.”
The words destroyed the last piece of certainty Dominic had.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Impossible.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Your father loved you.”
A pause.
“But he was not your blood father.”
Dominic stepped back.
The world became distant.
Every memory.
Every photograph.
Every lesson.
Everything.
A question appeared in his mind.
If Alessandro was not his father…
Then who was?
Adrian looked at him.
And answered the question he never expected.
“Your real father…”
A pause.
“Was the man who started this entire war.”
Dominic stared.
“Who?”
Adrian whispered:
“Lucian Vale.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Everyone froze.
Dominic immediately moved toward the sound.
When the emergency lights returned…
Adrian was lying on the floor.
Blood spreading across his shirt.
And standing behind him…
Was Elena Vale.
Holding a gun.
She looked at Dominic.
Not angry.
Not afraid.
Just tired.
“I tried to stop him from telling you.”
Dominic stared at his mother.
“Why?”
Elena lowered the weapon.
“Because some truths do not free people.”
A pause.
“They destroy them.”
Dominic looked at Adrian.
Then Elena.
Then the document in his hand.
His entire identity had just collapsed.
And his mother had pulled the trigger to protect the secret.
But one question remained.
The question that mattered most.
If Lucian Vale was his biological father…
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Then where was Lucian now?
And why had he spent fifteen years hiding from his own son?
