Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind Moretti Tower
Elena stared at the DNA report until the letters blurred.
Cousin.
The word should have felt impossible.
Instead, pieces of her childhood began shifting into new positions.
Her father refusing to discuss his family.
The old photographs her mother kept locked away.
The Moretti name appearing in notebooks Elena was told never to touch.
Luca stood beside her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Elena whispered:
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
He appeared genuinely shaken.
For Luca Moretti, that meant his jaw had tightened and one hand had become completely still.
“My father never mentioned Antonio as family.”
“Mine never mentioned you.”
Outside the server room, distant voices echoed.
Luca checked the hall.
“We can solve the family tree after we survive.”
That pulled Elena back into the present.
They moved through a service corridor.
The uploaded records were now beyond Matteo’s control, but armed men still controlled portions of Moretti Tower.
Luca managed to contact loyal security teams through an emergency radio frequency.
Police were approaching.
So were federal financial investigators.
Matteo’s plan was collapsing.
Which made him more dangerous.
They returned toward Tomas.
When they reached floor sixty-nine, the space was empty.
Blood remained beside the concrete pillar.
Tomas was gone.
Luca crouched.
No body.
No weapon.
Only a phone.
He picked it up.
A video was already open.
Tomas appeared on screen.
His face was bruised.
Behind him stood Victor.
“Elena.”
Victor’s voice came through the recording.
“If you want Tomas alive, come to the original Moretti offices on Rue Saint-Martin.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
The video continued.
“Bring the USB.”
Elena looked at Luca.
Victor smiled.
“And come alone.”
The recording ended.
“No,” Luca said immediately.
“Tomas is alive.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“Then why are we discussing it?”
“Because he was shot protecting us.”
“And because of that, I’m not sacrificing you.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“That isn’t your decision.”
“It becomes my decision when someone threatens you because of my family.”
“Your family is apparently also my family.”
Luca stared at her.
She raised an eyebrow.
Even under impossible circumstances, the exchange almost felt normal.
Then Luca sighed.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“We go.”
“We?”
“You didn’t actually think I meant alone.”
The police regained control of the tower before noon.
Victor and Matteo were gone.
Keller was arrested unconscious in a stairwell.
Investigators flooded the building.
Elena gave a preliminary statement.
Luca turned over financial records.
For the first time in decades, Moretti Holdings opened itself completely to authorities.
By evening every European financial network was reporting the scandal.
Forty-eight million had become eighty-six.
Then one hundred thirty.
Analysts believed the total could exceed two hundred million.
But Elena cared about only one thing.
Tomas.
At seven that evening, she and Luca reached the old Moretti offices.
The building stood in a narrow Paris street, abandoned for fifteen years.
Rain had begun.
Luca wore a dark coat over his suit.
Elena refused body armor until he physically handed it to her.
“Put it on.”
“You’re wearing one?”
“Yes.”
She looked at his shirt.
“You're lying.”
“Put it on.”
She did.
They entered through the rear.
Inside, dust covered old furniture.
Moretti history remained everywhere.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Portraits.
A younger Luca appeared in one frame beside his father.
Elena stopped before another.
Antonio Rossi stood beside Luca’s father.
They were smiling.
Brothers.
Her throat tightened.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Luca removed the photograph from the wall.
“You should have.”
A sound came from upstairs.
They moved.
On the second floor, Tomas sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Victor stood behind him.
Matteo waited near the window.
For the first time Elena saw the man she had spent years greeting politely at corporate events as he truly was.
Not Luca’s charming uncle.
Not the benevolent family elder.
A frightened man protecting a lie.
“Elena.”
Matteo smiled sadly.
“You look like Antonio.”
“You murdered him.”
“No.”
“You ordered the threat that killed him.”
Matteo’s smile faded.
“That mistake has haunted me for twelve years.”
“Not enough to give me back what you stole.”
Victor laughed.
“There it is.”
Elena looked toward him.
Victor’s face was bruised from Luca’s earlier restraint, but his arrogance had returned.
“She finally understands.”
“Understands what?”
“That Moretti Holdings belongs partly to her.”
Matteo looked at Victor sharply.
“Enough.”
“No,” Victor said. “We’re past enough.”
Something fractured between them.
Elena saw it.
Victor was no longer merely serving Matteo.
He resented him.
Luca saw it too.
“Victor,” Luca said, “how long have you been planning to betray him?”
Matteo turned.
Victor smiled.
“You always were perceptive.”
Matteo reached toward his coat.
Victor raised a gun.
“Don’t.”
The entire room froze.
Victor’s weapon remained pointed at Matteo.
Luca moved slightly in front of Elena.
Victor noticed.
“Still protecting her?”
“Yes.”
“How touching.”
“You bruised her.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that's the family motto.”
Matteo flinched.
Victor did not.
“Keller was told to scare you.”
“He grabbed me.”
“He improvises.”
“He killed my father.”
Victor’s face showed nothing.
That told her more than guilt would have.
“You were there,” she whispered.
Victor remained silent.
“You were there when his car crashed.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
Elena turned toward him.
“You knew.”
Matteo whispered:
“Yes.”
Luca’s hands tightened.
Victor smiled.
“I watched Antonio’s car go through the barrier.”
Elena’s vision blurred.
“Why?”
“Because he was going to destroy everything.”
“He was going to expose thieves.”
“He was naïve.”
“My father.”
“He believed truth protected people.”
Victor shrugged.
“It rarely does.”
Luca stepped forward.
Victor aimed at him.
“Stop.”
Luca did.
Victor looked toward Elena.
“Bring me the USB.”
“It’s already uploaded.”
“I know.”
“Then you don’t need it.”
“I need the encryption keys.”
Elena realized.
The USB contained not only copied data but keys capable of opening private accounts.
Accounts Victor wanted.
This was not about destroying evidence anymore.
Victor wanted the stolen fortune.
Matteo stared at him.
“You said we were leaving.”
“You were leaving.”
“What?”
Victor smiled.
“I’ve spent twelve years cleaning your mistakes.”
“You worked for me.”
“I built your survival.”
“And stole from me.”
“Consider it compensation.”
Matteo’s face changed.
For the first time, Elena saw fear.
Victor was the real architect now.
Matteo had created the monster.
But he no longer controlled it.
“Untie Tomas,” Luca said.
Victor laughed.
“You're negotiating badly.”
“No. I’m giving you one chance.”
“Or what?”
Luca looked toward the window.
Red and blue lights reflected faintly through the rain below.
Victor saw them.
His smile disappeared.
“You brought police.”
“Elena transmitted our location before we entered.”
Victor turned toward her.
She held up her phone.
“For someone who thinks truth never protects people, you underestimate records.”
Victor grabbed Matteo.
Pressed the gun against his neck.
“Back.”
Luca stopped.
Victor moved toward the rear stairwell.
Matteo struggled.
Victor struck him.
Elena moved toward Tomas.
Then Victor fired.
The bullet struck the wall inches from her.
Luca shoved her down.
Police shouted below.
Victor disappeared upstairs with Matteo.
Luca cut Tomas free.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“Get Elena outside.”
“No,” Elena said.
Luca turned.
“Not this time.”
“You don’t get to—”
“I do when bullets are involved.”
She stared at him.
Tomas took her arm.
“Elena.”
Luca ran upstairs.
For once, she obeyed.
Almost.
She waited ten seconds.
Then followed.
On the roof, rain lashed across old stone.
Victor stood near the edge.
Matteo lay on the ground.
Luca faced Victor from twenty feet away.
Elena stayed behind the doorway.
“You're finished,” Luca said.
Victor laughed.
“You think prison frightens me?”
“No.”
“What does?”
Luca’s eyes shifted briefly toward Elena’s hidden position.
Victor saw it.
He turned.
Their eyes met.
Elena’s blood turned cold.
Victor raised the gun toward her.
Luca moved.
A shot cracked through the rain.
Victor stumbled.
His weapon fell.
Matteo had fired from the ground.
Victor looked down at the blood spreading across his shoulder.
Then at Matteo.
“You?”
Matteo lowered the gun.
“For Antonio.”
Victor rushed him.
Luca intercepted.
The three men collided near the edge.
Elena screamed.
Victor slipped.
Luca caught his wrist.
For one impossible second, the man who had killed Elena’s father hung above the street.
Victor stared up.
“Help me.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Elena stepped closer.
Every part of her wanted Victor to fall.
Twelve years of grief stood at the ledge.
Then she remembered her father.
Truth protects people.
Sometimes.
“Pull him up.”
Luca looked at her.
She nodded.
“Let him live long enough to answer for everything.”
Luca hauled Victor onto the roof.
Police rushed forward.
Victor was arrested.
Matteo surrendered without resistance.
As officers took him away, he stopped beside Elena.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
He waited.
“You're sorry you lost control of the secret.”
Matteo lowered his eyes.
She continued.
“You can spend the rest of your life becoming sorry for my father.”
He nodded.
Then disappeared down the stairs.
Elena stood alone in the rain.
Luca approached.
“You chose justice.”
“I chose not to become them.”
He looked at her with something she could not name.
Respect.
Relief.
Perhaps something more dangerous.
She looked away.
Then Tomas emerged holding an evidence envelope found inside Victor’s coat.
“There’s something else.”
Luca opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Antonio Rossi’s handwriting.
Elena recognized it immediately.
It was addressed to Luca’s father.
Dated the day before Antonio died.
She unfolded it.
The opening line destroyed every assumption they had made.
Dear brother, if anything happens to me, do not blame Matteo first. The man you should fear is someone much closer to Luca.
Below that sentence was a name.
A name Elena knew.
A man still working inside Moretti Holdings.
A man who had stood silently behind Luca that very morning.
His bald, bearded security adviser.
May you like
Darius Vane.
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