Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be DeadVincent Moretti was alive.
And he was watching Clara.
He had spent eleven years building a new identity.
A respectable businessman.
A philanthropist.
A man invited to charity dinners.
A man who had quietly purchased shares in companies connected to the Moretti empire.
But now he had made one mistake.
He had come too close.
Moretti ordered every security team in New York to search for him.
But Vincent disappeared before they could reach him.
Then came the phone call.
2:13 a.m.
The caller knew Moretti's private number.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Moretti stood beside the window.
“What?”
“A little girl.”
His eyes went cold.
“Touch her and you die.”
Vincent laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
“Where are you?”
“Look beneath the old garden.”
The line went dead.
Moretti immediately remembered the garden.
The mansion had been built by his grandfather.
There was an old locked garden behind the east wing.
Nobody entered it.
The key had disappeared after Julian's death.
Now Moretti understood.
His father had hidden something there.
He took Marco.
Clara tried to follow.
“No,” Moretti said.
“You can't go alone.”
“You're still recovering.”
“That's my daughter.”
Moretti stopped.
He looked at her.
Then nodded.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered the garden at midnight.
Rain fell heavily.
The iron gate groaned open.
Inside stood a stone fountain covered in vines.
Moretti found a loose brick beneath it.
Behind the brick was a key.
He stared at it.
Then unlocked the underground chamber.
Inside were documents.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Contracts.
And a video recording.
Julian had documented everything.
Vincent had been stealing from the family for years.
But there was more.
He had arranged the warehouse fire.
He had ordered the murder of several witnesses.
And he had planned to kill Julian.
Moretti watched in silence.
Then Clara saw a document.
Her hands began shaking.
“What?”
She picked it up.
“My brother.”
Moretti looked at her.
“What about him?”
“He was one of the men who died.”
She began crying.
“Your father promised to protect him.”
Moretti slowly realized the truth.
Clara had never come to his mansion for money.
She had come because Julian had promised her something.
Justice.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Marco pulled Clara behind the stone wall.
Moretti drew his weapon.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
“You should have left the dead buried.”
Vincent.
May you like
Moretti raised his gun.
“You first.”
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