Chapter 10 - THE CONFESSION MY BROTHER HID FOR YEARS|
I found Daniel three hours later.
He was sitting inside the old greenhouse behind the mansion, staring at a photograph.
When I approached, he quickly slipped it into his pocket.
"Daniel."
He looked up.
"Emma."
"Why did you leave your room?"
"I needed air."
"You disappeared without telling anyone. Do you have any idea what that did to me?"
"I'm sorry."
I sat beside him.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been eating at me.
"What did Dad do?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Before the accident, Dad told me something."
"What?"
"He said he had been keeping records for a group of businessmen. He discovered that Anthony was using the company to move money through hospitals, construction projects, and shipping contracts."
I felt sick.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because he thought I was too young."
"Daniel, I was eighteen."
"Exactly. He wanted you to have a normal life."
I looked at the photograph in his hand.
It showed our father standing beside a young woman outside a hospital.
"Who is she?"
Daniel turned the photograph over.
The woman was identified as Sofia Russo.
Luca's mother.
"Why did Dad know her?"
Daniel explained that our father had been working as an accountant for the Costa shipping business. He discovered that Anthony had been stealing money and using the private clinic to conceal payments to people who were supposed to be dead.
Sofia wanted to expose him.
But before she could, she died.
Our father tried to collect the evidence and leave the organization.
He never got the chance.
"Anthony caused the accident?" I asked.
Daniel nodded.
"He told me himself."
My hands began trembling.
"Why didn't you tell the police?"
"I was in the car with Dad."
I turned toward him.
"What?"
Daniel's eyes filled.
"I remember the truck. I remember the brakes failing. I remember Dad shouting for me to hold on."
I covered my mouth.
"I thought you were too young to remember."
"I was. But I remembered pieces."
He looked down.
"Anthony visited me after the accident. He told me that if I ever spoke about what happened, he'd make sure you disappeared too."
I pulled him into my arms.
For years, I had believed we had lost our father because of an unfortunate accident.
Now I knew someone had deliberately taken him from us.
When we returned to the mansion, Luca was waiting in the study.
He listened to Daniel's confession without interrupting.
Then he placed a photograph on the desk.
It showed Anthony entering a private bank.
"He's been accessing a storage account for twenty years," Luca explained. "Your father's records may be inside."
Daniel nodded.
"That's the place on the paper."
Luca looked at me.
"We'll go tomorrow."
"Together?"
He nodded.
But before we could discuss the details, Dominic entered.
"Boss, we intercepted a call."
"From whom?"
"Anthony."
Dominic placed his phone on the desk.
A recording began.
Anthony's voice filled the room.
"The girl has the key. The brother has the memory. I want both before Friday."
A second voice answered.
"What about Luca?"
Anthony laughed.
"His father made the mistake of loving his family. His son is about to make the same mistake."
The recording ended.
Luca looked toward the window.
"Prepare the cars."
I stepped closer.
"What are you going to do?"
He turned.
"I'm going to end this."
But when Dominic handed him the next report, his expression changed.
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The bank's security system had already been accessed.
And the person who had opened the account was listed as Emma Shaw.
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