Chapter 9 - THE MILLION-DOLLAR BET BECOMES A THREAT| The darkness lasted only seconds, but it was enough for Adrian to reach the metal box.
Marcus struck him before he could grab it. The two men crashed against the cabinet, scattering papers across the floor. Aleandro pulled Emma behind him while Sophia crouched beside her daughter.
"Don't move, sweetheart."
Emma pressed her face against Sophia's shoulder.
When the emergency lights flickered on, Adrian was gone.
Marcus rushed up the stairs, but the chapel doors stood open and the parking area was empty.
"He had someone waiting outside," Marcus said.
Aleandro examined the papers.
Several photographs were missing.
The original letter remained, along with one cassette tape and a medical record bearing Nico's false identity.
Sophia sat on the basement step, holding Emma.
"He knew about her," she whispered.
"Yes."
"And he came to take the evidence."
Aleandro nodded.
"Which means the evidence matters."
He called his attorney and arranged for the remaining documents to be copied and secured. Then he instructed Marcus to take Sophia and Emma to a protected residence.
Sophia shook her head.
"I'm not going into hiding again."
"This isn't hiding. It's protection."
"Every time someone says that, another man appears with a gun."
Aleandro absorbed the anger without protest.
"Then I will make sure the people responsible answer for what they've done."
"Can you promise that?"
"I can promise I'll stop protecting them."
Sophia looked at him carefully.
For the first time, she began to understand why Nico had trusted his brother with the key. Aleandro possessed enormous power, but he was also carrying the weight of decisions he had made without knowing the truth.
That evening, Valentina appeared at the protected residence.
Sophia refused to let her enter until Aleandro arrived.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Valentina stood in the doorway, holding a folder.
"I want to tell you something before Adrian does."
She placed the papers on the table.
They contained transfers from Valentina's father's company to a security contractor responsible for moving patients between private clinics. Several payments were dated after the warehouse explosion.
One recipient was listed as L. Moretti.
Valentina looked at Sophia.
"I didn't know your daughter existed when I made these copies. I swear to you."
Sophia said nothing.
Valentina turned toward Aleandro.
"My father helped cover up what happened to Nico. Adrian threatened to release the records unless I married you and kept the alliance between our families intact."
Aleandro's face hardened.
"You knew the engagement was a business arrangement."
"Yes."
"And you accepted?"
"I was afraid."
Sophia let out a bitter breath.
"That seems to be the favorite excuse in your family."
Valentina lowered her eyes.
"I know."
She opened the folder to the last page.
It contained a photograph of Nico standing outside a medical facility, alive and conscious six months after the explosion.
Sophia reached for it.
Her hands trembled.
"Where was this taken?"
Valentina pointed to the date.
Three months after Emma's first birthday.
"I don't know the exact location," she said. "But the clinic was registered to a company in Connecticut."
Aleandro stared at his brother's face.
Then he noticed the man standing beside Nico in the photograph.
His father.
May you like
Richard Moretti had been declared dead before the photograph was taken.
And if the image was authentic, someone had used the dead man's name to control a medical facility long after his official death.
Related Stories
