Chapter 8 - The Storage Unit|
The address led them to a storage facility beneath an old commercial building in Queens.
Luca wanted Sophie to remain at the mansion. She refused.
"You need someone who can recognize what Adrian left behind."
"I need you safe."
"You need to stop confusing safety with silence."
He stared at her, then nodded once.
They went with Enzo and two guards whose loyalty Marcus had personally verified. Theo remained at home under the protection of a retired detective and a nurse Sophie trusted.
The storage unit was small, dusty, and almost empty. A broken chair stood in one corner. An old lamp lay on its side. Behind a stack of cardboard boxes, Luca found a steel case secured with a brass lock.
Sophie's key fit.
Inside were a ledger, several photographs, and a cassette recorder. A sealed envelope bore Luca's name.
His hands tightened around it.
Sophie stood beside him while he opened the letter.
Little brother,
If you're reading this, I failed to bring the truth home myself. Carlo has been buying people inside our organization. He doesn't want our money. He wants the authority that comes with the Moretti name.
Father knows more than he admits. I don't believe he ordered what happened to me, but I believe his silence helped the people who did it.
If they ever come after Theo, remember this: they don't need to kill him to control you. They only need to convince you that everyone who loves you is a threat.
Luca lowered the letter.
For years, he had believed his brother's death was an unavoidable tragedy. Now he understood that the accident had been the final result of a conspiracy that had never truly ended.
Sophie examined the photographs.
One showed Carlo beside a warehouse manager. Another showed Bianca entering a private office with a man Luca recognized as Matteo Vescari, a senior Moretti adviser.
The third photograph made Sophie gasp.
It showed Luca himself, asleep in a chair, with a folder open on the table beside him. The picture had been taken inside his study.
"When was this taken?" she asked.
Luca turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
Three months earlier.
Before Bianca had come to live in the mansion.
Before the foundation dinner.
Before Sophie began suspecting her husband of an affair.
"Someone has been in our house for months," Luca said.
Enzo approached with a small digital recorder.
"We found this inside the case."
Luca pressed play.
Adrian's voice filled the storage unit.
"Carlo says the child is the easiest way to force Luca into the merger. If Luca refuses, they'll threaten Theo. If Luca fights back, they'll make him look unstable. And if Sophie tries to leave, they'll use her departure as proof that Luca can't control his own family."
Sophie felt sick.
The recording continued.
"Matteo is helping them. I don't know how deep it goes. But if anything happens to me, find the original trust documents. The copies circulating now have been altered."
The recording clicked off.
Luca looked at Enzo.
"Where are the original trust documents?"
Enzo hesitated.
"According to the archive, your father transferred them to a private bank vault two years ago."
"Which vault?"
May you like
Enzo handed him a slip of paper.
"The one controlled by Matteo Vescari."
