Chapter 11 - THE LAWYER WHO KNEW EVERY SECRETDominic stared at the photograph.
Michael Reeves.
The man who had represented the Moretti family for fifteen years. The man who had helped Dominic negotiate his first major business acquisition. The man who had supposedly protected his father's final wishes.
And the man who appeared beside Anthony and Raymond on the night Isabella disappeared.
Dominic immediately called the police commander.
"Where is Michael?"
"He left the ballroom five minutes ago."
"Find him."
"Any particular reason?"
Dominic sent the photograph.
There was a long silence.
"Understood."
He called Michael's office.
No answer.
His assistant reported that Michael had collected several personal files and left the building without explanation.
Dominic returned to the mansion.
Elena was waiting in the library, holding the maintenance computer's printed records.
"Show me."
She handed him the pages.
Maria had written a series of short messages over several months. She had hidden them inside ordinary maintenance reports, knowing that Victor routinely ignored paperwork from the housekeeping department.
One message contained a phone number.
Another contained an address near the Brooklyn waterfront.
The final note was more disturbing.
The lawyer isn't just helping them. He has the original death certificate.
Dominic looked up.
"Which death certificate?"
"Your mother's."
He called the police investigator.
They arranged to search Michael's office with proper authorization. But when officers arrived, the building had already been emptied.
Computers were missing.
Documents had been shredded.
And a fire had started in the records room.
Fortunately, the sprinkler system had contained it.
Among the surviving documents, investigators found a photograph of Dominic's father taken shortly before his death.
On the back was a handwritten sentence:
THE BOY MUST NEVER KNOW WHO HIS REAL FATHER WAS.
Dominic read it slowly.
"What does that mean?"
Elena looked confused.
"Your father was your father, wasn't he?"
"Of course."
But the wording troubled him.
He contacted Margaret Cole, the attorney who had revealed the family trust.
She asked him to meet her immediately.
At her office, Margaret examined the photograph and the accompanying documents.
Then she opened a sealed envelope that had been stored with the original trust.
"Your father requested that this be given to you only if evidence of a conspiracy emerged."
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter from his father.
Dominic, there is a truth about your birth that I never found the courage to tell you. Your mother and I loved you. Nothing can change that. But the man who helped bring you into this world was not the man you have always believed.
Dominic stopped reading.
Elena gently placed a hand on his arm.
"Do you want me to leave?"
"No."
He continued.
The letter explained that Isabella had discovered a medical records fraud involving the family doctor and Anthony. Dominic's birth documents had been altered after a hospital emergency, apparently to conceal another family secret.
But his father had never completed the explanation.
The letter ended:
If you want the truth, find the original hospital register. Raymond Cross has it.
Dominic closed his eyes.
He had spent the day uncovering a conspiracy involving his father's murder, his mother's disappearance, and millions of dollars in stolen money.
Now the people responsible were questioning the very foundations of his identity.
When he returned to the mansion, Noah was sitting with Elena.
The boy had drawn a picture of the mansion.
Dominic noticed something unusual.
Noah had included a small figure standing outside the front gate.
"Who's that?"
Noah shrugged.
"The woman who keeps watching the house."
Elena looked at the drawing.
"Did you see her?"
"Yesterday. She was holding a red umbrella."
Dominic examined the picture.
Then he recognized the bracelet on the woman's wrist.
It was the same bracelet Isabella had worn in the photograph from the clinic.
His mother had been watching the mansion.
May you like
She had been close enough to see him.
And she had been afraid to come home.
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