Chapter 17 - THE LAST NIGHT OF THE MORETTI FAMILYDominic wanted to leave immediately.
Daniel stopped him.
"The message is designed to provoke you. We need to identify the sender and secure the property first."
Dominic knew he was right.
He had spent too many years allowing Anthony to control his decisions through fear.
This time would be different.
The private estate was located in Westchester, surrounded by tall trees and an iron fence. Official records described it as a vacant property, but the medical reports indicated otherwise.
Daniel obtained the necessary search authorization.
A team of officers arrived shortly before sunset.
The estate was silent.
They entered through the main doors and searched the ground floor.
No staff.
No patients.
No sign of recent activity.
Then Elena noticed a wheelchair track across the dusty hallway.
"It leads toward the basement."
Dominic followed.
Behind a locked door, they found a small medical room.
An oxygen machine was running.
A bed stood near the window.
And an elderly man lay beneath a blanket.
Dominic stopped breathing.
"Father?"
The man's eyes opened slowly.
For several seconds, he seemed unable to recognize the figure standing beside him.
Then his lips moved.
"Dominic?"
Dominic dropped to his knees.
"Dad."
The older man tried to lift his hand.
Dominic caught it.
He had imagined this moment for twelve years, but nothing had prepared him for seeing his father so weak.
"You're alive."
His father smiled faintly.
"I tried to come home."
Dominic struggled to speak.
"Who did this?"
His father's eyes moved toward the door.
"Anthony."
The officers secured the room and called medical personnel.
But Dominic's father insisted on speaking before being moved.
"He wanted the company," the older man whispered. "But Raymond wanted something else."
"What?"
"The original family records."
Dominic leaned closer.
His father explained that Anthony had discovered a hidden trust containing evidence of financial crimes committed before Dominic was born.
The trust also contained documents proving that Raymond had used the Moretti shipping companies to move illegal funds through legitimate businesses.
Dominic's father had refused to sign the documents.
Anthony arranged the attack.
Raymond helped create the false death certificate.
And Samuel Whitmore had been forced to conceal the truth.
"Why didn't you escape?"
His father closed his eyes.
"Because Anthony told me he would kill you and Isabella."
Dominic looked down.
For years, he had believed he inherited a powerful empire from a man who died too early.
Instead, he had inherited a prison built from threats and lies.
His father reached for his hand.
"Listen to me. You must not become like them."
Dominic swallowed.
"I won't."
His father looked toward Elena.
"Who is she?"
"Elena Brooks. She helped expose everything."
The old man studied her.
"Thank you."
Elena lowered her head.
"You don't need to thank me."
Before the medical team arrived, Dominic's father asked for one more thing.
"Bring Anthony here."
Dominic shook his head.
"He's going to prison."
"Then make him face what he did."
An officer approached with an update.
Anthony had disappeared from his Manhattan residence.
His private vehicles were gone.
Adrian was also missing.
And a fire had been reported at the Moretti family's old shipping headquarters.
Dominic looked at his father.
"He's destroying the evidence."
His father closed his eyes.
"Then you must find the original register before he does."
Dominic stood.
"Where is it?"
The older man reached beneath his pillow and removed a small brass key.
"Your grandfather's vault."
He placed it in Dominic's palm.
"Anthony believes it's empty."
Dominic examined the key.
"What's inside?"
His father looked toward the ceiling.
"Everything he has spent twelve years trying to bury."
Then the medical monitor began sounding an alarm.
Doctors rushed into the room.
Dominic was forced into the hallway.
Through the glass, he watched his father's heart rate fluctuate.
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For the first time in twelve years, he had found his father.
And now he was terrified of losing him again.
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