Chapter 10 - THE SON WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO INHERIT|
Ettore drove without speaking. The city lights slid across his face, revealing a man struggling to keep his anger under control.
Donatella sat beside him with her aunt's brass key in her palm.
"Your father said to find the woman who carries Isabella's key," she said. "That could mean me."
"It could mean he left a message intended to lead us into another trap."
"Then we verify it."
Ettore glanced at her.
"You make that sound easy."
"It isn't. But fear isn't evidence."
He let out a slow breath.
"You're beginning to sound like your mother."
They stopped at a private security office where Marco had arranged a temporary meeting with Doctor Helen Shaw. The doctor arrived carrying a sealed medical envelope and an old photograph.
She was in her fifties, with tired eyes and the careful manner of someone who had spent years choosing every word.
"Mr. Moretti, your father was brought to our facility twenty-eight years ago under a false name. He had suffered severe injuries and required long-term treatment. The person who paid for his care instructed us to keep his identity confidential."
"Who paid?"
"A trust controlled by Raffaele Moretti."
Ettore's jaw tightened.
"Did my father know who he was?"
"Eventually. His memory returned gradually. He was able to speak clearly only during the last few months."
Doctor Shaw handed him the photograph.
It showed two young men standing beside Salvatore outside a country house. One was unmistakably Raffaele. The other had dark hair, a scar across his chin, and Ettore's eyes.
"Who is the second man?" Ettore asked.
"The patient identified him as his biological son."
Ettore stared at the image.
"My father had another son?"
"According to him, yes. His name was Adrian Moretti. He was born before you, but his mother died shortly after his birth. Salvatore believed the child had been adopted by a family outside the city."
"Why did I never hear about him?"
Doctor Shaw hesitated.
"Your father said Raffaele arranged for the child to disappear from the family records. He believed Adrian was the rightful beneficiary of a private inheritance, and that Raffaele intended to use your position as head of the organization to control it."
Donatella studied the photograph. The resemblance between the unknown man and Ettore was startling.
"What happened to Adrian?"
"Your father believed he was still alive. He left a note with a location, but I don't know whether it was current."
She handed Donatella a folded piece of paper.
On it was an address in a quiet neighborhood outside Kansas City.
Ettore read it.
"That's a residential treatment center."
"Adrian reportedly suffered a serious head injury as a young adult. He may have been there under another name."
Donatella looked at the doctor.
"Why would Salvatore say I could identify his real son?"
Doctor Shaw shook her head.
"I don't know. He mentioned your mother's key several times, but he never explained the connection."
They drove to the address that night. The treatment center had been converted into a small assisted-living facility. The administrator checked the records and confirmed that a man matching the photograph had stayed there for seven years before leaving two months earlier.
"He was collected by a woman," the administrator said. "She presented documents authorizing the transfer."
"Her name?" Ettore asked.
"Camille Voss."
Donatella recognized the name from the financial records. Camille Voss owned one of the shell companies that had received money from La Bella Vita.
The administrator produced a copy of the transfer authorization. The signature belonged to Vincent Caruso.
Ettore's anger returned.
"Raffaele and Vincent took my father. Now they've taken Adrian."
Donatella examined the form.
"Not necessarily. Look at the date."
The document had been signed two months before Vincent's latest transfers. If Adrian had been moved then, he might have been part of a plan that began long before Donatella discovered the theft.
She looked up.
"Raffaele isn't just hiding your father. He's gathering the people who can challenge his control of the inheritance."
Ettore stared at the photograph again.
"And if Adrian is alive, he can challenge my position."
"Is that what worries you?"
"No."
"Then what does?"
Ettore looked at the unknown man's face.
"That my uncle has spent years making me believe I was the only son my father ever loved."
A phone rang in the administrator's office.
The receptionist answered, listened, and slowly turned toward them.
"There's a man on the line asking for Donatella Mancini," she said. "He says he knows where her father is."
Donatella reached for the receiver.
A weak male voice whispered her name.
"Dottie? If that's really you, don't trust the Morettis."
Her knees nearly gave way.
It was the nickname only one person had ever used.
May you like
Her father was alive.
And he was afraid of Ettore.
