Chapter 17 - The Son Vittorio Stole
Daniel Russo had grown up believing Domenico Russo was his father.
Dominic believed Daniel was his older half brother.
Neither knew Daniel was actually Matteo Moretti's son.
Vittorio had taken the infant.
Given him to Domenico.
Another piece on the family chessboard.
Another child's identity sacrificed for power.
"Where is Daniel?" Matteo demanded.
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"Dominic found him first."
Salvatore understood immediately.
Dominic's ambition had never been only about Sophia.
With Daniel revealed as Matteo's biological son, the trust succession became more complicated.
More heirs.
More claims.
More leverage.
"Why didn't Dominic expose him?" Salvatore asked.
"Because Daniel doesn't want the Moretti name."
Rebecca laughed.
"Imagine that. The only sane one among us."
Matteo took the photograph.
His hands trembled.
Salvatore watched.
For the first time, he understood what Matteo might have felt seeing Leo.
A child stolen by years.
A relationship that should have existed.
Rebecca's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Dominic.
Salvatore held out his hand.
"Answer."
She did.
Speakerphone.
"Rebecca."
Dominic sounded tired.
"You told them."
"Yes."
A pause.
"Then we're finished."
"Where is Daniel?"
Matteo asked.
Silence.
Dominic laughed softly.
"So you finally know."
"Where is my son?"
"Safe from you."
Matteo's face twisted.
Salvatore touched his arm.
A strange reversal.
The younger brother restraining the older.
Dominic continued.
"Daniel knows everything. He wants nothing from this family."
"Then let him go."
"I did."
Salvatore frowned.
"Then what are you doing?"
Silence.
Dominic finally answered.
"Ending it."
"What?"
"The trust. The archive. The Moretti name."
For the first time, Dominic's motive became clear.
He had started wanting power.
Then discovered what the family had done to generations of children.
Sophia.
Daniel.
Leo.
Matteo.
Salvatore.
Every branch poisoned by Vittorio.
"I can destroy the trust if Leo authenticates the archive," Dominic said.
"You're not getting near him."
"I don't want his money."
"You tried to kill him."
"I planned to."
Dominic's voice cracked.
"I couldn't."
Sophia's face appeared in Salvatore's memory.
Dominic letting her go.
Perhaps he was telling the truth.
"Rebecca could," Dominic continued.
Everyone looked at her.
Rebecca's face hardened.
"Don't."
"She poisoned Elena."
Matteo stared at her.
Dominic continued.
"She arranged the second kidnapping."
Rebecca stood.
Carmine raised his gun.
"Sit."
She did.
"She still believes the archive contains records proving where Vittorio sent other children."
Matteo looked at her.
"You used me to get Leo."
Rebecca said nothing.
That silence confirmed everything.
Dominic gave an address.
An abandoned courthouse beneath renovation.
"Bring Rebecca. Bring Matteo. Bring Salvatore."
"No Leo."
Dominic paused.
"Fine."
Salvatore didn't trust it.
Yet the meeting might be their only chance.
Before leaving, Salvatore went to Leo's room.
The boy sat on the floor reading Elena's letter again.
Salvatore sat beside him.
"I'm going out."
Leo's eyes stayed on the page.
"To kill someone?"
Salvatore considered lying.
"No."
Leo looked up.
"Really?"
"I don't know what's going to happen."
"That's better."
"What's better?"
"When you say you don't know instead of pretending."
Salvatore nodded.
"I'm learning."
Leo folded the letter.
"Was Mom scared when she died?"
The question hurt.
"I don't know."
"I think she was."
Salvatore waited.
"But she wasn't scared of dying."
"How do you know?"
"She kept saying she was sorry she couldn't see my ninth birthday."
Salvatore's chest tightened.
Leo continued.
"She said birthdays were proof you beat the year."
Salvatore looked at him.
"Then we're celebrating yours."
"If we make it."
Salvatore turned fully toward him.
"When."
Leo tried to smile.
"When."
Salvatore touched his forehead to the boy's.
It was an unfamiliar gesture.
Leo accepted it.
At the courthouse, Dominic waited alone in the old courtroom.
No weapons visible.
Carmine searched him.
Clean.
Rebecca entered beside Matteo.
Her face remained composed.
Dominic looked at her with contempt.
"You killed Elena."
Rebecca did not deny it.
"She wouldn't cooperate."
"You promised me she wouldn't be touched."
"You planned to murder her child."
"I changed my mind."
"Too late."
Dominic looked at Salvatore.
"There."
A projector screen descended.
Files appeared.
Video of Vittorio.
Older.
Weak.
Alive two years after his public death.
He spoke directly to camera.
"If my descendants are watching this, then you have proven yourselves exactly as foolish as I expected."
Even dead, Vittorio sounded arrogant.
Salvatore felt hatred rise.
Vittorio continued.
"The archive does not exist to preserve the Moretti empire."
Matteo frowned.
"It exists to destroy it."
Everyone went still.
Vittorio revealed that decades of evidence had been compiled as a dead man's switch.
If the wrong person seized the trust, everything would go public.
Politicians.
Police.
Companies.
Crimes.
"The fortune," Vittorio said, "belongs to the child capable of deciding whether our name deserves to survive."
Leo.
Salvatore stared.
It had never been about control.
It was a test from a narcissistic dead man.
A cruel test placed on a child.
Then Carmine's phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His face went white.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Penthouse alarm."
Salvatore's blood turned cold.
Leo.
Rebecca smiled.
Matteo saw it.
"What did you do?"
Rebecca stood.
"I stopped waiting for men to solve my problem."
She had arranged this meeting.
Dominic had merely thought he controlled it.
Salvatore lunged.
Carmine grabbed Rebecca.
Matteo ran for the door.
Salvatore called the penthouse.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Leo's number connected.
Salvatore shouted, "Leo!"
A stranger answered.
"Happy early birthday."
Then a scream came through the line.
Leo's scream.
The call ended.
Salvatore looked at Rebecca.
She smiled.
"If you want the boy back, open the archive."
Salvatore's face became terrifyingly calm.
"No."
Rebecca blinked.
"No?"
"You think Leo is your key."
He stepped closer.
"He isn't."
"What are you talking about?"
Salvatore looked at Dominic.
Then Matteo.
Then at the frozen image of Vittorio on the screen.
"The archive requires Vittorio's direct descendant."
Rebecca's smile faded.
Salvatore continued.
"Leo isn't the only one."
He looked at Matteo.
"Neither is Daniel."
Then at Dominic.
"Sophia."
Three children.
Three possible keys.
May you like
Rebecca's leverage had just disappeared.
And for the first time, she looked afraid.
