Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIED
Sebastian stared at the photograph until the screen dimmed.
Carlo Moretti.
His father.
The man Sebastian had buried eleven years earlier.
The man whose coffin Sebastian had carried through St. Michael’s Cathedral.
The man whose death had forced Sebastian to inherit an empire before he was ready.
Alive.
Maria touched Sebastian’s sleeve.
“That’s him?”
Sebastian showed no reaction.
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You saw the body?”
Sebastian almost laughed.
Apparently that question had become necessary with every dead Moretti.
“Yes.”
“Face?”
“No.”
The memory came back.
Carlo’s car had exploded outside Milwaukee after a business meeting.
Dental records confirmed him.
The body was badly burned.
Closed casket.
Sebastian had trusted Anthony’s predecessor and the family physician.
The physician had been Jonathan Vale.
His phone rang.
Anthony.
Sebastian answered.
“Where are you?”
Anthony sounded calm.
“Come alone.”
“You know that won’t happen.”
“Then Maria dies eventually.”
Sebastian looked at her.
Anthony didn’t know she was already with him.
Interesting.
“You’ve lost track of Maria.”
Silence.
Sebastian smiled faintly.
“That bothers you.”
Anthony recovered.
“Bring Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Carlo wants him.”
Daniel heard.
His face hardened.
“Put my father on.”
Anthony paused.
Then another voice came through.
Older.
Rougher.
But unmistakable.
“Sebastian.”
For one second, Sebastian was seven years old again.
Standing at the end of a long dining table while his father taught him how to recognize fear.
Then he was forty-one.
And furious.
“You let me bury you.”
Carlo sighed.
“I had reasons.”
“Everybody has reasons tonight.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You disappeared.”
“To keep you alive.”
“Explain.”
“Not over the phone.”
Sebastian’s grip tightened.
“You framed Daniel?”
“No.”
“Grandfather did?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Later.”
“How much later?”
“Too late.”
Daniel shouted from across the room, “Ask him about Elena!”
Sebastian did.
“Did you father Elena’s twins?”
Long silence.
Carlo answered.
“One.”
Everyone froze.
Thomas had said twins.
The registration said twins.
But Carlo’s answer changed everything.
“One?”
“Elena was already pregnant when we…”
Carlo stopped.
Sebastian understood.
Heteropaternal superfecundation.
Rare, but medically possible.
Twins with different fathers.
One child Carlo’s.
One another man’s.
Thomas sank into a pew.
“Oh God.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“You could still be the other father.”
Thomas covered his face.
Carlo continued through the phone.
“Jonathan Vale knew.”
“Which baby was yours?”
“Gabriel.”
Sebastian looked toward the church doors.
Gabriel had remained with Vale under guard at the mansion.
Except Vale had lied about Gabriel being an orphan.
Was that another lie?
“You’re telling me Gabriel is actually your son?”
“No.”
Sebastian went still.
“You just said—”
“I named my baby Gabriel.”
“But the man calling himself Gabriel isn’t him.”
“Correct.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Nothing stayed solid for more than five minutes.
“Where is the real Gabriel?”
“That’s what Anthony is trying to find.”
Sebastian’s eyes opened.
“Anthony works for you?”
“He always has.”
Twelve years.
Every confidential meeting.
Every security plan.
Every relationship.
Every vulnerability.
Anthony had been Carlo’s eyes.
Sebastian felt something colder than betrayal.
Humiliation.
His father had never trusted him to run the family alone.
“You planted him beside me.”
“I protected you.”
“You spied on me.”
“Yes.”
At least Carlo didn’t insult him with denial.
Sebastian asked, “Why come back now?”
“The ledger.”
“Why?”
“It has the names of every man who helped Giovanni frame Daniel, steal from Mercy, and hide Elena.”
“Where is Elena?”
Carlo went silent.
Daniel stood.
“Ask him again.”
Sebastian’s voice hardened.
“Where is Elena?”
“She died in 2008.”
Maria began crying.
Daniel’s face collapsed.
“How?”
“Cancer.”
“Where?”
“Arizona.”
Daniel looked ready to destroy something.
“You knew?”
Carlo answered quietly.
“Yes.”
“You knew where she was all those years?”
“Yes.”
Daniel lunged toward the phone as though Carlo were physically there.
“You let me sit in prison!”
Sebastian grabbed him.
Daniel fought once.
Then stopped.
Carlo said, “Elena made me promise not to expose Maria.”
Maria looked up.
“What?”
Carlo heard her.
“Maria?”
Sebastian said nothing.
Carlo’s voice changed.
“You found her.”
“She was in my house for nineteen years.”
Carlo breathed out.
“I know.”
Sebastian stared.
Another lie.
“You knew Maria was Daniel’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel know?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Elena believed Giovanni’s people would kill Maria if they knew Daniel had a child.”
“Giovanni was dead by then.”
“His people weren’t.”
Sebastian looked at Daniel.
Twenty-eight years stolen.
A daughter hidden from him.
A woman he loved dying elsewhere.
All because the previous generation had believed secrets were protection.
Sebastian was beginning to hate that word.
“What does Anthony want with the ledger?”
“To identify the last members of Giovanni’s network.”
“Then why steal it?”
“Because we couldn’t know whom to trust.”
“You could have trusted me.”
Carlo said nothing.
That hurt more than Sebastian expected.
He turned away.
“When do I see you?”
“Come to the old Moretti packing warehouse.”
Daniel whispered, “Trap.”
Sebastian knew.
“Thirty minutes.”
Carlo ended the call.
Maria grabbed Sebastian’s arm.
“You cannot go alone.”
“I’m not.”
“He told you to.”
“My father hasn’t given me an order in eleven years. I’m not starting now.”
Daniel stood.
“I’m coming.”
Thomas said, “So am I.”
“No.”
Thomas frowned.
“Carlo is my brother.”
“And tonight I need fewer Morettis in one building, not more.”
Maria looked at him.
“What about me?”
“You stay with Lucy.”
“That girl has spent enough time without her mother.”
Maria’s expression softened.
Sebastian stepped closer.
“I need you safe.”
Their eyes held a second longer than necessary.
Daniel noticed.
So did Thomas.
Nobody commented.
Twenty-five minutes later, Sebastian and Daniel entered the abandoned packing warehouse from opposite sides.
Sebastian had men outside.
Daniel carried no weapon.
Inside, overhead lights clicked on one at a time.
Anthony stood near a metal table.
The ledger lay in front of him.
Then Carlo Moretti stepped from the shadows.
Sebastian stopped.
His father had aged.
Silver hair.
A scar along his neck.
He leaned slightly on one leg.
But there was no mistaking him.
Carlo looked at Sebastian.
For the first time in years, Sebastian saw emotion defeat the older man’s discipline.
“My son.”
Sebastian did not move.
Carlo approached.
Sebastian stopped him with one raised hand.
“You don’t get that yet.”
Carlo nodded slowly.
Fair.
Daniel entered.
Carlo looked toward him.
The two brothers who had once hated each other stared across twenty-eight years.
Daniel spoke first.
“You knew I was innocent.”
“Eventually.”
“You left me there.”
“I couldn’t get you out without exposing Maria.”
“She was my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You had no right.”
“No.”
Daniel seemed surprised by the answer.
Carlo continued.
“I was a coward.”
The admission silenced everyone.
Carlo Moretti had never admitted weakness.
Sebastian looked at Anthony.
“How long?”
“Since before I met you.”
“Everything you told me was reported to him?”
“Anything involving Mercy, Rebecca, or Thomas.”
Sebastian nodded.
“You’re done.”
Anthony’s face tightened.
“Boss—”
“You’re done.”
Not dead.
Not beaten.
Just erased from Sebastian’s trust.
For Anthony, that seemed worse.
Carlo opened the ledger.
“Giovanni’s network had seven principal members. Five are dead.”
“Vale?”
“Sixth.”
“Seventh?”
Carlo looked toward Anthony.
Anthony shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
“That’s why I came back.”
Daniel leaned over the ledger.
“Where’s Elena’s original statement?”
Carlo turned pages.
“Missing.”
Anthony frowned.
“It was here.”
Sebastian watched him.
“When?”
“When I opened the box.”
“Who else touched it?”
“Nobody.”
Sebastian walked closer.
A page had been cut from the ledger.
Freshly.
Carlo noticed too.
Anthony stared.
“I didn’t do that.”
Sebastian believed him.
Because Anthony looked genuinely afraid.
The warehouse lights suddenly died.
Gunfire cracked from outside.
Everyone dropped.
Sebastian moved behind steel shelving.
Emergency lighting flashed red.
His men shouted over radios.
Then silence.
A single shot.
A body fell.
When the lights returned thirty seconds later, Carlo was bleeding from the shoulder.
Daniel was unharmed.
Anthony lay unconscious.
And the ledger was gone.
On the table sat the missing page.
Someone had returned it.
Sebastian lifted it.
Seven names were written in Elena’s handwriting.
Giovanni Moretti.
Jonathan Vale.
Three dead businessmen.
One retired judge.
And the seventh name.
Sebastian read it twice.
Then looked toward the doorway.
Impossible.
The seventh member of Giovanni’s secret network was:
May you like
EVELYN MORETTI.
His mother.
