Chapter 7 - THE NAME EMMA WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW
Emma laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
“No.”
Patrick’s face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re my father.”
“Yes.”
“You raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Raymond watched with cold interest.
Patrick swallowed.
“Your mother was pregnant when I married her.”
Emma stared.
“My mother told me—”
“Your mother never knew the full truth.”
“Full truth about what?”
Patrick looked toward Sophie.
“Not in front of the child.”
Raymond raised the gun.
“You don’t have that luxury.”
Emma moved slightly, keeping herself between Raymond and Sophie.
Patrick spoke.
“Emma’s biological father was Michael Moretti.”
Dominic’s cousin.
A man Emma had never heard of.
Patrick continued.
“Michael wanted out of the family. Vincent didn’t allow people to leave.”
Emma’s head spun.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared before you were born.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Raymond answered.
“He was killed.”
Patrick closed his eyes.
Emma looked at Raymond.
“You killed him?”
“No.”
“Vincent?”
Raymond smiled.
“Probably.”
Emma felt nauseated.
Patrick said, “Your mother was terrified. I loved her. So I gave you my name.”
Emma looked at him.
“You are my father.”
Patrick’s eyes filled.
“I tried to be.”
“You are.”
Raymond snapped, “Touching.”
Emma turned toward him.
“You kidnapped a six-year-old for genealogy?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I kidnapped Sophie because she remembers where Elena hid the second ledger.”
Patrick frowned.
“Elena had it?”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at Sophie.
The child was staring at the floor.
Raymond crouched in front of her.
“Sophie.”
Emma stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Raymond ignored her.
“Where did Mommy put the blue book?”
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“She was two.”
“Children remember unusual things.”
Emma said, “Leave her alone.”
Raymond stood.
“You have no idea what is at stake.”
“Then explain it.”
“The second ledger proves which children were hidden under false identities.”
Emma’s heart beat faster.
“Including me?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And Dominic.”
Emma froze.
Patrick looked up sharply.
“What?”
Raymond smiled.
“Dominic Moretti is not Vincent Moretti’s biological son.”
The boathouse went silent.
Sophie whispered, “Daddy?”
Emma felt rage.
“Stop.”
Raymond continued.
“Teresa had an affair.”
Patrick stared.
“With who?”
Raymond looked almost pleased.
“Salvatore.”
Emma’s mind raced.
Dominic and Gabriel had believed they were brothers.
Maybe they weren’t.
Maybe that explained the old program.
Maybe Vincent had built his entire succession plan around children who were not his.
Patrick shook his head.
“That can’t be true.”
“It is.”
“How do you know?”
“I delivered him.”
Emma stared.
Raymond had been present at Dominic’s birth.
Of course he had.
Raymond said, “Vincent discovered the truth later. It is why Gabriel became the preferred heir.”
Emma understood.
“The ledger proves Dominic wasn’t Vincent’s son.”
“Yes.”
“So what?”
Raymond’s smile vanished.
“You don’t understand men like Vincent.”
“He’s dead.”
“The people who built their lives around his bloodline are not.”
Emma looked toward the window.
Headlights reflected across the lake.
Raymond noticed too.
“He came.”
Dominic.
Raymond ordered his men outside.
Emma whispered to Patrick, “Can you move your hands?”
“No.”
She looked at Sophie.
“Sweetheart, listen carefully.”
Sophie looked at her.
“When I tell you to run, go behind the old boat.”
Sophie nodded.
Outside, Dominic walked alone toward the boathouse.
At least it looked that way.
He had left Anthony and Gabriel half a mile away.
He wore no visible weapon.
Raymond stepped onto the dock.
“Dominic.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Emma appeared behind the window with Sophie.
Dominic saw them.
His shoulders loosened by half an inch.
Then he saw Patrick.
Raymond said, “You brought the ledger?”
“Yes.”
Dominic held up the black notebook.
Raymond smiled.
“Throw it.”
“Let Emma and Sophie walk out.”
“Patrick stays.”
Dominic stared.
“No.”
Raymond sighed.
“Always trying to save everyone.”
“Yes.”
“That was never a Moretti trait.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“The second ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Sophie knows where it is.”
“No.”
Raymond smiled.
“You don’t even know what it says about you.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“No.”
Raymond frowned.
Dominic continued.
“I spent forty-two years being told what my name means. I stopped caring tonight.”
Inside, Emma heard him.
Something in her chest tightened.
Raymond said, “You are not Vincent’s son.”
Dominic did not react.
Raymond looked disappointed.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“And you don’t care?”
“Is Sophie safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t care.”
Raymond’s mouth tightened.
“You sound noble.”
“I sound tired.”
Dominic took one step forward.
“I’m tired of dead men deciding who my family is.”
Raymond raised the gun.
Inside, Emma saw it.
She whispered, “Sophie.”
The child moved.
Raymond’s attention shifted.
Dominic moved too.
A shot exploded.
Emma screamed.
Dominic dropped behind a wooden piling.
Raymond’s guards opened fire toward the trees.
Anthony’s team answered.
Glass shattered.
Patrick shouted, “Run!”
Emma grabbed Sophie.
They crawled behind the old fishing boat.
Raymond entered the boathouse.
“You!”
Emma shoved Sophie farther behind the hull.
Raymond grabbed Emma’s coat.
She slammed her elbow backward.
He stumbled.
Patrick kicked the chair beneath him despite being tied.
Raymond fell.
His gun slid across the floor.
Emma lunged.
So did Raymond.
Sophie reached it first.
Everyone froze.
The six-year-old stood holding the gun in both hands.
“Sophie,” Emma whispered.
Raymond stopped.
“Sweetheart, give me the gun.”
Sophie was shaking.
Emma extended her hand.
“Look at me.”
Sophie did.
“Give it to me.”
Raymond moved.
A second gunshot cracked.
Sophie screamed.
Raymond collapsed.
Dominic stood in the doorway.
Gun raised.
He crossed the room immediately.
Not toward Raymond.
Toward Sophie.
He knelt and took the weapon from her hands.
“You’re okay.”
She threw herself against him.
“Daddy.”
He held her tight.
Emma sat on the floor, shaking.
Dominic looked at her.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
He crossed with Sophie still in his arms and pulled Emma against him for one brief second.
Raw relief.
Then Patrick said, “Dominic.”
He turned.
Raymond was alive.
Shot through the shoulder.
Anthony restrained him.
Patrick looked at Dominic.
“There’s something you need to know.”
Dominic sighed.
“If this is about my father—”
“No.”
Patrick looked at Emma.
“It’s about her.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
Patrick continued.
“Michael Moretti didn’t die before Emma was born.”
Dominic frowned.
“He lived long enough to hide the second ledger.”
“Where?”
Patrick looked toward Emma’s wrist.
At the old silver bracelet she had worn since childhood.
“He hid the key inside the only thing he left his daughter.”
Emma stared at her bracelet.
Dominic looked at it too.
May you like
Patrick whispered:
“The ledger has been waiting for Emma her entire life.”
