Chapter 7 - THE GHOST OF THE MORETTI EMPIRE
The heat from the burning cabin melted the snow around us. The flames painted the woods in violent orange shadows, but all I could look at was the man standing by the inferno.
Vincenzo Moretti. Dominic’s father.
He looked older, his hair completely silver, relying on a thick wooden cane. But the ruthless authority radiating from him was exactly as the legends described.
Dominic slowly pushed himself up from the snow, pulling Sophie securely behind my legs. He stared at his father as if looking at a ghost. Because he was.
“Papa?” Dominic whispered, his gun lowering instinctively. “You died... I buried you.”
Vincenzo chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. He tossed the electronic detonator into the snow. “You buried a closed casket full of sand, my son. It was necessary. The feds were closing in. I had to manage the family from the shadows.”
Isabella scrambled backward in the snow, abandoning her rifle. Her cold, calculating demeanor vanished. She looked utterly terrified. “Stay away from me, Vincenzo,” she pleaded.
Vincenzo slowly walked toward her, his cane sinking into the slush. “You always were a disappointment, Isabella. I arranged your marriage to my son to secure territory. But you got greedy.”
I held tightly to Sophie, trying to make sense of the nightmare unfolding around us.
“Papa, what is going on?” Dominic demanded, stepping forward. “Did you know about this? Did you know Isabella tried to kill Sophie?”
Vincenzo stopped and looked at his son with a mixture of pity and contempt. “Isabella didn't order the hit on my granddaughter, Dominic.”
Isabella froze. Victoria, still bleeding in the snow, let out a soft groan.
“She didn't?” Dominic asked, his voice shaking.
“No,” Vincenzo said calmly. He leaned heavily on his cane, looking down at Victoria. “Victoria did. Victoria wanted the trust fund so she could clear her own massive debts before marrying you. Isabella found out and tried to run away with Sophie to save her. That’s when Victoria and Marco ambushed Isabella and locked her in the cabin.”
My head spun. “But Isabella just confessed!” I shouted over the roar of the fire. “She just told us she did it!”
Vincenzo smiled at me—a cold, terrifying smile. “Because I told her to, Miss Hayes. From the shadows, I’ve been orchestrating everything.”
Dominic stared at his father, horror dawning in his eyes. “Why would you force Isabella to confess to something she didn't do?”
“Because, my naive son,” Vincenzo said, his voice hardening, “Isabella is a liability. She knows too much about the offshore accounts. I needed you to hate her. I needed you to want her dead. Because if you believed she tried to kill your child, you would pull the trigger yourself.”
Vincenzo kicked the discarded hunting rifle toward Dominic.
“Pick it up, Dominic,” Vincenzo ordered. “Finish what should have been done three years ago. Kill your traitorous wife. Kill the gold-digging fiancée. Prove to me you are strong enough to inherit the empire I built.”
Isabella began to sob, crawling toward Dominic’s boots. “Dominic, please. He told me if I didn't say those things to you tonight, he would kill Sophie. I only said it to keep him from shooting her! I love her! I love our daughter!”
I looked down at the navy-blue coat in my hands. The three blue stitches. One for yesterday, one for today, one to bring you safely home tomorrow. Isabella hadn't abandoned her daughter. She had been a prisoner, tortured and blackmailed by a father-in-law who played them all like chess pieces.
Dominic looked at his father. Then he looked at Isabella, shivering at his feet.
Slowly, Dominic bent down and picked up the rifle.
He checked the chamber. It was loaded.
“I’m sorry, Papa,” Dominic said softly.
He didn't aim at Isabella. He raised the rifle and pointed it directly at his father’s chest.
“My family is done bleeding for you.”
Vincenzo didn't flinch. He just smiled. “I knew you were too weak.”
Vincenzo raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
From the darkness of the tree line, a dozen laser sights suddenly appeared, all of them painting red dots across Dominic’s chest and my forehead.
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We were surrounded by Vincenzo’s loyal men.
TITLE: "THE MAID'S FINAL GAMBIT"
