Chapter 7
The summer house had been abandoned since I was a child.
It stood beside a lake surrounded by woods, almost forty miles outside the city.
Adrian knew it well.
He and Dad had grown up there.
Police surrounded the property before sunset.
I wanted to go.
Detective Brooks refused.
I fought her until Marcello grabbed my shoulders.
“Gabby.”
“She needs me.”
“She needs you alive.”
“I’m her mother.”
“And if Adrian sees you coming, he could panic.”
I hated him for making sense.
So I waited inside a command vehicle half a mile away.
Those forty-three minutes nearly destroyed me.
Then Elena’s radio came alive.
“Child located.”
I stopped breathing.
“Repeat?”
“Child located. Female, approximately three years old. Safe.”
I screamed.
Marcello caught me as I collapsed.
“Lily.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
Ten minutes later, an officer carried her toward me.
She wore her little yellow dress.
Her hair was messy.
She looked sleepy.
But alive.
“Mommy!”
I ran.
The officer barely had time to lower her before Lily launched herself into my arms.
I kissed every inch of her face.
“My baby.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck.
“You forgot pancakes.”
I laughed through tears.
“I’ll make you a hundred pancakes.”
Marcello hugged us both.
Dad cried openly.
Mom kept touching Lily’s hair like she needed proof.
Detective Brooks approached.
“Medical team needs to examine her.”
I nodded.
“Anything.”
They found no injuries.
No sedatives.
Nothing except mild dehydration.
Celeste had apparently treated Lily gently.
But Celeste was gone.
So was Adrian.
Police found the house empty except for Lily.
On a table sat another phone.
A message had been typed but not sent.
YOU FOUND THE FIRST THING I LEFT BEHIND.
Marcello read it twice.
“What does that mean?”
Dad looked disturbed.
“Adrian doesn’t abandon anything accidentally.”
Detective Brooks agreed.
“He wanted us to find Lily.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“He knew about the watch.”
“How?”
She showed me a small screwdriver found beside the kitchen table.
“They opened the watch casing.”
My relief turned cold.
“He let her keep it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena looked at Dad.
“Because Lily wasn’t the leverage.”
Then another officer called from upstairs.
They had found documents hidden beneath a mattress.
Old company records.
Bank ledgers.
Letters.
Dad examined them.
His face slowly changed.
“These are from thirty years ago.”
“Adrian’s theft?”
“No.”
Dad sat down.
“These accounts belong to my father.”
Marcello frowned.
“Grandpa?”
Dad nodded.
The records suggested something very different from the story we knew.
Grandfather had been moving millions through offshore companies long before Adrian was accused of stealing.
Some transfers carried Adrian’s authorization.
Others carried Dad’s.
Except Dad insisted he had never seen them.
“My signature is forged.”
Marcello looked at him.
“Like mine.”
Dad went silent.
I understood first.
“Someone framed Adrian.”
Dad looked sick.
“No.”
Mom whispered, “Lorenzo.”
“He admitted it.”
“Did he?”
Dad stared at her.
“He left.”
“After your father threatened him.”
Dad’s face changed.
“What?”
Mom closed her eyes.
“There are things I never told you.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“Of course there are.”
Mom looked ashamed.
“When Adrian was accused, he came to me.”
Dad stared at her.
“He said your father was using him.”
“For what?”
“Moving money.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
“He said when regulators started asking questions, your father blamed him.”
“Why wouldn’t Adrian tell me?”
“He tried.”
Dad looked toward the papers.
Then he found a letter.
Addressed to him.
Never opened.
Lorenzo,
If you are reading this, Father finally allowed the truth to reach you.
I did what he asked because I believed I was protecting this family.
When I refused to continue, he made me the criminal.
Ask him about Helios Maritime.
Ask him about account 7741.
Ask him why your signature appears on contracts you never signed.
I never wanted your inheritance.
I wanted my name back.
Adrian.
Dad’s hands shook.
“My father told me Adrian confessed.”
Marcello whispered, “He lied to you.”
Dad looked thirty years older.
Detective Brooks gathered the records.
“We’ll verify everything.”
I looked at Lily asleep against my shoulder.
“Does this mean Adrian is innocent?”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“Not of kidnapping your child.”
Exactly.
Whatever happened thirty years ago did not excuse what Adrian had done now.
Then police found another clue.
A laptop.
Most files were erased.
One remained.
A video.
Adrian appeared on screen.
Older than Dad.
Silver hair.
Sharp eyes.
He looked tired rather than monstrous.
“If you’re watching this, Lorenzo,” he began, “then you finally saw the documents.”
Dad stared.
Adrian continued.
“I did terrible things because I spent thirty years believing revenge was justice.”
My stomach tightened.
“I recruited Isabella. I used Celeste. I helped build the lie around Marcello.”
Marcello looked away.
“But Sofia was never supposed to be harmed.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Victor changed the plan when money became more important than revenge.”
Interesting.
He wasn’t taking full responsibility.
He continued.
“When Isabella tried to leave, Victor threatened her. When Sofia refused the arrangement, Celeste panicked.”
Mom whispered, “Celeste.”
Adrian looked directly into the camera.
“If you want the truth about our father, go to Moretti Shipping tomorrow morning.”
Dad stepped closer to the screen.
“There is a safe behind his portrait.”
Adrian gave the combination.
Then his expression changed.
“And Gabriella…”
My skin prickled.
“If your daughter had not seen Isabella remove that fake belly, none of this would have surfaced.”
I held Lily tighter.
“So understand this.”
He leaned closer.
“The most dangerous person in this family was never Isabella.”
The screen went black.
Marcello whispered, “Who is he talking about?”
No one answered.
Then Dad’s phone rang.
His assistant from Moretti Shipping was calling.
Dad answered.
“Lorenzo?”
She sounded terrified.
“Someone broke into your office.”
Dad stiffened.
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
“What happened?”
She swallowed.
“They opened the wall behind your father’s portrait.”
The safe.
Dad looked at Elena.
His assistant continued.
“And sir…”
“Yes?”
“There was someone inside the building.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“Your mother.”
May you like
My grandmother.
The woman we had buried eleven years earlier.
