Chapter 8 - The Inheritance Nobody WantedThe revelation spread through the Moretti family like a bomb.
This time she wasn't freezing.
She was terrified.
Dominic had demanded she come alone.
She didn't.
Thirty federal agents surrounded the area beyond sight.
Adrian was somewhere nearby despite Agent Walsh threatening him with arrest if he interfered.
Elena carried the gray backpack.
Inside were fake copies of the files.
The real evidence was secured elsewhere.
“I'm here!” she shouted.
Her voice echoed.
Lights switched on.
Dominic Moretti stepped from behind a steel pillar.
He was seventy-one.
Thin.
Silver-haired.
He wore a dark overcoat and leaned slightly on a cane.
Elena had expected a monster.
Instead, she saw pieces of her mother in his face.
That disturbed her more.
“My granddaughter.”
“Don't call me that.”
Pain crossed his expression.
“You sound like Sofia.”
“Good.”
“She betrayed me too.”
“She escaped you.”
“She abandoned her family.”
“You killed your son.”
Dominic's face changed.
There it was.
The monster.
“Who told you that?”
“Your own records.”
“Lies.”
“You hit him.”
“He attacked me.”
“You pushed him down the stairs.”
“He was weak!”
The words echoed.
Dominic seemed to realize what he had admitted.
Elena's hidden microphone captured everything.
“Where are Lily and Rosa?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see them.”
“You'll see them when I have the ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Then why are you here?”
“To end this.”
“You think you understand our family because you've read a few papers?”
“I understand enough.”
Dominic walked closer.
“Your mother was supposed to inherit everything.”
“She didn't want it.”
“She was confused.”
“She was afraid of you.”
His face twitched.
“You know nothing about Sofia.”
“Then tell me why she stayed away from me for years.”
Silence.
Elena stared.
“You knew she was alive.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
Her heart stopped.
“Where is she?”
“That's the question, isn't it?”
Elena took a step forward.
“If you killed her—”
“I didn't.”
“Then where is she?”
Dominic looked toward the upper level.
“Sofia always was stubborn.”
A door opened.
A woman appeared.
Elena forgot how to breathe.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray streaks through dark hair.
But unmistakable.
“Mom?”
The woman's hands flew to her mouth.
“Elena.”
Everything inside Elena broke.
She wanted to run to her.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to be sixteen again.
Dominic grabbed Sofia by the arm.
“Stay there.”
Elena froze.
“You said Lily.”
“She is here too.”
He gestured.
Another man emerged with Lily and Rosa.
Lily saw Elena.
“Elena!”
She struggled.
“Don't hurt her!”
Elena's fear became rage.
“Let them go.”
“Give me the ledger.”
“I don't know where it is.”
“Sofia does.”
Dominic pulled a gun.
He pointed it at his daughter.
Elena's blood turned cold.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Dad,” Sofia whispered, “you don't have to do this.”
“Twenty-nine.”
Elena looked around.
Where was Adrian?
Walsh?
Anyone?
“Twenty-eight.”
Sofia met Elena's eyes.
Then said loudly, “Lake Mercer.”
Dominic stopped counting.
“What?”
“The ledger is at Lake Mercer.”
Adrian had told Elena about it.
The Moretti family's former summer property.
The place Marco died.
Dominic smiled.
“Finally.”
Sirens erupted outside.
Dominic spun.
“You!”
Gunfire exploded.
Federal agents stormed entrances.
Dominic grabbed Lily.
“No!”
Elena lunged.
Someone hit her from behind.
She fell.
Adrian appeared through smoke.
He fired once.
Dominic's gun flew from his hand.
Lily broke free.
Elena grabbed her and pulled her behind a concrete support.
“Daddy!”
Adrian fought two men near the doorway.
Walsh's agents flooded the building.
Within seconds, it was over.
Dominic disappeared through a maintenance tunnel.
But Sofia remained.
Elena stood.
Her mother looked at her.
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Sofia whispered, “You've gotten so beautiful.”
Elena slapped her.
The sound cracked through the warehouse.
Sofia didn't move.
Elena immediately began sobbing.
“I'm sorry.”
“No.”
Sofia cried too.
“No, baby. I deserved that.”
Elena hit her chest once.
“Why?”
Then she collapsed into her mother's arms.
Sofia held her.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“You missed everything.”
“I know.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
Elena clung tighter.
“And I still missed you every day.”
Sofia kissed her hair.
“I missed you every second.”
Across the warehouse, Adrian lifted Lily into his arms.
Rosa joined them.
For a brief moment, four generations of a broken family stood beneath the same rusted roof.
Then Walsh approached.
“Dominic escaped.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
Sofia looked toward him.
“He'll go to Lake Mercer.”
“We know.”
“No,” Sofia said.
“You don't understand.”
Her face filled with fear.
“The ledger isn't just evidence.”
“What else is it?” Elena asked.
Sofia looked at her daughter.
“It contains proof that half Adrian's legal empire doesn't belong to him.”
Adrian stared.
May you like
Sofia continued.
“It belongs to you.”
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