Chapter 11 - THE LEGACY LORENZO NEVER WANTED
Lorenzo said nothing for almost a full minute.
His father had been dead seven years.
During those seven years, Lorenzo had defended his name more times than he could count.
Vittorio Moretti had been difficult.
Controlling.
Old-fashioned.
Feared.
But Lorenzo had never believed he would use children’s charities to move money.
Anthony’s accusation struck at something deeper than business.
It struck at memory.
“You’re lying.”
Anthony shook his head.
“I wish I were.”
Matteo watched the lane.
The approaching vehicle slowed.
“We need to move.”
Anthony stepped closer.
“Take the ledgers.”
“Why help us now?”
“Because Lucia asked me to.”
Lorenzo’s expression shifted.
“When?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
Anthony swallowed.
“She knew I was afraid.”
Lorenzo remembered the letter.
Fear may be the only reason Anthony eventually tells the truth.
“She told me that if anything happened to her, someday I’d have to choose between Gabriel and Sofia.”
Anthony looked toward Elena.
“I made the wrong choice at first.”
Elena’s voice was cold.
“You nearly got her killed.”
“I know.”
“And Claudia?”
“Alive because I stopped Gabriel’s man from taking her somewhere worse.”
“That does not make you good.”
“No.”
Anthony looked at her.
“It makes me late.”
The vehicle stopped at the end of the lane.
Matteo opened their SUV.
“Time.”
They left.
Anthony drove the opposite direction.
Nobody followed him.
That worried Lorenzo more.
At the townhouse, the group examined Maria’s records.
The story became uglier.
Vittorio Moretti had created a hidden financial network decades earlier.
Not to hurt children directly.
But he had used charitable organizations because regulators questioned them less aggressively.
Gabriel expanded the system.
He created fake contractors.
False grants.
Nonexistent programs.
Millions disappeared.
When Maria discovered irregularities, she copied the books.
Vittorio wanted the matter handled quietly.
Gabriel wanted Maria silenced.
The records did not prove exactly what happened afterward.
But Lucia had apparently spent years trying to reconstruct it.
Elena sat beside the window.
“My mother died in a car crash too.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“Yes.”
“Nineteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Lucia died in a car crash eleven months ago.”
“Yes.”
The pattern was impossible to ignore.
Elena turned toward him.
“Did you ever investigate whether the same mechanic touched both cars?”
Matteo froze.
Lorenzo looked at him.
“Do it.”
Matteo began making calls.
Elena looked at Lorenzo.
“What happens if your father really started this?”
“I expose it.”
“You’d destroy your family name.”
“If my family name requires lies to survive, it should be destroyed.”
Elena studied him.
It was the first moment she fully understood the difference between Lorenzo and the mythology around him.
He was feared because he had inherited a world built on fear.
But perhaps inheritance was not destiny.
Sofia cried upstairs.
Lorenzo immediately stood.
Elena followed.
Dr. Harris had already picked the baby up.
“Hungry.”
Lorenzo relaxed.
Elena prepared a bottle.
He watched her.
“You know how to do that quickly.”
“I watched six YouTube videos while hiding your daughter from half of New York.”
A corner of his mouth lifted.
“YouTube saved a Moretti.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
He fed Sofia.
For a few minutes, the house became almost normal.
A tired father.
A baby drinking formula.
A woman leaning against a dresser.
Then Elena asked.
“What was Lucia like?”
Lorenzo looked at Sofia.
“Stubborn.”
Elena smiled.
“That sounded affectionate.”
“It was.”
“What else?”
“She believed every problem could be solved if the right person was willing to tell the truth.”
“She sounds exhausting.”
“She was.”
He smiled faintly.
Then the smile disappeared.
“She wanted me to leave the old business behind.”
“Did you?”
“Some of it.”
“Not all.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“My father spent his life telling me power was protection.”
Lorenzo looked at his daughter.
“I believed him.”
“And now?”
“Now I think sometimes power only gives danger a bigger house.”
Elena remembered her basement apartment.
“Small houses have danger too.”
Their eyes met.
Something quiet moved between them.
Not romance yet.
Not exactly.
Trust.
Fragile.
Unexpected.
Then Matteo appeared in the doorway.
“I found the mechanic.”
Lorenzo stood.
“The same one?”
“Yes.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“Both cars?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Matteo’s face was grim.
“He disappeared after Lucia’s accident.”
Lorenzo looked at Sofia.
“Family?”
“Daughter in Connecticut.”
“Contact her.”
“I already did.”
Matteo held up his phone.
“She says her father left something for Lorenzo Moretti.”
“What?”
“A sealed package.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed.
“When can we get it?”
“She’s bringing it.”
“When?”
Matteo glanced at the time.
“Tonight.”
Elena felt the tension return.
Then another call arrived.
Matteo answered.
This one lasted only seconds.
He hung up.
His face had gone pale.
“Elena.”
She stood.
“What?”
“We found Daniel.”
Hope flashed across her face.
“Where?”
“Brooklyn waterfront.”
“Is he okay?”
Matteo hesitated.
“He escaped.”
Elena nearly collapsed with relief.
“Where is he?”
“On his way here.”
She pressed a hand to her mouth.
Seventeen years.
Finally.
Then Matteo added.
“He isn’t alone.”
Elena’s relief vanished.
“Who is with him?”
May you like
Matteo looked at Lorenzo.
“Gabriel Vale.”
