Chapter 12 - BROTHER AND SISTER
When the front door opened, Elena forgot everyone else in the room.
Daniel stood beneath the hallway light.
Older.
Taller.
Exhausted.
But unmistakably Daniel.
For seventeen years, Elena had wondered whether she would recognize her brother.
She did.
Instantly.
The eyes did it.
Same brown eyes.
Same tiny scar above his eyebrow from falling off a bicycle when he was nine.
Daniel looked at her.
His face crumpled.
“Lena.”
Nobody had called her that since childhood.
Elena crossed the room.
She hit him in the chest.
Hard.
“You idiot.”
Daniel caught her wrists.
“I know.”
“You absolute idiot.”
“I know.”
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
Then she hugged him.
Daniel wrapped both arms around her.
Elena buried her face against his shoulder.
For a moment, all the conspiracies disappeared.
All the names.
All the secrets.
She was eight again.
He was eleven.
And they were not separated anymore.
When they finally pulled apart, Elena touched his face.
“Why didn’t you come?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I tried.”
“You could have tried harder.”
“I know.”
“I needed you.”
“I know.”
She hit him again.
Then hugged him again.
Behind them, Gabriel Vale cleared his throat.
The tenderness vanished.
Lorenzo stood across the room.
“Why is he here?”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Because he saved me.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
Gabriel was in his late sixties, silver-haired, elegant, calm.
He did not look like the monster Elena had imagined.
That made him more unsettling.
Lorenzo’s eyes were ice.
“Explain.”
Gabriel removed his coat.
“Anthony Serrano has been lying to everyone.”
Daniel interrupted.
“No.”
He looked at Lorenzo.
“Anthony was telling partial truth.”
“Meaning?”
“Gabriel was involved.”
Elena stared at her brother.
“Then why are you protecting him?”
“I’m not.”
Daniel turned toward Gabriel.
“I’m giving him one chance to talk.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Generous.”
Elena’s anger rose.
“You separated us.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No denial.
“Yes?”
“I ordered the placements changed.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Why?”
“To protect Daniel.”
“By taking away his sister?”
“By making it harder for Vittorio to find both of you.”
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“My father knew about them?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Your father knew Maria had copied his records.”
“Anthony says you were helping him.”
“I was.”
“Then you’re guilty.”
“Yes.”
Again.
No denial.
Gabriel sat.
“I was twenty-eight when Vittorio Moretti first gave me access to his financial network.”
“You’re older than that timeline,” Elena said.
“I’m referring to the expanded network.”
He continued.
“At first, I convinced myself it was simply tax avoidance.”
Lorenzo laughed bitterly.
Gabriel ignored him.
“Then the amounts grew.”
“Through foster charities,” Elena said.
“Yes.”
“You used vulnerable children as cover.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked sick.
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“There is no respectable version of what I did.”
“Then why should we believe anything you say?” Lorenzo asked.
“Because Vittorio eventually decided Maria knew too much.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then his voice softened.
“She confronted him.”
“Where?”
“At the Red Hook warehouse.”
Elena remembered the photograph.
“She told him she had copies.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing that night.”
Gabriel looked at Lorenzo.
“He promised me Maria would be frightened, paid, and sent away.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“What happened?”
“Three days later, she died.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Daniel touched her shoulder.
Gabriel continued.
“I realized Vittorio had handled it differently.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You stayed.”
Gabriel’s shame was visible.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Fear.”
Anthony’s word.
Fear.
Gabriel looked at Elena.
“When you and Daniel entered foster care, Vittorio ordered me to track both of you.”
“So you separated us.”
“I changed the placement records.”
“Why?”
“So Vittorio would believe Daniel held Maria’s evidence.”
Daniel nodded.
“He made himself the target.”
Elena looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Not then.”
“Later?”
“When I was nineteen.”
“You still stayed away from me.”
Daniel looked broken.
“Because every time I moved closer to you, someone contacted me.”
Elena remembered the letters.
“Gabriel?”
“No.”
Everyone went still.
Daniel looked at Lorenzo.
“Your father.”
“But he died seven years ago.”
“The threats stopped seven years ago.”
Lorenzo’s face lost color.
Gabriel continued.
“Lucia found Daniel afterward.”
“How?”
“She found Maria’s original notes.”
“Why didn’t Lucia come to me?” Elena asked.
“Because she believed Anthony had taken over Vittorio’s network.”
Lorenzo looked at Gabriel.
“But Anthony says you did.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“That was the point.”
Everyone stared.
“I wanted Anthony to believe I controlled it.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever truly inherited Vittorio’s system would reveal themselves.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“Who?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You won’t like the answer.”
Lorenzo’s voice was cold.
“Try me.”
Gabriel reached into his coat.
Matteo moved instantly.
“Slowly.”
Gabriel pulled out a flash drive.
“Lucia discovered this three days before her accident.”
Lorenzo took it.
“What is it?”
“Board voting records.”
“From Moretti Holdings?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked toward Matteo.
“And security authorizations.”
Matteo froze.
Gabriel continued.
“Someone used Lorenzo’s own executive credentials to access Sofia’s nursery system.”
Lorenzo stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not if the person had every password.”
Elena followed Gabriel’s gaze.
Matteo looked stunned.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel ignored him.
“Lorenzo, ask your security director where he was the night Lucia died.”
The room became silent.
Lorenzo slowly looked at the man he trusted most.
Matteo whispered.
“Lorenzo.”
“Answer him.”
May you like
Matteo’s face changed.
“I was with Lucia.”
