Chapter 16 - THE SECOND DISAPPEARANCE
For the second time in one week, Sofia Moretti was missing.
Lorenzo stood in the center of the townhouse nursery staring at an empty crib.
The sight seemed to hollow him out.
Elena found a bottle on the dresser.
Still warm.
Gabriel could not have been gone more than twenty minutes.
Matteo checked cameras.
Nothing.
Every feed had been looped.
Again.
Daniel searched Gabriel’s room.
His bag was gone.
So was one car.
Lorenzo’s voice was dangerously calm.
“Find him.”
Matteo nodded.
Elena walked toward the rocking chair.
Something white lay on the cushion.
A note.
Lorenzo saw it.
He opened it.
Lorenzo,
I know what this looks like.
If I leave Sofia here, Evelyn will take her.
If I tell you where I am going, Evelyn will know.
Trust Maria’s words.
Protect the child from the people who claim to protect the legacy.
G.
Daniel frowned.
“He thinks he’s saving her.”
Lorenzo crushed the paper in his fist.
“He kidnapped my daughter.”
Elena watched him.
“Maybe because he believes there’s a leak.”
“There is.”
“And maybe he thinks the leak is here.”
Lorenzo looked at Matteo.
Matteo did not react defensively.
“He may be right.”
Lorenzo’s phone rang.
Anthony.
“I know where Gabriel is going.”
“Where?”
“The old Moretti estate.”
Lorenzo froze.
“Long Island?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something there Evelyn wants.”
“What?”
“The Crown charter.”
Daniel frowned.
“A charter?”
Anthony explained.
Vittorio had kept written authorizations defining control of hidden accounts.
Whoever possessed the original documents could unlock offshore trusts and corporate voting structures.
Evelyn had digital access.
But not full legal control.
Sofia, as Lorenzo’s heir, complicated everything.
“She needs Sofia’s guardianship rights controlled,” Anthony said.
Elena’s stomach turned.
“So this is about inheritance.”
“Control.”
Anthony corrected.
“Money is only part of it.”
Lorenzo headed for the door.
Elena followed.
“No.”
He turned.
“You’re staying.”
“No.”
“Sofia is my daughter.”
“And Daniel is my brother.”
“What does Daniel have to do with this?”
Daniel stepped into the hall holding a document.
“Everything.”
He had found another page inside Maria’s files.
A legal transfer.
Years ago, one of Vittorio’s hidden trusts had been temporarily placed under Maria Reyes’s custodial accounting identity.
When she died, the unresolved beneficial interest transferred to her heirs.
Daniel and Elena.
Lorenzo stared.
“You own part of the structure.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“I have sixty-two dollars.”
“Had.”
Daniel corrected.
“You spent some on formula.”
She glared at him.
“Not helping.”
Matteo read the document.
“This is why Evelyn tracked you.”
Elena understood.
Not because she was simply Maria’s daughter.
Because Maria had accidentally or intentionally made Elena and Daniel legal obstacles.
“Sofia is one key.”
“Daniel and I are another.”
“Yes.”
Lorenzo looked at Elena.
“Which is exactly why you stay here.”
She stepped closer.
“Stop trying to decide what happens to me.”
“I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“So did Gabriel.”
The words stopped him.
Elena continued.
“So did Lucia.”
“She kept secrets because she wanted to protect you.”
“Everyone in this story keeps deciding that protection means removing someone else’s choice.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Elena lowered her voice.
“You want to be different from your father?”
“Yes.”
“Then be different.”
Silence.
Finally, Lorenzo handed her a coat.
“Stay beside me.”
She took it.
“Try to keep up.”
Daniel grinned.
“That’s my sister.”
The old Moretti estate stood behind iron gates on the North Shore of Long Island.
Lorenzo had not visited since his father’s funeral.
The mansion looked less like a home than a monument to power.
Cold stone.
Tall windows.
Formal gardens.
No warmth.
They entered through a side gate Anthony had left unlocked.
Inside, lights burned on the ground floor.
They found Gabriel in Vittorio’s old library.
Sofia slept in his arms.
Lorenzo moved toward him.
Gabriel raised one hand.
“She’s fine.”
“Give her to me.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
Gabriel looked toward the doorway.
“Not yet.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
“You have five seconds.”
Then a woman’s voice sounded behind them.
“That temper always was your weakness.”
Evelyn Crane entered the library.
Elegant.
Silver hair.
Cream coat.
No visible fear.
Two private security men stood behind her.
No weapons displayed.
They did not need them.
The tension was enough.
Evelyn looked at Elena.
Then Daniel.
Then Sofia.
“All the heirs in one room.”
Lorenzo stepped between her and his daughter.
“What do you want?”
May you like
Evelyn smiled.
“To finish what your father started.”
