Chapter 16 - The Shadow in the Mansion
We reviewed the security footage.
Nothing.
No trespasser.
No unknown vehicle.
Which meant the photograph had been taken by someone authorized to be there.
Staff were questioned.
Guards were questioned.
Contractors.
Gardeners.
Cooks.
Then Ryan noticed something.
The angle.
“It’s from my bedroom window.”
We searched his room.
Behind an air vent was a camera.
Another device was hidden beneath his desk.
My younger brother had been watched.
Luca nearly lost control.
“Who installed these?”
Records showed the room had been renovated six months earlier.
Contractor:
Bellini Development Services.
Vanessa’s family company.
But Carlo had been arrested.
The foreman had disappeared.
His name was Samuel Price.
Thomas Reed recognized the photograph.
“That isn’t his name.”
“Who is he?”
Thomas stared.
“Peter Russo.”
The undercover guard.
Peter had staged his disappearance.
Why?
We found him at a warehouse near the river.
He didn’t resist.
He said he had hidden the devices while working undercover, before he realized I would ever live there.
He used them to monitor Luca.
“For the government?” Luca asked.
“At first.”
“And later?”
Peter looked ashamed.
“For myself.”
He had spent years collecting evidence against everyone.
Carlo.
Anthony.
Luca.
Federal agents.
He believed nobody could be trusted.
Then Luca asked the real question.
“Did you put the contract on me?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Peter hesitated.
“Thomas.”
Everyone turned.
Thomas Reed had disappeared from the mansion that morning.
Again.
Only this time willingly.
We searched his room.
Empty.
Except for a letter addressed to me.
Emma,
Your father wanted the Moretti empire destroyed.
Luca is still standing.
That means the job is not finished.
My stomach turned.
Thomas had known my father.
Protected his secrets.
Helped us.
But grief had twisted into obsession.
He believed Luca’s death was necessary.
Peter gave us the location Thomas used.
An abandoned construction site.
The same company where my father officially died.
Thomas was waiting.
He had explosives planted throughout the structure.
Luca entered alone.
I followed anyway.
Thomas looked at me.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“My father wouldn’t want this.”
“You didn’t know your father.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“But I heard his last recording.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“He said expose them.”
“Yes.”
“Not kill Luca.”
Thomas looked at Luca.
“He profits from what his family built.”
Luca answered quietly.
“You’re right.”
Thomas seemed surprised.
“I can’t erase that.”
Luca continued.
“But killing me doesn’t repair it.”
Thomas’s hand trembled over the detonator.
I said:
“My father told me to be brave.”
I moved closer.
“He didn’t tell me to become angry forever.”
For a long moment, Thomas did nothing.
Then he placed the detonator on the floor.
Federal agents arrested him.
As they led him away, he looked at me.
“Michael would be proud of you.”
I shook my head.
“I hope he’d be relieved.”
That night I returned to Bruno’s grave.
Dante followed.
Luca stood beside me.
“Is it finally over?”
I looked toward the mansion.
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“You’ve become pessimistic.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the road.
A black sedan approached.
Vanessa stepped out.
May you like
She was supposed to be in protective custody.
And she was carrying a wedding invitation.
