Chapter 6 - The Family That Buried Her
I read the sentence again.
My mother was Alessandra Moretti’s daughter.
Which meant Alessandra had not been pregnant when she disappeared.
She had already given birth.
Luca stood perfectly still beside me.
“That would make your mother my cousin.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“And me?”
“Second cousin.”
The answer should have comforted me.
Instead, it made Luca’s presence at the hospital feel even stranger.
“You knew?”
“No.”
His response came sharply.
“If I had known you were blood, you would never have spent fourteen years without Moretti protection.”
I believed that part.
But another question mattered more.
“Why was my mother hidden?”
We searched the remainder of the box.
A cassette tape sat beneath the documents.
Sofia located an old recorder in the bank manager’s office.
My mother’s voice filled the room.
“I don’t know how much time I have.”
I closed my eyes.
Her voice sounded younger.
Nervous.
“Alessandra Moretti gave birth in secret because Antonio Moretti refused to allow his daughter to marry outside the family’s circle.”
Luca whispered, “My grandfather.”
“She feared he would take the baby.”
My mother continued.
“So she placed Eleanor with friends under another name.”
I realized what I was hearing.
My mother was telling her own origin story as if she had recorded it years later.
“Alessandra disappeared six months after giving birth.”
The tape crackled.
“The official family story was that she ran away.”
Another pause.
“She did not.”
Luca leaned closer.
“I found evidence that someone inside the family ordered her death.”
Sofia crossed herself.
My mother’s voice continued.
“If you are hearing this, Emma, it means I failed to keep you outside their history.”
My throat tightened.
“The Moretti inheritance follows bloodlines.”
Luca looked at me.
“There are assets tied specifically to Alessandra’s descendants.”
“How much?”
He did not answer.
The tape answered for him.
“Alessandra’s child was entitled to twenty percent of the original Moretti family holdings.”
I stared at Luca.
His expression was unreadable.
Twenty percent of an empire worth billions.
My mother had spent her life clipping coupons.
She had known?
The tape continued.
“I never wanted the money.”
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
Of course she hadn’t.
“But someone else discovered the lineage.”
My heart began pounding.
“I believe they will use Emma if they ever learn who she is.”
The tape ended.
Silence filled the vault.
Then Luca’s security chief entered.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Luca turned.
“We traced the hospital intrusion.”
“Who paid for it?”
The security chief hesitated.
“A shell company tied to Cole Strategic Partners.”
Derek’s employer.
I looked at Luca.
“Derek knew.”
“Maybe.”
The security chief continued.
“There’s more.”
He handed Luca a photograph.
It showed Derek leaving a restaurant.
Beside him was Brittany.
And beside Brittany stood an older man with silver hair.
Luca stared at the picture.
His face hardened.
“Who is he?”
I asked.
Luca looked at me.
“My uncle.”
“The one who tried to abduct my mother?”
“Yes.”
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His name was Carlo Moretti.
And according to Luca, Carlo had supposedly been dead for twelve years.
