Chapter 4 - What Happened Eighteen Years AgoVictor refused to explain.
Dominic ordered him detained in a private conference room while Marco continued searching the company's archives.
At 2:13 a.m., they found the first missing file.
At 2:19, they found the second.
At 2:31, Marco discovered an encrypted folder labeled:
PROJECT CEDAR.
Dominic opened it.
Inside were financial transfers.
Shell companies.
Property purchases.
Political donations.
And one name repeated over and over.
Anthony Moretti.
Dominic's father.
Dominic leaned back.
His father had died believing he had protected the family.
Now Dominic realized protection could mean many things.
Sometimes it meant shielding someone from danger.
Sometimes it meant burying the truth.
Sometimes it meant destroying an innocent person's life.
The documents showed that Evelyn had discovered an accounting discrepancy eighteen years earlier.
Millions of dollars were being moved through companies connected to Moretti Group.
Evelyn had confronted Anthony.
She threatened to report it.
Anthony responded by threatening her.
But then something changed.
According to the file, Anthony learned Evelyn was pregnant.
And the baby was Dominic's.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“He knew.”
Marco nodded.
“He knew.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Maybe he thought you would choose her.”
Dominic looked away.
That possibility hurt more than the others.
Because it sounded like his father.
Anthony had always believed Dominic's future belonged to the family.
Love was weakness.
Attachment was leverage.
Family was supposed to mean blood, loyalty, obedience.
Evelyn had represented everything Anthony feared Dominic might choose over the Moretti empire.
But there was another file.
A scanned letter.
Anthony had written it shortly before his death.
Dominic opened it.
Evelyn,
I have made unforgivable mistakes.
I separated you from Dominic because I believed I was protecting my son. I was wrong.
If I die before the truth comes out, give Dominic the letters.
He deserves to know about his daughter.
I am sorry.
Dominic stared at the signature.
Then his eyes moved to the bottom.
Anthony Moretti.
“Why didn't she receive this?” Dominic whispered.
Marco looked at the date.
“Because someone intercepted it.”
Dominic turned.
“Who?”
Marco pulled up the delivery record.
The letter had been signed for.
By Victor Hale.
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
Then Lily appeared in the doorway.
“Did you find Mom?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Not yet.”
She walked closer.
“I dreamed about her.”
“What happened?”
“She was standing in the snow.”
Dominic's heart tightened.
“What did she say?”
“She said not to let them take the box.”
Dominic exchanged a look with Marco.
“What box?”
Lily shrugged.
“I don't know.”
Then the building lights went out.
Every light.
The conference room went black.
Emergency alarms began to sound.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Dominic pulled Lily behind him.
Someone had cut the power.
Then came a sound from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming closer.
Marco whispered:
“Someone is inside.”
Dominic moved Lily into the private office.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't leave me.”
Dominic looked down.
“I'll come back.”
He closed the door.
The footsteps stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the gap.
Then the door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Not Victor.
Someone Dominic had never seen before.
The stranger threw a small object onto the floor.
Smoke filled the room.
Marco shouted.
Dominic grabbed Lily and covered her with his body.
The stranger ran.
When the emergency lights returned, the man was gone.
But the shoebox was missing.
Dominic stared at the empty table.
The letters were gone.
Every one.
Except a single envelope that had fallen beneath the chair.
Dominic picked it up.
His father's handwriting was on the front.
For Lily.
He opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
The person who destroyed your mother's life is still inside my family.
May you like
Dominic looked toward the dark hallway.
And suddenly, he wasn't sure whom he could trust.
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