Chapter 14 - Aunt Sofia’s Last Secret
Sofia didn't get far.
Federal agents stopped her upstairs.
She wasn't carrying a weapon.
She carried one folded document.
Eli's original birth record.
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“To protect the family.”
I nearly laughed.
Of course.
“What does it say?”
She refused.
I took it.
Mother:
Elena Russo.
Father:
Dante Vittorio Moretti.
No surprise anymore.
Then another line.
Twin delivery.
I stopped.
“Elena.”
Her face went white.
“What?”
“You had twins.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
The record showed two boys.
Elijah.
And Nicholas.
My chest tightened.
“Where is Nicholas?”
Elena looked like she might collapse.
“I only remember one baby crying.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
Silas hadn't taken both.
My father had.
Vittorio learned about the pregnancy before Silas did.
He believed two heirs created danger.
So he secretly removed one child.
Nicholas.
Then Silas took Elijah later.
Two men splitting my sons as if children were assets.
“Where is he?”
Sofia began crying.
“I raised him.”
Everything stopped.
In Sicily.
Nicholas had grown up believing Sofia was his mother.
He was nine.
My second son.
Alive.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Vittorio made me promise.”
I was finished hearing about promises.
“Does Nicholas know?”
“No.”
Elena turned away and sobbed.
Two sons stolen.
One by Silas.
One by my own father.
Luca looked sick.
“Our father did this?”
“Yes.”
Sofia whispered:
“He thought separating them would keep both alive.”
I looked at Eli.
The boy who found me beneath the snow.
Maybe my father would call that success.
I called it theft.
Then Sofia told us why she came from Sicily.
Nicholas disappeared three days ago.
Someone took him from school.
No ransom.
Only one message.
BRING ELI TO HOLLOW FALLS.
That was why she followed Silas's trail.
She thought he had Nicholas.
“He didn't?”
Silas heard us from the stairwell.
He laughed.
“No.”
I turned.
“Who?”
His smile returned.
“Vittorio wasn't the only Moretti keeping secrets.”
Luca went pale.
“What does that mean?”
Silas looked at my brother.
“Ask your mother.”
Our mother had died sixteen years earlier.
Supposedly.
I almost refused to react.
Not another dead person.
Then Sofia whispered:
“Dante…”
I looked at her.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
“Your mother didn't die.”
Of course.
Sofia explained.
Sofia Moretti—my mother, not my aunt? No.
The names tangled.
The truth didn't.
My mother, Alessandra Moretti, had survived the shooting we were told killed her.
Vittorio hid her after she attempted to expose his crimes.
She escaped years later.
Went to Europe.
Found Nicholas.
And three days ago, she took him.
Not kidnapping.
Retrieval.
“Why bring him here?”
Because she knew Eli was alive.
She wanted both grandsons.
She wanted something else too.
The Moretti empire dismantled.
All of it.
Legitimate and criminal.
She blamed the family structure for destroying every generation.
Maybe she wasn't wrong.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
An elderly woman's voice.
“Dante.”
I knew it instantly.
Childhood doesn't forget a mother's voice.
My knees nearly weakened.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then:
“Bring Elijah to the mountain house.”
“No.”
“Then you'll never meet Nicholas.”
Elena grabbed my arm.
My mother continued:
“Come before midnight.”
“What do you want?”
She answered quietly:
“I want you to choose.”
“Between what?”
“Your empire…”
A pause.
“…and your sons.”
Then she hung up.
I looked at Eli.
Nine years old.
Confused.
Brave.
Still unaware he had a twin brother somewhere in those mountains.
My father had chosen power.
Silas had chosen leverage.
May you like
My mother expected me to make the same calculation.
She was going to be disappointed.
