Chapter 2 - The Chapel Key
The old Moretti chapel stood behind the western wing of the estate.
Victor hadn't entered it in seventeen years.
His father had loved the place.
After his father's death, Sylvia ordered the doors locked.
No explanation.
Victor had assumed grief was responsible.
Now, shortly after midnight, he stood before those same doors with Marta's brass key between his fingers.
He had told no one where he was going.
Not even his security men.
The key turned.
The door opened with a low groan.
Dust covered the pews.
Moonlight filtered through stained glass.
Victor walked toward the altar.
Nothing.
He searched the cabinets.
Old prayer books.
Candles.
Photographs.
Then he noticed scratches beside a wooden panel behind the altar.
The brass key fit another lock.
Click.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Victor carried it to a pew.
The first thing inside was a photograph.
Sylvia.
Young.
Perhaps twenty-five.
She stood beside Victor's father.
But another young man stood beside them.
Victor stared at him.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
The same eyes.
The same jaw.
The same dark hair.
On the back, Sylvia had written:
Gabriel, Victor and me. Before everything changed.
Victor's father's name had been Antonio.
So who was Gabriel?
Beneath the photograph were letters.
Dozens of them.
Victor opened one.
Sylvia,
You cannot keep him from me forever.
Victor stopped.
Another letter.
You made your choice when you chose Antonio. But the boy deserves to know.
Another.
He is my son too.
Victor's hands went cold.
The letters were more than forty years old.
He continued reading until the truth became impossible to ignore.
Gabriel Moretti had been Antonio's younger brother.
And according to the letters, Sylvia had been involved with Gabriel before marrying Antonio.
Then she became pregnant.
Victor stared at the page.
He didn't need anyone to explain what it meant.
Antonio Moretti might not have been his biological father.
Gabriel might have been.
But that still didn't explain Marta's midnight visitor.
Victor returned to the surveillance room.
At 12:43 a.m., movement appeared on camera seven.
A man entered the eastern hallway.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Dark coat.
Victor zoomed in.
The man's face remained partially hidden.
But when he turned—
Victor stopped breathing.
The man looked like the person in the old photograph.
Older.
Much older.
But unmistakable.
Gabriel Moretti.
A man Victor had been told was dead.
Gabriel entered Sylvia's bedroom.
Victor listened.
Sylvia saw him.
Her eyes widened.
Gabriel approached her bed.
“Hello, Sylvia.”
She began trembling.
Gabriel sat beside her.
“You should have told him.”
Sylvia struggled to speak.
“V-Victor…”
Gabriel smiled sadly.
“Yes. Victor.”
He leaned closer.
“He deserves the truth.”
Sylvia shook her head violently.
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Forty years, Sylvia.”
He reached for her hand.
She pulled away.
“Forty years you let him believe Antonio was his father.”
Victor felt the floor disappear beneath him.
Gabriel continued.
“And now your future daughter-in-law thinks she can use our family secrets to take everything.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Audrey.
Gabriel knew.
Suddenly the bedroom door opened.
Audrey entered.
Victor leaned closer to the monitor.
She wasn't surprised to see Gabriel.
That was the worst part.
“You shouldn't be here,” Audrey said.
Gabriel stood.
“You shouldn't be changing Sylvia's medication.”
Audrey's face hardened.
“So you know.”
“I know enough.”
“You were supposed to stay away.”
“And you were supposed to frighten her. Not make her sicker.”
Victor's blood went cold.
They knew each other.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“If Victor discovers what you're doing—”
“He won't.”
“You underestimate him.”
Audrey laughed softly.
“No. You do.”
Then she said something that changed everything.
“Victor still thinks he's inheriting the Moretti empire.”
Gabriel's expression darkened.
Audrey continued.
“But once Sylvia is gone and the original documents surface, Victor won't legally own half of what he thinks he owns.”
Victor stared at the screen.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“Those documents were destroyed.”
Audrey smiled.
“No.”
She reached into her pocket.
“They weren't.”
And held up a small black flash drive.
Victor slowly rose from his chair.
The secret was no longer simply about his father.
It was about his entire empire.
May you like
And Audrey had known before he did.
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