Chapter 10 - The Third Moretti Son
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Lucas looked again at the hospital record.
Twin A.
Twin B.
Two boys.
One transferred through a sealed adoption.
The other remained undocumented after three days.
Adrien stared at Elena's old photograph.
“She had two sons.”
Lucas sat slowly.
“I have a twin.”
Grace looked toward Adrien.
This explained Elena's message.
Vittorio has something that belongs to me.
Not a document.
A son.
Marcus began searching immediately.
But Grace saw the realization reach Adrien first.
“Thomas.”
Everyone looked at him.
Adrien's face went cold.
“Age?”
Marcus understood.
“Twenty-six.”
“Birth records?”
“Sealed.”
Grace whispered, “No.”
Thomas Vane.
The security officer inside Adrien's home.
The man working for Vittorio.
Could he be Lucas's twin?
DNA testing could answer the question, but they didn't have hours.
Marcus pulled Thomas's original employment medical file.
Blood type.
O positive.
Lucas was O positive.
Not proof.
Then Marcus opened an old background photograph.
Thomas as a teenager.
Beside Lucas, the resemblance was undeniable.
Not identical.
Fraternal twins.
But same eyes.
Same chin.
Same dimple on the left cheek.
Lucas stared.
“That's him.”
Grace asked, “You've met?”
“At the hospital twice. He came with Adrien's security detail.”
Neither had known.
Adrien sat.
In less than a week he had gone from believing his mother dead and himself an only child to discovering two brothers.
One had been raised by loving parents.
The other apparently raised inside Vittorio's influence.
“Why put Thomas in my security team?” Adrien asked.
Marcus answered quietly.
“To watch you.”
“No.”
Adrien shook his head.
“If Vittorio wanted surveillance, he had easier options.”
Grace understood.
“To make Thomas resent you.”
Adrien looked at her.
She continued.
“Imagine growing up knowing your brother inherited everything while you were hidden.”
Lucas added, “Especially if someone controlled the story he heard.”
Adrien's expression darkened.
“Vittorio raised him to believe I stole his life.”
Marcus tracked Thomas's vehicle to an old Moretti estate outside the city.
Adrien knew it well.
Vittorio's private residence.
They did not rush in.
Grace insisted.
“If Thomas is your brother, don't treat him like an enemy before he gets the chance to decide what he is.”
Adrien remembered how Robert had manipulated Grace with selective evidence.
How his father had been manipulated against Elena.
The entire family's history was built on people acting before asking.
Not again.
He called Thomas.
Thomas answered.
“Boss.”
Adrien almost laughed at the word.
“Are you with my mother?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who she is?”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
“How long have you known?”
“Since I was fourteen.”
“And me?”
“All my life.”
The pain in Adrien's chest became physical.
“You knew I was your brother.”
“You were never my brother.”
Grace heard Thomas through the speaker.
The bitterness had been cultivated for years.
Adrien remained calm.
“Then what was I?”
“The son she kept.”
Adrien looked at Elena's photograph.
“You think she kept me?”
“You got the name.”
Thomas's voice hardened.
“The house. The money. The father.”
“And you got Vittorio.”
Silence.
That struck something.
Adrien continued.
“He lied to you.”
“You don't know anything about him.”
“I know he separated our mother from three sons.”
“Two.”
Adrien glanced at Lucas.
“No.”
Thomas breathed.
“What?”
“You have a twin.”
Silence stretched so long Adrien thought the call had disconnected.
Then Thomas whispered:
“That's a lie.”
Lucas spoke for the first time.
“It isn't.”
Thomas heard his voice.
“Who is that?”
“My name is Lucas Bennett.”
Thomas said nothing.
Lucas continued.
“I was born at St. Vincent on the same day you were.”
A breath.
Then another.
“I have the record.”
Thomas's voice shook.
“Vittorio said the other baby died.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“I didn't.”
The line went silent.
Then yelling sounded in the background.
Not panic.
An argument.
Elena's voice.
“Thomas, please.”
Vittorio shouted something indistinct.
The call disconnected.
Marcus was already moving.
They drove to the estate with police and federal investigators who had become involved after the financial evidence surfaced.
The confrontation was not violent.
Vittorio's greatest weapon had always been influence.
For the first time, influence failed him.
Elena walked out first.
Thomas followed.
He looked at Adrien.
Then Lucas.
The three men stood facing each other.
Grace remained beside the car.
Elena was crying.
“My sons.”
Thomas flinched.
“Don't.”
Elena stopped.
“I know I don't deserve the word from you yet.”
Thomas looked toward Lucas.
“Come here.”
Lucas approached carefully.
They stared at each other.
Then Lucas laughed softly.
“This is weird.”
Thomas almost smiled.
“Yeah.”
Adrien remained several feet away.
Thomas looked at him last.
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“You had everything.”
“No.”
Adrien glanced at Elena.
“I had what Vittorio let me believe.”
Thomas's eyes filled.
“I thought she chose you.”
“So did I.”
The symmetry landed between them.
Both had grown up believing the other represented abandonment.
Vittorio had built two different lies from the same wound.
Federal officers escorted him outside.
He looked at Adrien with contempt.
“You think this changes what you are?”
Adrien responded calmly.
“Yes.”
Vittorio smiled.
“No. Blood always wins.”
Adrien looked at Grace.
Then Lucas.
Thomas.
Elena.
Marcus.
“That's where you were wrong.”
Vittorio's smile faded.
Adrien continued.
“Choice wins.”
Vittorio was taken away.
Robert remained missing.
And there were only four hours before midnight.
Grace still needed to authenticate the trust.
They rushed back toward the city.
At 10:41 p.m., her phone rang.
Robert.
Grace answered.
“Where are you?”
His voice sounded tired.
“You won.”
“Then surrender.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Robert laughed softly.
“You still think Vittorio was the architect.”
Grace looked at Adrien.
“What are you saying?”
“Vittorio was greedy.”
Robert paused.
“I was afraid.”
“Of him?”
“No.”
Robert's voice changed.
“Of the person who has the original trust amendment.”
Grace froze.
“We have it.”
“No.”
Robert laughed again.
“You have the version Elena wanted you to find.”
Grace's heart sank.
“There is another?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
Robert answered:
“It says the trust never belonged to Adrien's father.”
“Then whose was it?”
“The person who created the entire Moretti Foundation.”
Grace waited.
Robert whispered:
“Your grandmother.”
Grace stopped breathing.
May you like
And Robert ended the call.
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