Chapter 6 - THE SECRET ISABELLA LEFT BEHINDVictor laughed.
It was the wrong reaction.
Too quick.
Too light.
“You were three years old, Luca.”
Luca flinched.
Victor crouched.
“Children create memories from stories they hear.”
“Don’t.”
Adrian stepped between them.
Victor rose.
“You cannot possibly take this seriously.”
“My son says my wife named you.”
“Your traumatized three-year-old son remembered my name five years later.”
“He remembered before today.”
Emma watched Victor’s face carefully.
That mattered.
He had not asked how long ago Luca remembered.
He assumed.
Adrian apparently noticed too.
“Get off my property.”
Victor stared at him.
“You’re letting a nanny and three children turn you against your own brother.”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You managed that yourself.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“This family existed before Isabella. Before your boys. Before your sudden moral awakening.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The reason.”
Victor’s jaw shifted.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“You believe they stole me from the family.”
Victor smiled without humor.
“You abandoned everything Father built.”
“Father built fear.”
“He built power.”
“And you still worship it.”
Victor moved closer until the brothers stood inches apart.
“You think respectable businessmen accept you now? You think politicians forget who your grandfather was because you bought hotels?”
“I don’t care what they remember.”
“You should.”
Victor glanced at the triplets.
“Because someday those boys will inherit a name you’ve made weak.”
Adrian grabbed Victor’s coat.
Security immediately advanced.
Emma pulled the boys backward.
Victor did not resist.
Instead he whispered something.
Emma couldn’t hear.
Whatever it was made Adrian release him.
Victor straightened his coat.
Then he looked at Emma.
“You should take your daughter and go while you still can.”
Adrian punched him.
Victor hit the ground.
The boys gasped.
Emma moved instantly.
“Inside.”
Nobody argued.
She took them to the library.
Nico was shaking.
“Dad hit Uncle Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Is Dad going to kill him?”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
Luca’s voice was quiet.
Emma crouched.
“Your father loves you more than he hates Victor.”
She hoped it was true.
An hour later, Victor was gone.
The police had not been called.
Emma hated that.
She confronted Adrian in his study.
“You assaulted him.”
“He threatened you.”
“So?”
“So I responded.”
“That isn’t protection. That’s losing control.”
His eyes flashed.
“Don’t lecture me.”
“I will when your sons are watching.”
“You have no idea what that man has done.”
“Then involve law enforcement.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“You really believe the law has never been purchased?”
“And you think becoming judge and jury fixes that?”
He stared at her.
Emma could see violence living beneath his restraint—not mindless violence, but learned violence.
Inherited.
Normalized.
That frightened her more.
“My daughter comes tomorrow,” Emma said.
Adrian’s face changed.
“She shouldn’t.”
“I agree.”
Silence.
“I’m taking the boys somewhere safe until this is resolved.”
“No.”
Emma blinked.
“No?”
“They stay here.”
“Someone shot at them and set your attic on fire.”
“This property is secure.”
“It has a traitor inside it!”
“We’re identifying him.”
Emma grabbed her purse.
“Then identify him.”
“Where are you going?”
“To my sister’s.”
“And your employment?”
She looked at him.
“I don’t care about the job anymore.”
That surprised both of them.
A week earlier she would have endured almost anything for the salary.
Now three boys mattered more.
“I won’t help you pretend this is safe.”
She walked out.
She expected him to stop her.
He didn’t.
But when she reached the front foyer, the triplets stood beside her suitcase.
Luca held his backpack.
Nico carried a pillow.
Matteo had somehow packed a toaster.
Emma stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving,” Luca said.
“You cannot leave.”
“You are.”
“That’s different.”
“No.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“Boys—”
Matteo lifted the toaster.
“I need waffles.”
“This is not helping.”
Adrian appeared at the top of the staircase.
Nobody spoke.
He looked at his sons.
“You’re not leaving.”
Luca squared his shoulders.
“Then Emma isn’t.”
Adrian descended slowly.
“Luca.”
“You always make everyone leave.”
The words hit harder than shouting.
Adrian stopped.
Luca’s eyes filled.
“Mom left. Uncle Victor leaves. Nannies leave. You leave every morning and sometimes don’t come back until we’re asleep.”
“I work.”
“I know!”
His voice cracked.
“You always work!”
Adrian went still.
Nico started crying.
Matteo stared at the floor.
Emma watched the billionaire finally encounter the one negotiation money could not solve.
His children.
Adrian took off his suit jacket.
Then he sat on the marble floor.
Right there.
In front of security guards, staff and everyone else.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca’s face changed.
“I thought providing for you was enough.”
Adrian’s voice became rough.
“It wasn’t.”
Nico approached first.
“Are you going to die?”
Adrian’s face broke.
“No.”
“You don’t know.”
Adrian swallowed.
“No. I don’t.”
Emma saw him choose truth.
“But I’m going to do everything I can to stay.”
Nico threw himself into his father’s arms.
Matteo joined.
Luca remained standing.
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re allowed to be angry.”
Emma recognized her own words.
After a long moment Luca dropped his backpack.
Then joined the hug.
Emma turned away, giving them privacy.
That evening Adrian made a decision.
The boys would temporarily move to a smaller lakeside property registered through a trust Victor did not know about.
Emma agreed to accompany them.
Sophie would join them there.
For the first time since accepting the job, Emma’s daughter would meet the triplets.
Before leaving, Rafael entered Adrian’s study.
“We recovered data from Isabella’s phone.”
Adrian stood.
Emma remained near the doorway.
Rafael connected the device to a laptop.
There were photographs.
Voice notes.
Messages.
One audio file dated two days before Isabella’s death.
Adrian pressed play.
Isabella’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, Adrian, something has happened.”
He stopped breathing.
Emma’s skin prickled.
“I found transfers from the Palermo accounts. Victor has been moving money into companies connected to your father’s old network. I confronted him.”
A pause.
“He told me the boys belong to the DeLuca family before they belong to me.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“He said when you were gone, he’d make sure they were raised properly.”
Emma felt sick.
Then Isabella’s voice softened.
“Adrian, I know you love your brother. But you have to choose your sons.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Adrian sat down.
Five years of doubt collapsed in a single moment.
Rafael broke the silence.
“There’s more.”
He opened another file.
A photograph.
A security employee standing beside Victor.
Emma recognized him immediately.
“The guard from the shooting.”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s grief became fury.
Rafael continued.
“And we traced the fire. Someone disabled two smoke detectors from the internal maintenance system.”
“Who?”
Rafael hesitated.
“That’s the problem.”
He turned the laptop.
The access credential belonged to Rosa Alvarez.
Emma shook her head instantly.
“No.”
Adrian’s face went expressionless.
“Bring her to me.”
Rafael left.
Emma grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“Rosa didn’t do this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Neither do you.”
Minutes later, Rosa entered.
She looked terrified.
Adrian turned the laptop toward her.
“Explain.”
Rosa stared at the access log.
Her face drained.
“I didn’t do that.”
“Your credentials did.”
“I swear on my children—”
Adrian slammed his hand onto the desk.
“Do not lie to me!”
Rosa jumped.
Emma stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Adrian glared.
Emma ignored him.
“Rosa. Who knows your password?”
“Nobody.”
“Think.”
Rosa shook her head.
Then stopped.
“My nephew.”
“Who?”
“Gabriel. He works maintenance. I helped him get hired two months ago.”
Adrian looked toward Rafael.
“Find him.”
Rafael made a call.
Seconds later his expression changed.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Gabriel left the estate thirty minutes ago.”
“Stop him.”
“We can’t.”
“Why?”
Rafael looked toward the security monitors.
“Because he took someone with him.”
The screen changed.
A vehicle was leaving through the service gate.
In the passenger seat sat Matteo.
Emma’s heart stopped.
Adrian went white.
And on the dashboard camera, the boy turned toward the lens as if he knew exactly where it was.
Then he lifted one hand.
He was holding a folded piece of paper.
May you like
Three words were written across it.
DON’T TRUST GABRIEL.
