Dominic Moretti stopped breathing.
“The man in the cold room…” Lily whispered.
Her small finger remained pointed at his wrist.
“He had that watch.”
No one moved.
Sophia tightened both arms around her daughter.
Dominic slowly looked down.
The watch was an antique Patek Philippe, yellow gold, almost fifty years old.
His father had given it to him before dying.
There were only two like it.
Dominic knew that because his father had commissioned them together.
One for himself.
One for Dominic’s older brother.
A brother who had been dead for eighteen years.
Dominic lifted his eyes.
“Lily.”
The child pressed closer to Sophia.
He softened his voice.
“Did the man’s watch look exactly like mine?”
She nodded.
“Same little lion.”
Dominic’s pulse changed.
The Moretti crest.
A lion beneath three stars.
It was engraved so small that most adults never noticed it.
Lily could not have invented that detail.
Sophia looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic did not answer.
Instead, he looked toward his security chief.
“Marco.”
Marco Bellini stepped forward immediately.
“Boss.”
“Seal the cold room.”
“It already is.”
“Who entered it today?”
“We’re checking.”
“Check again.”
Marco nodded.
Dominic removed his watch.
Lily watched it uneasily.
“Was his exactly this color?”
“Yes.”
“Which hand?”
She frowned.
Sophia whispered, “Sweetheart, remember carefully.”
Lily pointed to her left wrist.
Dominic went still.
His brother Gabriel had worn his watch on the left.
Dominic always wore his on the right.
Marco noticed.
His expression changed.
Sophia noticed that too.
“What?”
Dominic finally spoke.
“My brother owned the other watch.”
Sophia’s face softened.
“You never told me you had a brother.”
“He died before you came here.”
Lily whispered:
“No.”
Dominic looked down.
“What?”
“The man didn’t die.”
A chill moved through him.
Sophia closed her eyes briefly.
“She doesn’t mean—”
“I saw him.”
Lily’s certainty silenced her mother.
“He was standing by Ethan’s cake.”
Dominic looked toward Marco.
“Get me every camera between the kitchen and the cold room.”
“We already pulled them.”
“And?”
Marco hesitated.
“Nothing.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“Nothing?”
“The corridor camera lost signal for seven minutes.”
“When?”
Marco swallowed.
“During the exact period Lily says she saw him.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
That was not coincidence.
Someone knew the security system.
Someone knew Ethan’s allergy.
Someone knew precisely when Sophia would be upstairs.
And someone possessed a Moretti family watch that should have been buried with Gabriel.
Dominic turned toward Dr.
Harris.
“Take the cake.”
“For testing?”
“For everything.”
The physician nodded.
Dominic looked at Sophia.
“Keep Lily with you tonight.”
Sophia stared.
“I wasn’t planning to let her out of my sight.”
“Stay in the east guest suite.”
She frowned.
“We have rooms downstairs.”
“Not tonight.”
“Mr.
Moretti—”
“The staff wing has outside access.”
Understanding reached her face.
“You think whoever did this could come after Lily?”
Dominic looked at the child.
“She saw him.”
Sophia’s face went white.
Dominic’s voice softened.
“No one gets near her.”
Lily studied him.
Then suddenly asked:
“Where’s Ethan?”
Dominic turned.
His son stood several yards away beside Dr.
Harris.
Silent.
Pale.
Trying very hard not to look eight years old.
Dominic crossed the room.
Ethan stared at the destroyed cake.
“Was somebody really trying to kill me?”
Dominic’s instinct was to lie.
He had lied to Ethan before.
Small lies.
Your mother is somewhere peaceful.
Your grandfather wasn’t afraid.
Bad men cannot enter this house.
Parents built childhood from comforting lies because truth was often too heavy for small shoulders.
But someone had just attempted to murder his son.
Comfort would not protect him.
“Yes,” Dominic said.
Ethan swallowed.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did I do something?”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“No.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
“She saved me.”
“Yes.”
The boy walked over to her.
Lily looked nervous.
Ethan knelt.
“Thank you.”
She considered this.
Then said:
“You can have my cupcake tomorrow.”
For the first time that night, Ethan smiled.
“So generous.”
Lily nodded solemnly.
“I know.”
Sophia laughed despite herself.
Even Dominic almost did.
But Marco appeared in the doorway.
And the expression on his face erased the moment.
“Dominic.”
He never used Dominic’s first name in front of staff unless something was seriously wrong.
Dominic followed him into the corridor.
Marco held a clear evidence pouch.
Inside was a cuff link.
Gold.
Lion crest.
Dominic stared.
“Where?”
“Cold room floor.”
“Gabriel?”
Marco nodded.
Dominic recognized it immediately.
His brother had worn that exact pair at Dominic’s confirmation.
One cuff link had supposedly been buried with him.
The other remained locked in Dominic’s private safe.
Dominic said:
“Go to my study.”
They crossed the estate in silence.
Dominic opened the concealed safe behind a painting.
Cash.
Documents.
A pistol.
And a velvet box.
He opened it.
Empty.
Marco stared.
“When did you last see it?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Who knows the combination?”
“No one.”
Marco gave him a look.
Dominic corrected himself.
“No one alive.”
Marco’s eyes sharpened.
“Gabriel?”
Dominic closed the safe.
“Gabriel is dead.”
“You saw his body?”
Dominic said nothing.
Marco understood.
Eighteen years earlier, Gabriel Moretti’s car had exploded on a mountain road outside Palermo.
The body had burned beyond recognition.
Dental records confirmed identity.
Dominic had attended the funeral.
His father had buried the watch, cuff links, and wedding ring with an empty-looking black coffin.
But Dominic had never seen Gabriel’s face.
Nobody had.
Marco said slowly:
“Dental records can be falsified.”
Dominic looked at him.
“My father identified the remains.”
“Your father also lied professionally.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then his face hardened.
“Find everything.”
Marco nodded.
“Everything about Gabriel’s death.”
He turned to leave.
“Marco.”
“Yes?”
“Quietly.”
“Always.”
Sophia did not sleep.
Neither did Lily.
At two in the morning, mother and daughter lay together beneath an embroidered blanket in the east guest suite.
Lily clutched a stuffed rabbit.
Sophia stroked her curls.
“Why didn’t you tell Mommy when you saw the man?”
“I tried.”
Sophia frowned.
“When?”
“You were talking to Miss Elena.”
Sophia remembered.
Elena Moretti.
Dominic’s widowed sister-in-law.
Gabriel’s wife.
She had arrived unexpectedly before the party.
They had spoken in the upstairs hallway about flower arrangements.
Lily had been beside Sophia.
Or Sophia had assumed she was.
“Then what happened?”
“The man saw me.”
Sophia stopped stroking her hair.
“What did he do?”
“He smiled.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Did he say anything?”
Lily nodded.
“What?”
The child whispered:
“He said I looked like somebody.”
Sophia’s pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“I forgot.”
“Try, sweetheart.”
Lily squeezed the rabbit.
“Annie.”
Sophia froze.
“Annie?”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s mouth went dry.
Her late husband had called her Annie sometimes.
Not Sophia.
Not Sophie.
Annie.
It made no sense.
“Did he say anything else?”
Lily thought.
“He said Mommy would know.”
A knock sounded.
Sophia nearly jumped.
“Who is it?”
“Dominic.”
She opened the door.
He stood outside without jacket or tie.
For the first time since she had known him, Dominic Moretti looked tired.
“Lily remembered something.”
Sophia told him.
His expression changed at the word Annie.
“Why?”
“That was my husband’s nickname for me.”
Dominic looked toward Lily.
“Your husband?”
“Michael Carter.”
“How did he die?”
Sophia stiffened.
“You know how.”
Officially, yes.
Michael Carter had died in a warehouse fire five years earlier.
Dominic’s company had paid Sophia’s medical bills afterward.
Two months later, she accepted a housekeeping position at the estate.
Dominic had never questioned the coincidence.
Until now.
“What warehouse?”
Sophia frowned.
“One of yours.”
Dominic felt cold.
“Which one?”
“Red Hook.”
He remembered.
Warehouse 17.
A fire officially blamed on faulty wiring.
Three dead.
Michael Carter had been one of them.
Dominic stepped into the room.
“What did Michael do there?”
“He was an inventory supervisor.”
“For how long?”
“Four years.”
“Did he ever mention Gabriel?”
Sophia stared at him.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why would he?”
Dominic looked toward Lily.
Because a stranger wearing Gabriel’s watch had called Sophia by Michael’s private nickname.
That was why.
Before he could answer, his phone vibrated.
Marco.
Dominic answered.
“What?”
Marco’s voice was strained.
“I found something.”
“Say it.”
“The man buried as Gabriel wasn’t Gabriel.”
Dominic went silent.
Sophia watched his face.
Marco continued.
“I had the old coroner’s evidence reopened.
The blood type doesn’t match.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Eighteen years.
His brother had been alive.
Or at least had not died in that car.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“The dental records used for identification were submitted by a private dentist.”
“Name?”
Marco hesitated.
“Dr.
Stephen Carter.”
Sophia sat upright.
Dominic looked at her.
“What did you say?”
Marco repeated it.
“Stephen Carter.”
Sophia whispered:
“That was Michael’s father.”
Dominic’s grip tightened around the phone.
Sophia had told him Michael’s father died before their marriage.
Another connection.
Another dead man.
Too many dead men surrounding Gabriel Moretti.
“Where are you?”
Dominic asked.
“My office.”
“Stay there.”
He disconnected.
Sophia stood.
“What’s happening?”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Michael’s father falsified my brother’s dental identification.”
Sophia stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
“Michael never said anything.”
“Maybe he didn’t know.”
“Or maybe—”
She stopped.
Dominic waited.
Sophia looked frightened.
“Before Michael died, he started having nightmares.”
“About what?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
She sat again.
“He’d wake up saying someone had found him.”
Dominic’s pulse slowed.
“Found him?”
“He started checking locks.
Watching cars outside our apartment.”
“Did you ask why?”
“Constantly.”
“What did he say?”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“He told me if anything ever happened to him, I should take Lily and disappear.”
Dominic looked at the three-year-old.
“How old was Lily when Michael died?”
“Seven months.”
Dominic stared.
Something bothered him.
Lily had dark curls.
Green-gray eyes.
An unusual dimple in her left cheek.
Gabriel had the same dimple.
Dominic hated the thought before it fully formed.
“Sophia.”
She looked up.
“Was Michael Lily’s biological father?”
Her face changed.
That was enough.
Dominic went still.
“Who was?”
Sophia stood quickly.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“It might have everything to do with this.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
She clutched the blanket around Lily.
“Michael was her father in every way that mattered.”
Dominic heard the careful wording.
“Who was her biological father?”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
He stared.
“That’s not possible.”
“It is.”
She looked ashamed.
“Before Michael and I married, we separated for several months.”
Dominic waited.
“There was someone else.”
“Name?”
“He never gave me his real one.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You had a child with a man whose name you didn’t know?”
Sophia snapped:
“I didn’t know I was pregnant until after Michael and I reconciled.”
Her voice shook.
“Michael knew she might not be his.
He loved her anyway.”
Dominic softened slightly.
“What did the man call himself?”
Sophia looked down.
“Gabe.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
The room seemed to tilt.
Sophia noticed.
“What?”
His voice came out barely audible.
“Gabriel.”
She stared.
“No.”
“My brother’s name was Gabriel.”
“No.”
“When did you meet Gabe?”
“Four years before Michael died.”
“Where?”
“A fundraiser in Manhattan.”
“What did he look like?”
Sophia shook her head.
“This is insane.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Gabriel.
Alive.
Using part of his own name.
Meeting Sophia.
Possibly fathering Lily.
Then disappearing again.
Dominic looked at the child.
If true, Lily was not merely the housekeeper’s daughter.
She was his niece.
And the man who had tried to poison Ethan might have been Lily’s father.
Sophia understood from his face.
“No.”
Dominic said nothing.
“No,” she repeated.
Lily sat up.
“Mommy?”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Dominic stepped toward the child.
“Lily.”
Sophia blocked him instinctively.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“You think Gabriel is her father?”
“I think it’s possible.”
“And he tried to kill Ethan?”
“I don’t know.”
Sophia’s expression hardened.
“If he is Lily’s father, why would he risk her seeing him?”
Dominic had no answer.
Then Lily whispered:
“He wasn’t the man who smiled.”
Both adults turned.
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
Lily sat upright.
“The man with the cake had the watch.”
“Yes.”
“But the man who said Annie…”
Sophia’s face went white.
“…was someone else.”
Dominic stared.
Two men.
Not one.
“Describe the second man.”
Lily pointed toward the framed family photograph on the wall.
It had been taken two Christmases earlier.
Dominic.
Ethan.
Elena.
Several relatives.
Lily climbed out of bed.
She approached it.
Her finger touched a face.
Dominic’s body went cold.
“No.”
Sophia looked.
“Who is that?”
Dominic could not answer immediately.
Because Lily had pointed at Marco Bellini.
His security chief.
His closest friend for twenty-two years.
The man currently investigating Gabriel.
The man who controlled every camera and locked door on the Moretti estate.
Sophia whispered:
“Marco called me Annie?”
Lily nodded.
Dominic reached for his phone.
Marco did not answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dominic opened the estate security application.
His login failed.
He tried again.
ACCESS DENIED.
Someone had locked him out.
Then the lights in the guest suite went off.
Sophia gasped.
Emergency lighting should have activated.
It did not.
Total darkness.
Dominic grabbed Sophia and Lily.
“Stay behind me.”
A phone began ringing somewhere in the room.
Not Dominic’s.
Sophia’s.
She found it on the nightstand.
Unknown number.
Dominic motioned for her to answer.
Sophia pressed speaker.
“Hello?”
Breathing.
Then a man spoke.
“Sophia.”
Her face changed.
She knew that voice.
Dominic saw it.
The phone nearly slipped from her hand.
“No.”
The man gave a quiet laugh.
“You still sound the same, Annie.”
Sophia began shaking.
Dominic whispered:
“Michael?”
Tears filled her eyes.
Her supposedly dead husband.
Michael Carter.
The man whose body had allegedly burned in Warehouse 17.
Alive.
Dominic took the phone.
“Where are you?”
Michael answered calmly:
“In your house.”
Dominic’s blood ran cold.
“Marco is helping you.”
A pause.
Then Michael laughed.
“No.”
“Lily saw him.”
“She saw his face.”
“What does that mean?”
Michael’s voice changed.
“Marco Bellini died two years ago.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
“No.”
“The man you’ve been calling Marco isn’t Marco.”
Sophia whispered:
“Who is he?”
Michael said:
“Ask Dominic who had a twin.”
Dominic’s mind went blank.
Gabriel.
His older brother had been born seven minutes after another child.
A child Dominic had barely known.
Because the Moretti family rarely spoke his name.
A child sent away after their mother died.
A child who supposedly died young in Sicily.
Matteo Moretti.
Dominic’s uncle.
No.
That made no sense.
Then Michael continued.
“Not Gabriel.”
Dominic gripped the phone.
“Who?”
Michael whispered:
“Your father.”
Dominic froze.
“My father didn’t have a twin.”
“That’s what you were told.”
Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming closer.
Sophia grabbed Lily.
Dominic moved toward the door.
Michael spoke again.
“Don’t open it.”
Dominic stopped.
“Why?”
“Because the man outside your room is the one who poisoned Ethan’s cake.”
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Someone stopped outside.
Then a familiar voice came through the wood.
“Dominic?”
Marco.
Or the man Dominic had believed was Marco.
“I found Gabriel.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
The child was trembling.
Sophia covered her mouth.
Dominic slowly raised the pistol he kept beneath his jacket.
“Where?”
The man outside answered:
“Downstairs.”
Dominic said nothing.
Then came three quiet knocks.
Lily screamed.
“THAT’S HIM!”
The handle began to turn.
Dominic raised his weapon.
But before the door opened, Michael’s voice came through Sophia’s phone one final time.
“Dominic, listen carefully.”
“What?”
“You think someone tried to murder Ethan tonight.”
“Yes.”
Michael whispered:
“They didn’t.”
Dominic froze.
“What are you talking about?”
“The substance in the cake wasn’t meant for Ethan.”
Silence.
Michael continued.
“It was meant to prove Lily would stop him.”
Dominic felt cold.
“Why?”
Another pause.
Then Michael said:
“Because tonight wasn’t an assassination attempt.”
The door handle slowly turned.
“It was a test.”
Dominic stared toward the darkness.
“A test for what?”
Michael’s answer came just as the lock clicked open.
“To find out whether Lily remembers what they did to her.”
The door began to swing inward.
And from behind Dominic, Lily whispered something no three-year-old should possibly have known.
“Uncle Dominic…”
He turned.
She was staring straight at him.
Not frightened anymore.
Certain.
“The man with your watch is named Gabriel.”
Dominic’s heart stopped.
Lily continued.
“And he says you’re not really Dominic Moretti.”
…If you want to know what happened next, please type “YES” and like for more.
Source: Stories of Destiny · Huyen Huyen
