The lock behind them clicked again.
Luca Moretti turned slowly toward the steel vault door.
For seven years, he had imagined Matteo’s voice in nightmares.
Sometimes it came from the darkness beyond his bedroom.
Sometimes from the back seat of an empty car.
Once, after three sleepless nights following Matteo’s funeral, Luca had heard his brother laughing from inside an elevator and nearly torn the doors apart with his bare hands.
But those had been ghosts made by guilt.
This was different.
This voice was real.
“Matteo,” Luca whispered.
Lily looked from Luca to the speaker in the ceiling.
“You know him?”
The speaker crackled.
A soft chuckle followed.
“You always were slow when you were frightened, Luca.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Open the door.”
“Not yet.”
“Open it.”
“You’ve waited seven years.
You can wait seven more minutes.”
Luca stepped beneath the speaker.
“If you are alive, come down here and look me in the eye.”
Silence.
Then Matteo spoke again.
“I have been looking you in the eye for years.”
Luca frowned.
A small red light appeared in the corner of the ceiling.
A camera.
He had missed it.
Another light blinked on beside it.
Then another.
They were being watched from every angle.
Luca moved instinctively in front of Lily.
Matteo laughed.
“Protective already?
That’s touching.”
Lily clutched Luca’s coat.
She was trying not to cry.
Luca felt her fingers trembling against him.
His anger sharpened.
“She’s seven years old.
Leave her out of whatever this is.”
“Oh, Luca.”
The voice became quieter.
“She was never out of it.”
Luca looked down at the birth certificate still crushed in his hand.
The father’s name seemed to burn through the paper.
ADRIAN VALE.
A man who had died twelve years ago.
A man Luca had once trusted.
A man Luca had watched buried beneath black marble while three hundred people stood in the rain.
A man whose death had changed the Moretti family forever.
Luca raised the certificate.
“Why is Adrian Vale listed as her father?”
For the first time, Matteo did not answer immediately.
Lily tugged Luca’s sleeve.
“Who’s Adrian?”
Luca stared at the paper.
He did not know how to answer.
Before he could try, something clicked behind the wall.
A narrow panel slid open.
Inside was a small monitor.
The screen flickered to life.
A date appeared.
SEVEN YEARS EARLIER.
Then grainy security footage began playing.
Luca saw a hospital corridor.
A woman appeared on screen carrying a newborn wrapped in a white blanket.
Luca stopped breathing.
“Elena…”
Lily looked up.
“Who?”
Luca stepped closer to the screen.
Elena Rossi.
The woman he had loved.
The woman who had disappeared without explanation seven years ago.
The woman Luca had searched for across three countries until his father had finally placed a death certificate in front of him.
Car accident.
No survivors.
Closed coffin.
He had believed it.
Eventually.
Because grief had exhausted him enough to believe anything.
On the monitor, Elena looked directly toward the camera.
She was frightened.
A man approached her.
His face remained outside the camera’s angle.
Elena placed the baby in his arms.
Then she said something.
There was no sound.
Luca moved closer.
“What did she say?”
The speaker answered.
“I thought you’d ask.”
Audio crackled into existence.
Elena’s voice filled the vault.
“If Luca learns the truth, they’ll kill him too.”
Luca went still.
Elena continued.
“Promise me Lily will never know who her real father is.”
The man holding the baby answered.
“I promise.”
The voice belonged to Matteo.
Lily stared at the screen.
“That’s my mom.”
Luca turned sharply.
“You remember her?”
Lily nodded.
“A little.”
Her voice softened.
“She used to sing when it rained.”
Something inside Luca cracked.
Elena had always sung when it rained.
Badly.
Deliberately badly, because she knew it made him laugh.
He had forgotten that.
Or perhaps he had forced himself to forget.
On the screen, Elena kissed the newborn.
Then she walked away.
The footage ended.
Luca stared at the black monitor.
“Where is she?”
No answer.
“Matteo, where is Elena?”
“Alive.”
One word.
It hit Luca harder than any gunshot could have.
He grabbed the edge of the monitor.
“No.”
“Very much alive.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’ve lied about many things.”
Matteo paused.
“Not that.”
Lily stepped away from Luca.
Her face had changed.
Fear had given way to confusion.
“If my mommy is alive… why didn’t she come get me?”
The question hung in the vault.
Even Matteo did not answer quickly.
When he finally did, his voice had lost some of its amusement.
“Because sometimes surviving costs more than dying.”
Luca looked toward the camera.
“Enough riddles.”
He held up the birth certificate.
“Adrian Vale died twelve years ago.
Lily was born seven years ago.
Explain that.”
Matteo sighed.
“You still trust dates printed on paper?”
A mechanical hum sounded.
Another hidden drawer opened beneath the monitor.
Inside rested a black folder.
Luca took it.
The Moretti family crest was stamped across the cover.
He opened it.
Medical records.
Financial transfers.
Photographs.
Copies of passports.
One document stopped him cold.
PROJECT LAZARUS.
Luca read the title twice.
“What is this?”
“My insurance policy.”
“Against what?”
“Father.”
Luca froze.
Their father.
Vittorio Moretti.
Patriarch of the Moretti empire.
A man whose funeral had been attended by presidents, royalty, and half the financial world three years ago.
Dead.
Supposedly.
Luca suddenly hated that word.
Lily stood silently beside him while he scanned the document.
Project Lazarus had begun thirteen years earlier.
Private clinics.
False identities.
Experimental medical facilities.
Shell companies that existed only on paper.
At the center of it all was Adrian Vale.
The Moretti family’s former attorney.
The man who had known where every secret was buried.
Until he had become one of them.
Luca’s eyes moved rapidly across the pages.
Then stopped.
SUBJECT A.V.
STATUS: PRESERVED.
Date of death: twelve years ago.
Biological viability: maintained.
Luca stared.
“No.”
Matteo’s voice came through the speaker.
“Adrian died legally.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Father needed him dead.”
“And physically?”
A pause.
“That became more complicated.”
Luca closed the folder.
“This is insane.”
“Is it?”
“You expect me to believe Adrian fathered a child five years after he died?”
“No.”
Matteo’s answer came immediately.
“I expect you to understand that the birth certificate is telling the truth.”
Luca looked at Lily.
Her enormous eyes were fixed on him.
“Then Adrian is her father?”
“Yes.”
Lily stepped backward.
Luca instinctively reached for her.
She avoided his hand.
“But you said…”
Her voice broke.
“You said Mommy told people Mr.
Luca was my daddy.”
Matteo answered gently.
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth was dangerous.”
Lily’s lip trembled.
“What truth?”
Luca snapped toward the camera.
“Don’t.”
But Matteo continued.
“Adrian Vale was your biological father, Lily.”
She lowered her eyes.
“Was?”
The single word hit Luca immediately.
Children understood death more clearly than adults expected.
Matteo’s voice softened.
“Yes.”
Lily stared at the floor.
Luca wanted to comfort her.
He didn’t know how.
He had entered the bank that morning worrying about a board meeting.
Now he was locked beneath the city with a child connected to a woman he had mourned, a dead brother speaking through hidden speakers, and evidence that another dead man had somehow fathered a child years after his burial.
Nothing in Luca’s world obeyed ordinary rules anymore.
“Why me?”
Luca asked.
Matteo understood immediately.
“Why did Elena tell Lily I was her father?”
“Yes.”
“Because of all the Morettis, you were the only one she believed might protect her.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting for now.”
Luca slammed his fist against the steel wall.
“Stop playing games!”
Lily flinched.
Luca immediately regretted it.
Matteo’s voice hardened.
“This is not a game.”
“Then open the door.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody is coming.”
Luca stopped.
“Who?”
The speaker went silent.
Then the lights inside the vault turned red.
A warning tone began to pulse.
Luca looked toward the door.
From outside came a distant metallic sound.
Footsteps.
More than one person.
Luca moved Lily behind him.
“Matteo?”
No response.
“Matteo!”
The footsteps grew louder.
Luca grabbed the brass key from the table.
It was too small to serve as a weapon.
The vault contained nothing else.
No chair.
No loose metal.
Nothing.
Deliberately.
Luca placed the black folder inside his jacket.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“Whatever happens, stay behind me.”
“But—”
“Promise.”
She swallowed.
“Promise.”
The lock turned.
The enormous vault door began to open.
Luca prepared himself.
A narrow slice of corridor appeared.
Then a man stepped through.
Luca stared.
It wasn’t Matteo.
It was Daniel Cross, Luca’s chief of security.
“Mr.
Moretti!”
Luca exhaled.
Daniel rushed inside with two armed guards.
“We lost surveillance for eight minutes.
The bank’s internal systems were hijacked.”
Luca looked toward the speaker.
“Where is he?”
Daniel frowned.
“Who?”
“My brother.”
Daniel said nothing.
Luca grabbed his arm.
“Matteo.
Where is Matteo?”
The guards exchanged glances.
Daniel’s expression became carefully neutral.
“Sir… Matteo Moretti is dead.”
“I know what the official story says.”
“Official story?”
“I just spoke to him.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
Then toward the hidden cameras.
His face changed slightly.
Too slightly.
But Luca noticed.
“You knew.”
“Sir—”
“You knew something.”
Daniel stepped back.
“Not here.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
That was answer enough.
“Take Lily upstairs.”
“No!”
Lily grabbed Luca’s hand.
“I’m staying with you.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“We need to secure the building.”
Luca looked down.
Lily’s fingers were wrapped tightly around his.
For seven years she had been passed between secrets.
He would not become another adult who abandoned her the moment things became difficult.
“She stays with me.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then nodded.
They moved quickly through the underground corridor.
As they approached the elevator, Luca heard the speaker behind them crackle one last time.
Matteo’s voice whispered:
“Ask Daniel what happened in Prague.”
Daniel stopped walking.
Luca looked at him.
“What happened in Prague?”
Daniel’s face became pale.
The speaker laughed.
Then died.
The elevator doors opened.
Daniel said nothing.
Luca did not move.
“What happened in Prague?”
“Get inside.”
“Answer me.”
“We don’t have time.”
Luca stepped closer.
“I decide how much time we have.”
For ten years Daniel Cross had been one of the few men Luca trusted without hesitation.
Former military intelligence.
Quiet.
Disciplined.
The man had taken bullets protecting members of the Moretti family.
But now he would not meet Luca’s eyes.
Luca understood betrayal before a word was spoken.
“Daniel.”
Daniel finally looked at him.
“Prague was where Matteo died.”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“No.
Matteo died in Milan.”
“That’s where his body was found.”
Luca stared.
Daniel continued.
“Three days earlier, I was in Prague.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel glanced at Lily.
“Because he had contacted me.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“You told me you hadn’t seen him for months.”
“I lied.”
One of the guards shifted uncomfortably.
Luca barely noticed.
“Why?”
“Because Matteo discovered something about your father.”
“What?”
Daniel took a slow breath.
“He discovered Vittorio had been moving portions of the family fortune into accounts that didn’t officially exist.”
“That isn’t surprising.”
“It wasn’t money Matteo cared about.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
“It was people.”
Luca’s stomach tightened.
“What people?”
“Children.”
Silence.
Lily’s grip tightened around Luca’s hand.
Daniel continued.
“Matteo believed your father had been financing a private medical program for years.
Fertility research.
Genetic selection.
Identity reconstruction.
He didn’t understand the purpose.”
“Project Lazarus.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You know.”
“I do now.”
The elevator doors began closing automatically.
Luca blocked them with his arm.
“Keep talking.”
“Matteo wanted evidence.
We met in Prague.
He gave me a drive and told me that if something happened to him, I should never give it to anyone in the Moretti family.”
“Including me?”
“Especially you.”
Luca’s expression darkened.
“Why?”
“He believed you were being watched.”
“By Father?”
Daniel hesitated.
“No.”
Luca felt a chill.
“Then by whom?”
Before Daniel could answer, one of the guards suddenly raised his weapon.
Luca saw the movement reflected in the elevator’s polished steel.
He reacted instantly.
He dragged Lily down.
A suppressed gunshot snapped through the corridor.
Daniel spun.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
The second guard fired back.
The traitorous guard collapsed against the wall.
Chaos exploded.
Lily screamed.
Daniel fell to one knee.
The surviving guard kicked the weapon away from the attacker.
Luca covered Lily with his body.
“Daniel!”
“I’m fine,” Daniel gasped.
Blood streamed between his fingers.
He wasn’t fine.
Luca looked at the fallen attacker.
The man wore Moretti security credentials.
Luca knew his face.
He had worked for the family for four years.
“Who ordered him?”
Daniel shook his head.
Then Lily spoke.
“Him.”
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the dead guard.
“I’ve seen him before.”
Luca crouched.
“Where?”
“At my house.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Luca felt the corridor become suddenly colder.
“What was he doing there?”
“He talked to Mr.
Matteo.”
Daniel stared.
Luca’s pulse stopped.
“You saw Matteo last night?”
Lily nodded.
“He brought my birthday cake.”
Luca struggled to keep his voice steady.
“Lily… what does Matteo look like?”
She frowned.
“Tall.”
“What else?”
“Dark hair.
Gray on the sides.”
Luca’s heart pounded.
“Scar?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She touched the left side of her chin.
Exactly where Matteo had been cut falling from a horse when he was sixteen.
Daniel slowly stood.
“That information was never public.”
Luca looked toward the ceiling cameras.
“So he is alive.”
Daniel’s expression remained troubled.
“Maybe.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Then Lily interrupted.
“He gave me something.”
Luca looked at her.
“What?”
She reached beneath her sweater and pulled out a thin silver chain.
Hanging from it was a tiny black capsule.
“I forgot.”
“When did he give you that?”
“Last night.”
“What did he say?”
Lily thought carefully.
“He said I should open it when you stopped believing him.”
Luca took the capsule.
It twisted apart.
Inside was a tiny memory chip.
Daniel stared.
“Don’t plug that into any networked system.”
They abandoned the elevator.
There was a secure emergency room twenty meters down the corridor.
Inside, Daniel’s remaining guard locked the door while Daniel sat against the wall and pressed gauze to his shoulder.
Luca inserted the memory chip into an isolated security tablet.
One file appeared.
VIDEO_001.
He pressed play.
Matteo appeared on screen.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Luca sat perfectly still.
His brother looked directly into the camera.
“If Lily gave you this, Luca, congratulations.
You’ve survived long enough to become suspicious.”
Despite everything, Luca almost laughed.
That was Matteo.
Exactly Matteo.
The arrogance.
The half smile.
The irritating calm.
Matteo continued.
“You’re probably asking why I stayed dead.”
“Yes,” Luca whispered.
“Because being dead was the only way to investigate Father without becoming dead for real.”
The smile vanished.
“But I made one mistake.”
Matteo leaned closer to the camera.
“I assumed Father was the architect.”
Luca frowned.
“He wasn’t.”
A photograph appeared beside Matteo.
Vittorio Moretti.
Then another.
Adrian Vale.
Another.
Elena Rossi.
Then Daniel Cross.
Daniel looked sharply at the screen.
Finally, a fifth photograph appeared.
A woman.
Luca stopped breathing.
He knew her.
Everyone in the financial world knew her.
Isabella Moretti.
Luca and Matteo’s mother.
She had died when Luca was nineteen.
Cancer.
Luca had held her hand during her final hours.
Matteo’s recorded voice continued.
“The person behind Project Lazarus was never Father.”
Luca stared at his mother’s photograph.
“No…”
“Father discovered it and tried to shut it down.”
Matteo’s face filled the screen again.
“That is why he died.”
Luca’s heart seemed to beat somewhere outside his body.
“And if you’re wondering how a woman who died fifteen years ago can still control a project today…”
Matteo paused.
“…you’re finally asking the right question.”
The video ended.
Luca stared at the blank screen.
Daniel looked equally stunned.
“Your mother?”
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“No.
Impossible.”
A sound came from behind them.
Small.
Almost insignificant.
Lily had dropped the old envelope.
It landed upside down.
Something hidden beneath its inner lining slipped onto the floor.
Another photograph.
Lily picked it up.
Luca looked over.
The image showed Elena standing beside Isabella Moretti.
The date printed at the bottom was from five years ago.
Ten years after Isabella’s supposed death.
Luca took the photograph with trembling fingers.
Behind the two women stood a white building surrounded by mountains.
On the back, someone had written an address.
Switzerland.
And beneath it:
LILY MUST NEVER RETURN HERE.
Daniel read it over his shoulder.
“We need to leave the country.”
“No.”
Luca’s eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
“We need to find Matteo.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Matteo clearly doesn’t want to be found.”
“He keeps contacting Lily.”
“Which means he’ll contact her again.”
Luca looked at Lily.
For the first time, another possibility occurred to him.
One so obvious he hated himself for missing it.
He crouched.
“Lily, when Matteo visited you yesterday… did he tell you to come to this bank?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Who did?”
“My mommy.”
Luca stared.
Daniel straightened.
“What?”
Lily looked confused by their reactions.
“My mommy told me.”
“You said she wasn’t with you.”
“She isn’t.”
“Then how did she tell you?”
Lily reached into her pocket and removed a small phone.
“My birthday present.”
Luca took it.
No brand.
No contacts.
No applications.
Only a message screen.
One conversation.
MOMMY.
Luca opened it.
Hundreds of messages.
They went back months.
Simple things at first.
Did you eat breakfast?
Remember your coat.
I love you.
Then the messages became stranger.
Never tell anyone about Matteo.
If anyone asks about the key, say you found it.
On your seventh birthday, go to Moretti Private Bank.
Ask to open your daddy’s account.
Luca’s chest tightened.
The final message had arrived twenty minutes ago.
He opened it.
DON’T TRUST THE MAN STANDING BESIDE LUCA.
Luca slowly raised his eyes.
Daniel saw his expression.
“What?”
Luca said nothing.
Daniel’s remaining guard stood near the door.
His name was Marcus.
He had been with Daniel’s unit for six years.
Luca looked at him.
Marcus looked back.
Then Lily whispered:
“Not him.”
Luca frowned.
“Who?”
She pointed.
Not at Marcus.
At Daniel.
Silence swallowed the room.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Luca—”
The phone vibrated.
Another message.
HE WAS IN PRAGUE BECAUSE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL MATTEO.
Luca looked at Daniel.
Daniel slowly lowered his blood-covered hand from his shoulder.
“That isn’t what happened.”
“Then explain.”
“Matteo asked me to meet him.”
“You already said that.”
“I didn’t say why.”
Luca stepped between Daniel and Lily.
“Why?”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
“Because he wanted me to kill him.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
“He said someone had gotten inside the family.
Someone close enough to monitor every move.
He believed the only way to disappear was to make his death convincing.”
“So you helped fake it?”
“Yes.”
“You watched me bury an empty coffin?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“It wasn’t empty.”
Luca went still.
Daniel looked genuinely ill now.
“There was a body inside.”
“Whose?”
“I never knew.”
Luca’s hands curled into fists.
“But Matteo survived.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve known for seven years.”
“Yes.”
Rage burned through Luca.
He grabbed Daniel by the jacket and drove him against the wall.
“You watched me destroy myself.”
“I was protecting him.”
“You lied to me every day.”
“I was protecting you too!”
Luca nearly struck him.
Then the phone vibrated again.
Lily looked at the screen.
A new message.
Luca released Daniel.
He read it.
DANIEL IS TELLING THE TRUTH.
Another message immediately followed.
BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW WHOSE BODY WAS IN THE COFFIN.
Luca stared.
Then a photograph loaded.
A morgue photograph.
The corpse was badly burned.
But the face had been reconstructed digitally.
Luca recognized it.
His anger disappeared.
His entire body went cold.
Daniel moved closer.
“What is it?”
Luca enlarged the photograph.
The dead man was Adrian Vale.
Lily’s father.
The man supposedly buried twelve years ago.
Yet the metadata on the morgue photograph showed the body had been recovered seven years ago.
The night Matteo “died.”
Five years after Adrian’s first funeral.
Daniel whispered, “Jesus.”
Luca looked toward Lily.
She was staring at her father’s dead face.
He immediately turned the phone away.
Too late.
“Is that him?” she asked.
Luca couldn’t lie.
“Yes.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“Did Mr.
Matteo kill him?”
“No.”
The answer came from the phone.
Not as a message.
As a voice.
The device had answered itself.
Luca held it up.
“Elena?”
Breathing.
Soft.
Shaking.
Then a woman whispered:
“Luca.”
His knees nearly failed him.
He knew that voice.
Older.
More frightened.
But hers.
“Elena.”
Lily began crying.
“Mommy?”
“Baby, listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Please come get me.”
On the other end, Elena broke down.
Luca closed his eyes.
Seven years of grief collapsed into one sound.
“Elena, where are you?”
“Luca, you have to take Lily out of the bank.”
“Where are you?”
“Now.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“There isn’t time!”
A heavy crash sounded through the phone.
Elena gasped.
Then whispered:
“She found me.”
The connection died.
Lily screamed, “Mommy!”
Luca redialed.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Then alarms erupted throughout the building.
Marcus checked the security console.
“Sir, we have multiple vehicles entering the underground garage.”
Daniel reached for his weapon.
“How many?”
“Six.”
“Police?”
“No identification.”
Luca looked at Lily.
Switzerland.
The photograph.
Elena.
His supposedly dead mother.
Project Lazarus.
Everything pointed toward the same place.
“We leave through the service tunnel.”
Daniel nodded.
“There’s an exit under the east garage.”
They moved.
Fast.
Marcus led.
Luca held Lily’s hand.
Daniel followed despite his bleeding shoulder.
Behind them, somewhere above, gunfire erupted.
The marble palace of Moretti Private Bank became a battlefield.
They entered the service tunnel.
Emergency lights painted the concrete walls red.
At the far end waited a black SUV.
Marcus ran toward it.
Then stopped.
Someone stood beside the vehicle.
A man.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Gray at the temples.
Scar along the left side of his chin.
Lily’s face lit up.
“Mr.
Matteo!”
Luca stopped.
Seven years disappeared.
His brother stood twenty feet away.
Alive.
Matteo smiled faintly.
“Hello, Luca.”
Luca could not speak.
Matteo opened his arms.
For one irrational second, Luca wanted to cross the distance and embrace him.
Then Daniel raised his gun.
“Don’t move.”
Matteo’s smile vanished.
“Still dramatic, Daniel.”
Lily ran forward.
“Wait!”
Luca shouted.
Too late.
She reached Matteo.
He knelt and hugged her.
Luca stared.
The gesture was natural.
Familiar.
Almost paternal.
Something inside Luca tightened.
Matteo whispered something into Lily’s ear.
She nodded.
Then she turned toward Luca.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Matteo rose.
The garage lights went out.
Gunfire cracked.
Luca dropped.
Daniel shouted.
Marcus fired into darkness.
A vehicle roared.
Seconds later, backup lights flickered on.
The SUV was gone.
So was Matteo.
So was Lily.
Luca staggered to his feet.
“LILY!”
Only an abandoned black coat remained on the floor.
He ran toward the tunnel exit.
The vehicle had vanished.
Daniel stumbled behind him.
“Luca!”
Luca turned.
Daniel held Lily’s phone.
It had fallen during the escape.
The screen glowed.
A new message had arrived.
Luca took it.
Three words.
COME TO SWITZERLAND.
Then another message appeared.
ALONE.
Then a photograph loaded.
Lily sat inside the SUV beside Matteo.
She was not crying.
She was smiling.
And in her hands was the photograph from the vault—the one of Luca holding the newborn baby.
But someone had torn away a thin strip that had been folded behind the original image.
A hidden portion.
Luca enlarged the photograph.
There had been another person standing beside him when baby Lily was placed in his arms.
A woman.
Isabella Moretti.
His mother.
Alive.
Watching.
Smiling.
On the back of the newly revealed strip, someone had written seven words:
LUCA MUST NEVER DISCOVER HE IS SUBJECT ONE.
Luca stopped breathing.
Daniel read the message over his shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Luca did not answer.
The phone vibrated one final time.
This message did not come from Elena.
It did not come from Matteo.
The sender was labeled:
MOTHER.
Luca opened it.
WELCOME BACK TO THE FAMILY, MY SON.
Beneath the words was a live photograph.
An elegant older woman sat beside a fireplace in a mountain house.
Her hair was silver now.
Her face was thinner.
But Luca recognized her immediately.
Isabella Moretti.
The mother he had watched die fifteen years earlier.
She was holding Lily’s hand.
Matteo stood behind them.
And beside Matteo was Elena.
Alive.
All four were staring directly into the camera.
But there was someone else in the photograph.
A man standing in the shadows behind Isabella.
Only half his face could be seen.
Luca enlarged the image.
Once.
Twice.
His heart stopped.
It was his own face.
Older.
Scarred.
Smiling.
The phone slipped from Luca’s hand.
Because Luca Moretti was standing in a bank tunnel in Italy.
But according to the timestamp on the photograph, another Luca Moretti was standing in Switzerland at that exact same moment.
…If you want to know what happened next, please type “YES” and like for more.
Source: Stories of Destiny · Huyen Huyen
