Chapter 7 - The Traitor Inside the Moretti Estate

The front doors did not open.

Luca made sure of that.

Vincent Vescari waited outside.

His men remained by the cars.

Moretti guards took positions inside.

No weapons were raised.

None needed to be.

Emma stood behind the library doors with Lily.

Belini watched the security monitor.

Dante searched access records.

Bruno stood beside him.

Pale.

Angry.

“Someone cloned my code,” he said.

Dante nodded.

“Looks like it.”

“Who?”

“I’m working on it.”

Luca looked at Belini.

“Who knew Bruno’s credentials?”

“Half the senior household staff.”

Bruno shook his head.

“No. Only three people.”

He counted.

“Me. Dante. And Mr. Vittorio.”

Dante looked up.

“Vittorio’s codes were never deleted.”

The room went quiet.

Emma remembered another story.

A dead man’s authorization.

An agreement built on access that survived the person who created it.

Luca said, “Someone has been using my father’s credentials.”

Dante nodded.

“For years.”

Belini’s face changed.

“My father.”

“No,” Dante said. “The logins originate inside the estate.”

Luca’s eyes hardened.

“Find the device.”

Vincent called.

Luca let it ring twice.

Then answered.

“You are on my property.”

Vincent’s voice came through calm.

“So is my daughter.”

“She can leave when I decide she is safe to leave.”

Belini stared at the phone.

Vincent continued.

“You have something that belongs to me.”

Luca looked at the ledgers.

“No.”

“You opened Elena’s box.”

Not a question.

Emma felt cold.

Luca said, “Who told you?”

Vincent laughed softly.

“You still think this house belongs entirely to you.”

The call ended.

Dante moved fast.

“Network activity.”

“Where?”

“Old staff terminal. West service corridor.”

Bruno frowned.

“That terminal is almost never used.”

“Exactly.”

Luca looked at Emma.

“Stay here.”

She stood.

“No.”

“Emma.”

“If the person reporting to Vincent knows about Lily, I’m not sitting in a room waiting.”

Luca stared at her.

Then nodded once.

“Stay behind me.”

They moved through the corridor.

Dante first.

Luca second.

Emma behind him carrying Lily.

Belini came last with Bruno.

The terminal room was empty.

But the screen was active.

A transfer window remained open.

Files had been sent to an external address minutes earlier.

Dante examined the account.

Then froze.

“What?”

“The user profile belongs to Bruno.”

Bruno stepped back.

“No.”

Belini whispered, “Convenient.”

Bruno’s face flushed.

“I did not do this.”

Emma looked at the desk.

A cup.

Still warm.

Beside it, a folded cleaning cloth.

And a silver cufflink.

She had seen it before.

Every morning.

On one man.

“The house manager,” she said.

Luca turned.

“Who?”

“Mr. Calder.”

Bruno stared.

“Thomas?”

Emma nodded.

“He wears those cufflinks every day.”

Dante picked it up.

A small engraved C.

Footsteps sounded at the far end of the corridor.

Someone running.

Luca did not run.

Dante did.

Two guards moved from the opposite end.

Thomas Calder appeared between them.

Sixty.

Gray hair.

Perfect suit.

The man who had managed the Moretti estate for fifteen years.

He stopped.

Saw Luca.

And knew.

Luca approached slowly.

“How long?”

Thomas said nothing.

“How long have you worked for Vincent?”

Still nothing.

Bruno looked devastated.

“You stood beside Vittorio’s coffin.”

Thomas looked at him.

“I stood beside a man who made promises he couldn’t keep.”

Luca’s expression changed.

“What promise?”

Thomas looked toward Lily.

Emma stepped back.

He noticed.

Then smiled sadly.

“Your father promised Vincent the child would never be acknowledged.”

Luca’s voice dropped.

“My father wrote a statement acknowledging her.”

“Yes.”

“Then whose side were you on?”

Thomas looked at Belini.

“Not hers.”

Belini stiffened.

Luca understood.

“Vincent.”

Thomas nodded.

“He paid me to make sure the alliance survived.”

Emma felt sick.

“You knew about Lily.”

“Yes.”

“For three years?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell Vincent where she was?”

Thomas looked at Emma.

“No.”

That surprised her.

“Why?”

“Because Vittorio asked me not to.”

Bruno stared.

“You were serving both men.”

Thomas’s expression hardened.

“I was surviving both men.”

Luca stepped closer.

“And tonight?”

Thomas looked at the ledgers behind them.

“Tonight survival changed.”

Dante checked the terminal.

“He sent photos of the documents.”

“To Vincent?” Luca asked.

“Yes.”

Thomas exhaled.

“It doesn’t matter now.”

Luca’s gaze narrowed.

“Why?”

Thomas looked toward the courtyard.

“Because Vincent didn’t come here for Belini.”

Belini went still.

“He came for the ledgers.”

Luca said nothing.

Thomas continued.

“And if he can’t take them, he’ll make sure nobody can use them.”

A distant alarm sounded.

Dante looked at his phone.

Then swore under his breath.

“What?”

“Archive wing.”

Smoke detector.

Emma’s blood ran cold.

Luca turned immediately.

Thomas closed his eyes.

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