CHAPTER 14 — THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE MORETTI MANSION
CHAPTER 14 — THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE MORETTI MANSION
The scream came from upstairs.
"Daddy!"
Dante moved instantly.
Every instinct inside him took over.
He ran toward the nursery with Marco and the guards following behind.
I followed.
Not because I wasn't afraid.
Because I was.
But two little girls were somewhere inside that mansion, and they had already lost too much.
The halls were dark.
The emergency lights flashed red.
The same mansion that had once felt cold and threatening now felt like a battlefield.
When we reached the nursery, the door was open.
Too open.
Dante stopped.
He knew immediately.
A trap.
Inside, the room looked untouched.
The beds were made.
The toys were arranged perfectly.
The windows were closed.
But there was no sign of Isabella or Sofia.
Only one thing remained.
A small music box sitting in the center of the floor.
Dante approached slowly.
I grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"What?"
"Someone wants you to open it."
Before he could answer, the music box began playing.
The lullaby.
The same melody that had connected all of us from the beginning.
My heart tightened.
Then a voice came from the hidden speakers.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Everyone turned.
A screen mounted on the wall flickered on.
Victor Bellini appeared.
But he wasn't alone.
Behind him stood Isabella and Sofia.
Both girls were unharmed.
But terrified.
Dante's face changed.
"Victor."
"I knew you would find the truth eventually."
"Where are my daughters?"
Victor looked at the twins.
"They're safe."
"Bring them back."
"I can't."
Dante's eyes darkened.
"You have five seconds."
Victor sighed.
"Still the same Dante."
"Always choosing violence before understanding."
"You murdered my wife."
Victor's expression changed.
"No."
"I failed your wife."
The words surprised everyone.
"What?"
Victor looked directly at the camera.
"Elena discovered your father's crimes years ago."
"She knew the Raven Circle was using the Moretti name."
"She planned to expose everything."
"Your father found out."
Dante's hands tightened.
"And you helped him."
Victor looked away.
"For a while."
The admission hit the room like a shockwave.
Marco raised his weapon toward the screen.
"Why?"
"Because I believed I was protecting the family."
Victor's voice became bitter.
"I thought controlling the damage was better than destroying everything."
"But Elena was right."
"Your father wasn't trying to protect the family."
"He was trying to own it."
I looked at the screen.
"Then why are you doing this now?"
Victor looked at me.
"Because your grandmother hid the only evidence that could destroy the Raven Circle forever."
"The ledger."
Lucia stepped forward.
"You're too late."
Victor smiled.
"No."
"I'm exactly on time."
The screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
05:00
Dante stared.
"What is that?"
"The vault beneath the mansion."
Victor's voice became cold.
"The room your father used to store every secret, every transaction, every name."
"The evidence that could bring down the entire organization."
The timer continued.
04:32
"And the only person who can open it..."
Victor looked at me.
"...is Ava."
Everyone turned toward me.
Lucia closed her eyes.
"That's why they needed you."
Dante stepped between me and the screen.
"No."
Victor laughed.
"You still don't understand."
"Your family spent generations protecting secrets."
"Her family spent generations hiding them."
"Together, they created the only key."
The silver pendant around my neck suddenly felt heavier.
The broken raven symbol.
The missing piece.
Dante looked at me.
"I won't let them use you."
I looked back at him.
"What if I'm the only one who can save your daughters?"
He didn't answer.
Because he knew.
The timer reached:
03:00
Lucia handed me the pendant.
"Your grandmother knew this day would come."
"She prepared you."
I looked at the hidden symbol.
"What does it open?"
"The vault."
"And what's inside?"
Lucia's eyes filled with sadness.
"The truth."
We moved quickly.
The underground entrance beneath the music room opened with the silver key.
The entire security team followed.
But halfway down the stairs...
The lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Guards fell back.
Someone had entered the tunnel.
Marco shouted:
"Ambush!"
Dante pushed me behind him.
The attackers moved through the darkness.
Professional.
Silent.
Ruthless.
Then one figure stepped forward.
Victor.
Not on the screen.
In front of us.
Dante froze.
"You were never in that room."
Victor smiled.
"No."
"I wanted you to think I was."
He looked at me.
"The vault is waiting."
Dante raised his weapon.
"You won't get near her."
Victor sighed.
"That's the problem with you, Dante."
"You always think protecting someone means standing in front of them."
A gunshot echoed.
Everyone froze.
But the bullet wasn't fired at us.
It hit the ceiling.
The tunnel began collapsing.
Dust and stone crashed down between us.
When the smoke cleared...
Victor was gone.
And so was the only path to the vault.
Dante looked at the fallen rocks.
Then at me.
"We're running out of time."
I looked at the pendant.
The secret my family had protected for generations.
The reason two families had destroyed each other.
The reason Elena died.
Then I noticed something.
The pendant wasn't just a symbol.
It was a key.
A hidden blade inside the raven opened with a click.
And engraved beneath it were Elena's final words.
"The truth was never locked away."
I looked at Dante.
"It was hidden in plain sight."
Behind us, another passage opened.
A passage no one knew existed.
And at the end of it...
May you like
Was the vault.
The final secret of the Moretti family.
