CHAPTER 7 — The Truth Sophia Remembered
CHAPTER 7 — The Truth Sophia Remembered
The photograph trembled in Victor's hand.
One of these boys is my son.
The other is the heir they created.
For the first time in his life, Victor questioned his own identity.
"Get me every record from my father's archives," he ordered.
Luca disappeared without a word.
Minutes later, another message arrived.
Not by phone.
Not by email.
A black envelope was placed on the villa's front steps by a courier who vanished before anyone could stop him.
Inside was a memory card.
Luca inserted it into his laptop.
A video began to play.
Sophia appeared on the screen.
She wasn't crying.
She looked frightened, but unharmed.
Behind the camera, Gabriel Varga spoke calmly.
"If you're watching this, Moretti, it means you're finally asking the right questions."
Victor clenched his fists.
"If you want the girl alive, come alone."
The screen switched to another image.
An abandoned church overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
"No soldiers."
"No helicopters."
"No tricks."
"Midnight."
The video ended.
Marco slammed his fist onto the table.
"It's a trap."
Victor nodded.
"I know."
"And you're still going?"
"Yes."
That night...
Victor entered the abandoned church alone.
Moonlight poured through broken stained-glass windows.
The old pews stood covered in dust.
At the altar, Sophia sat quietly, her hands untied.
When she saw Victor, she smiled with relief.
"I knew you'd come."
Victor walked toward her.
Then Gabriel Varga stepped out from the shadows.
He wasn't holding a weapon.
"You surprised me," Gabriel admitted.
"I expected fifty gunmen."
Victor never took his eyes off him.
"Where's my wife?"
Gabriel laughed.
"Running."
"From me?"
"No."
"From the people who hired both of us."
Victor frowned.
"Both?"
Gabriel slowly removed an earpiece and dropped it onto the floor.
"I never accepted a contract to kill you."
Victor's expression hardened.
"You planted the bomb."
"I planted a fake detonator."
Victor froze.
"What?"
Gabriel nodded.
"The bomb was real."
"But someone else planned to trigger it remotely."
"I replaced the receiver before sunrise."
Marco had been wrong.
Victor had been wrong.
Gabriel hadn't failed.
He had sabotaged the assassination.
"Why?"
Gabriel looked toward Sophia.
"Because she saw something no one else did."
Three nights earlier...
Sophia had wandered through the gardens chasing a butterfly.
Near the old greenhouse she had seen Isabella meeting a man.
She assumed he worked for the estate.
Then the man removed a ring from his hand.
A silver ring engraved with a crown and the Roman numeral XIII.
Sophia had picked it up after he accidentally dropped it.
She still had it.
She reached into her pocket.
The tiny ring sparkled under the moonlight.
Gabriel sighed.
"That ring belongs to the leader of the Thirteenth Crown."
Victor stared.
"If they lose it..."
"They lose their authority."
Sophia whispered,
"I didn't know."
Gabriel smiled kindly.
"I know."
"They've been hunting you ever since."
Before anyone could speak again...
Gunfire exploded outside the church.
Bullets shattered stained glass.
Marco's voice roared through Victor's hidden earpiece.
"They found you!"
Dozens of black SUVs surrounded the church.
Men dressed entirely in black poured from the vehicles.
Not ordinary assassins.
Professionals.
The Thirteenth Crown had come personally.
Gabriel looked at Victor.
"Now you know who your real enemy is."
May you like
He handed Victor a pistol.
"Let's survive long enough to finish this."
