Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Was Never Supposed to Exist
Dante did not speak for a long time.
Bianca looked suddenly old.
Ruby watched him absorb the revelation.
“A brother.”
Bianca nodded.
“Half brother.”
“Name.”
“Matteo.”
Dante laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Ruby touched his arm.
He did not pull away.
“Where is he?” Dante asked.
Bianca looked toward James.
“Ask him.”
James smiled from the floor.
“I knew you’d eventually become useful, Bianca.”
Dante walked toward James.
Ruby caught his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
James chuckled.
“She controls you beautifully.”
Dante turned his head slowly.
Ruby saw murder in his face.
James saw it too.
The smile faded.
Ruby stepped between them.
“We need answers.”
Dante looked at her.
“Yes.”
The simple agreement mattered more than it should have.
An ambulance arrived.
Thomas was taken upstairs for stabilization before transport.
James was moved to a guarded room.
Dante ordered the estate sealed.
No one entered.
No one left.
Then he returned to Bianca.
“Tell me everything.”
She sat.
“Salvatore had another relationship before we married.”
“With whom?”
“A woman named Sofia Bellini.”
Dante frowned.
“I know that name.”
“She worked for your father’s family.”
“Accounting.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She became pregnant.”
Ruby watched Dante’s face.
“Salvatore forced her to leave.”
Bianca nodded.
“I helped her.”
Dante stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How old is Matteo?”
“Forty-six.”
Dante was fifty-one.
Five years apart.
“Where is he?”
“I lost contact with Sofia when Matteo was twelve.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Bianca’s voice shook.
“I expect you to hate me.”
Dante looked away.
Ruby understood something then.
His anger was not only about secrets.
It was about inheritance.
The same disease that had infected both families.
Parents deciding what children were allowed to know.
Parents calling lies protection.
Ruby felt suddenly exhausted.
“When did James find him?” she asked.
Bianca looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
James answered from the doorway.
“Twenty years ago.”
Everyone turned.
Two guards held him.
Dante’s expression hardened.
“Why is he here?”
James smiled.
“I requested a family meeting.”
“No one asked what you requested.”
James looked at Ruby.
“You want the truth, don’t you?”
She hated him.
But yes.
“Talk.”
Dante gave her a sharp look.
Ruby held it.
He nodded once.
James was seated.
One guard remained behind him.
“Matteo grew up knowing exactly who his father was,” James said.
Bianca’s face tightened.
“That’s impossible.”
“Sofia told him.”
“She promised—”
James laughed.
“A mother lied to you. Shocking.”
Dante ignored him.
“What does Matteo want?”
“You.”
“Specific.”
“Your position.”
Dante almost smiled.
“He can have the title.”
James looked surprised.
Ruby did too.
Dante continued.
“If he wants the chair, give him the chair.”
Bianca stood.
“You cannot.”
“Watch me.”
“It is not ceremonial.”
“I know what it is.”
“You surrender control, you lose protection.”
Dante’s expression turned cold.
“I have spent thirty years protecting an organization built on things my father hid from me.”
Bianca stared.
“You think walking away absolves you?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Dante looked at Ruby.
Only for a second.
“Because I’m beginning to understand the price.”
Ruby felt her throat tighten.
James laughed.
“Touching.”
Dante looked back at him.
“You said Matteo wants me.”
“He wants what you have.”
“Which part?”
James smiled.
“The empire.”
“Then why the Gallagher contract?”
“Because he needs you discredited.”
Dante nodded slowly.
“If Ruby exposes the acquisition plan, the council questions my judgment.”
“Yes.”
“If I complete the acquisition, Gallagher falls and Ruby hates me.”
“Yes.”
“If I destroy the agreement, I violate the terms Bianca attached to succession.”
“Yes.”
Dante almost looked impressed.
“So every path weakens me.”
James smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Ruby stared at the contract case.
“Then the marriage was a trap for Dante too.”
Dante looked at her.
“Originally, I entered willingly.”
Ruby did not let him escape.
“You still planned to use me.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He blinked.
“Good?”
“Not good that you used me. Good that you admitted it without hiding behind this.”
Dante nodded.
“Fair.”
Bianca looked at Ruby thoughtfully.
“You are stronger than he deserves.”
Ruby replied, “We agree on something.”
Dante almost smiled.
Almost.
A guard entered.
“We found something in the basement.”
Dante stood.
“What?”
“A tunnel.”
Ruby frowned.
“There are no tunnels.”
“Apparently there are.”
They followed him.
Behind a wine rack, a narrow stone corridor ran beneath the house.
Fresh footprints.
Two sets.
Dante checked the floor.
“One coming in.”
“One going out,” Ruby said.
The tunnel led beneath the grounds.
At the far end was a small chamber.
Old electrical wiring.
Shelves.
Dust.
And one recent addition.
A laptop.
Still on.
Dante approached.
The screen showed a live video feed.
Ruby stopped.
It was the Moretti mansion.
Their bedroom.
Ruby’s side of the bed.
Someone had been watching them.
Dante’s face changed.
He clicked through windows.
Study.
Dining room.
Hallway.
Security office.
Every private room.
Ruby felt violated.
“How long?”
A timestamp showed months.
Dante swore under his breath.
Then another window opened automatically.
A man appeared on screen.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
He looked like Dante twenty years younger.
Bianca gasped.
“Matteo.”
The man smiled into the camera.
“Hello, brother.”
Dante stared.
Matteo continued.
“If you are seeing this, James failed.”
James shouted from behind them.
“You don’t know him!”
Matteo’s recording went on.
“I don’t want your chair, Dante.”
Dante frowned.
“I want the truth about our father.”
Bianca moved closer to the screen.
Matteo looked directly into the camera.
“And I know where Evelyn Gallagher hid the original ledger.”
Evelyn went pale.
Ruby turned.
“Mom?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Matteo smiled.
“It was never hidden in a bank.”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Ruby’s wedding portrait.
Ruby and Dante beneath cathedral lights.
Matteo’s voice continued.
“The ledger was hidden inside something no Moretti man would ever destroy.”
The image zoomed in.
Ruby’s wedding dress.
Specifically—
the sewn pearl belt at her waist.
Evelyn whispered, “Oh God.”
Ruby stared at her mother.
“What did you put in my dress?”
Evelyn opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, Dante’s phone rang.
His housekeeper was calling from the mansion.
Dante answered.
Maria was crying.
“Sir…”
“What happened?”
“Someone came for Mrs. Moretti’s wedding dress.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“Who?”
May you like
Maria whispered the name.
“Matteo.”
