Chapter 12-The Truth About My Blood
The first thing I noticed about Adrian Moretti was that he didn't look like a man who had returned from the dead.
He didn't look angry.
He didn't look desperate.
He didn't look like someone who had spent fifteen years hiding.
He looked like someone who had been waiting.
Waiting for the perfect moment.
Waiting for the perfect audience.
Waiting for Dante Moretti to finally understand that everything he believed about his family was wrong.
And now…
I was part of that revelation.
Dante stood between us.
His posture changed completely.
The man who had walked through gunfire without hesitation.
The man who had stared down enemies twice his size.
The man who made entire rooms go silent with a single look.
Was now facing the one person who could still hurt him.
His brother.
“Stay away from her.”
Dante's voice was quiet.
Adrian smiled.
“There he is.”
A small laugh.
“The protector.”
Dante didn't move.
“Leave.”
Adrian looked around the archive.
“Our father's secrets.”
His eyes moved to me.
“The De Luca secrets.”
Then back to Dante.
“And you still think you're the one in control.”
I felt my anger rising.
“I am standing right here.”
Both men looked at me.
Good.
I wanted them to.
Because I was tired of being discussed like I wasn't a person.
“You keep talking about me.”
I stepped forward.
“You keep deciding what I should know.”
A pause.
“But nobody has asked what I want.”
Dante looked at me.
Adrian looked amused.
Interesting.
A dangerous man smiling was never a good sign.
“You really don't know, do you?”
I stared at him.
“Know what?”
Adrian walked slowly around the room.
“You believe your name is Elena De Luca.”
I frowned.
“It is.”
“Partly.”
My stomach tightened.
Dante's expression changed.
“Explain.”
Adrian looked at his brother.
“You never wondered why the Belladonna files were hidden from everyone?”
Dante didn't answer.
“Why the De Lucas disappeared?”
“Why your father was willing to destroy an entire alliance?”
Silence.
Adrian stopped in front of the portrait of my mother.
“Because the truth wasn't about power.”
A pause.
“It was about inheritance.”
I felt a chill.
“What inheritance?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Yours.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You still think you were just a daughter.”
His smile faded.
“You weren't.”
The room became silent.
“You were the key.”
I looked at Dante.
He looked just as confused.
“Key to what?”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“To everything.”
He walked toward a table and placed a folder down.
A very old folder.
The paper was yellowed.
The edges damaged.
But my name was written clearly.
ELENA BELLADONNA-MORETTI
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Dante moved instantly.
He grabbed the folder.
His eyes scanned the page.
And for the first time…
I saw disbelief.
Real disbelief.
“That isn't possible.”
Adrian laughed softly.
“That's what Father wanted everyone to believe.”
Dante looked at him.
“Explain.”
Adrian leaned against the table.
“Your father and Elena's mother were not enemies.”
A pause.
“They were partners.”
I looked at Dante.
“No.”
Adrian continued.
“Before the war.”
“Before the betrayals.”
“Before everyone started killing each other.”
He pointed at the documents.
“There was an agreement.”
My hands shook.
“What agreement?”
Adrian looked directly at me.
“A marriage alliance.”
The room went completely silent.
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
He smiled.
“Your father and her father created the most powerful alliance Chicago had ever seen.”
Dante's face became colder.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I was.”
Adrian turned toward him.
“Because if I am telling the truth…”
A pause.
“Then you have spent your entire life hating the wrong people.”
The words hit Dante.
I saw it.
Because that was his greatest fear.
Not death.
Not losing power.
Being wrong.
Adrian opened another file.
Inside were photographs.
My mother.
Dante's father.
My father.
Together.
Working.
Laughing.
A family alliance.
Not a war.
I looked at the pictures.
My entire understanding of the world collapsing.
“So what happened?”
My voice was barely audible.
Adrian became serious.
“Someone betrayed them.”
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I froze.
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“He was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
“Because he wasn't supposed to die when everyone thought he did.”
The room went cold.
“What are you saying?”
Adrian looked at Dante.
“Your father didn't kill Elena's family.”
A pause.
“He tried to stop them.”
Dante stared at him.
“Stop who?”
Adrian's answer came slowly.
“The old Belladonna council.”
I frowned.
“Council?”
Adrian nodded.
“The people who actually controlled your family's empire.”
I felt sick.
“Then my parents?”
“Your parents wanted to destroy that system.”
“And they failed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Because they trusted the wrong person.”
The sentence echoed.
Everyone kept saying that.
Everyone was warning me.
Everyone knew something.
“Who?”
Adrian reached into his coat.
He pulled out a photograph.
He placed it on the table.
My hands went cold before I even saw the image.
Because I recognized the person.
An older woman.
Elegant.
Cold eyes.
A familiar smile.
My mother.
Standing beside her.
The person I never expected.
Nolan's father.
I stared.
“No.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
My voice shook.
“Nolan's family?”
“Was never just a wealthy family.”
My chest tightened.
“They were connected to Belladonna.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Nolan didn't find you by accident.”
I felt sick.
“He was sent.”
“Yes.”
Everything suddenly made sense.
The relationship.
The manipulation.
The control.
The obsession.
Nolan wasn't trying to love me.
He was trying to access something.
Me.
My blood.
My identity.
My inheritance.
But then Adrian said something that made my heart stop.
“And he wasn't working alone.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Adrian looked toward Dante.
Then back at me.
“The person who gave Nolan orders…”
A pause.
“Is still inside this room.”
Silence.
Dante immediately turned.
His eyes moved around the archive.
Searching.
But nobody was there.
Nobody except us.
Me.
Dante.
Adrian.
And Isabella.
My sister.
Who had been silent the entire time.
Slowly…
everyone looked at her.
Her face changed.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Guilt.
My heart sank.
“Isabella?”
She stepped back.
“Elena…”
I couldn't breathe.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Please let me explain.”
Dante's voice became deadly.
“Explain what?”
Isabella looked at me.
And whispered the words that shattered me.
“I knew Nolan before you did.”
The room went silent.
I stared at my sister.
The person I thought came back to save me.
The person I thought was on my side.
“You knew him?”
She nodded.
“And I was the one who introduced him to you.”
My entire world stopped.
Because the person who led Nolan into my life…
May you like
was the person I trusted most.
My own sister.
