Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO BUILT THE LIE
Claudia looked toward the approaching footsteps.
“We need to move.”
Julian did not.
He stared at his father.
“Did you open the accounts?”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
“Not here.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You’re still saying that?”
The footsteps grew louder.
Claudia waved the gun toward a service door.
“Now.”
Julian grabbed Elena’s hand.
They moved.
Vittorio followed.
Claudia locked the door behind them.
They entered an underground kitchen storage corridor.
The fire alarms sounded muffled here.
Elena leaned against the wall.
Julian immediately moved toward her.
“You need to sit.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re not.”
“I said I’m okay.”
Claudia glanced at her.
“You need to listen to him.”
Elena looked at her sharply.
Claudia stopped talking.
Julian held up the memory card.
“Explain.”
Claudia looked at Vittorio.
“He used Luca.”
Vittorio said nothing.
“How?”
Claudia lowered the gun slightly.
“Twenty-three years ago, Vittorio started moving money out of Rossi Holdings.”
Julian stared.
“Why?”
“To hide losses.”
“What losses?”
“Bad investments.”
“Private debts.”
“Political payments.”
Vittorio finally spoke.
“You know nothing about what it took to build that company.”
Claudia looked at him.
“You stole from your own shareholders.”
“I protected the company.”
“You protected yourself.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“How much?”
Claudia looked at him.
“Initially?”
“About sixty million.”
Elena stared.
Julian whispered,
“Initially?”
“Over the years it became more than two billion.”
Silence.
Vittorio looked away.
Julian felt something inside him collapse.
The company had been his life.
He had spent years defending his father.
Arguing that Vittorio Rossi was ruthless but honorable.
There had been nothing honorable about this.
“Why Luca’s name?”
Claudia answered.
“Because Vittorio needed a future scapegoat.”
Vittorio turned.
“That is enough.”
“No.”
Julian’s voice cut through the corridor.
“You’re going to listen.”
He looked at Claudia.
“Continue.”
She did.
“Luca was nineteen when the first account was opened in his name.”
Julian frowned.
“He couldn’t have done it.”
“Exactly.”
“Your father had legal authority over his trust structures.”
Vittorio said,
“I intended to close the accounts.”
Claudia gave him a look of disgust.
“You intended to keep using them.”
Julian stared at his father.
“You were going to blame Luca.”
Vittorio remained silent.
Julian felt sick.
“Your own son.”
Vittorio finally looked at him.
“Luca was always weak.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“What?”
“He was careless.”
“Undisciplined.”
“Emotional.”
“He would have destroyed the company eventually.”
Julian stepped toward him.
“So you prepared to destroy him first?”
“I prepared for every possibility.”
Julian almost hit him.
Elena caught his sleeve.
Not because Vittorio deserved protection.
Because Julian did not need to become him.
Julian looked at her hand.
Then stepped back.
Claudia continued.
“Sofia Rossi discovered the accounts.”
Julian looked at her.
“My grandmother.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“What did she do?”
“She confronted Vittorio.”
Vittorio said quietly,
“She was dying.”
Claudia looked at him.
“She was still smarter than you.”
Julian waited.
“She copied the records.”
“She created the succession clause.”
“And she hid evidence throughout Rossi properties.”
Elena whispered,
“The basement.”
“Yes.”
Claudia nodded.
“One location was Villa Rossi.”
“What did Elena find?”
“Part of Sofia’s archive.”
“Account ledgers.”
“Trust documents.”
“Emails.”
“Audio recordings.”
Julian looked at Elena.
“You copied them.”
Elena touched her temple.
“I remember a camera.”
Claudia nodded.
“You photographed pages.”
“You transferred files onto that card.”
Elena stared.
“You knew?”
“I saw you leaving the basement.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
Claudia hesitated.
“Because I hated him more than I feared him.”
Vittorio laughed.
“That’s convenient.”
Claudia raised the gun again.
“Do you want me to tell Julian what happened to my husband?”
Vittorio’s face went still.
Julian looked between them.
“What happened?”
Claudia’s voice changed.
“My husband was an accountant.”
“He discovered one of Vittorio’s shell companies.”
“Three weeks later, he died in a boating accident.”
Julian looked at his father.
Vittorio said,
“I had nothing to do with his death.”
Claudia’s eyes filled with anger.
“You always say that.”
Julian whispered,
“Did you?”
Vittorio met his son’s gaze.
“No.”
For once, Julian did not know whether to believe him.
Elena looked at Claudia.
“If the card proves all this, why did Luca take me?”
Claudia’s expression changed.
“Because Luca found out.”
Julian frowned.
“About the accounts?”
“Yes.”
“When Elena disappeared, Luca already knew Vittorio had used his identity for years.”
Julian stared.
“So Luca wasn’t working for our father.”
“No.”
Claudia looked at Vittorio.
“He was blackmailing him.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
Julian felt the story twist again.
“What did Luca want?”
“Control.”
“Money.”
“Protection.”
“He threatened to expose Vittorio unless he was named successor.”
Julian whispered,
“And then Elena became pregnant.”
Claudia nodded.
“Your child destroyed Luca’s plan.”
Elena looked down at Sofia.
“So he needed the baby gone.”
“Yes.”
Julian’s blood ran cold.
“But why involve my mother?”
Claudia hesitated.
Vittorio said,
“Because Isabella chose Luca.”
Julian turned.
“What?”
His father’s face was empty.
“Your mother has always chosen Luca.”
“That’s not true.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“You really never saw it?”
Julian did not answer.
Vittorio stepped closer.
“Every scandal he created.”
“Every debt.”
“Every woman.”
“Every failed deal.”
“Your mother cleaned it up.”
“She didn’t protect Luca because she loved him more.”
“She protected him because he belonged to her.”
Julian stared.
“What does that mean?”
Vittorio said nothing.
Elena’s eyes widened.
Claudia whispered,
“Vittorio.”
He ignored her.
Julian stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Vittorio looked at his eldest son.
“Luca is not my biological son.”
Silence.
Even the alarms seemed distant.
Julian blinked.
“What?”
“Your mother had an affair.”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
“She became pregnant.”
“I agreed to raise the child as mine.”
Julian stared at him.
“Who is Luca’s father?”
Vittorio looked away.
Claudia answered.
“Sergio Valmont.”
Julian felt the floor disappear beneath him.
The owner of the Grand Alcazar.
The man whose hotel was built with hidden Rossi money.
The rival his father had publicly hated for decades.
Elena whispered,
“That’s why this hotel matters.”
Claudia nodded.
“Yes.”
Julian looked at Vittorio.
“You financed Valmont because he was Luca’s father?”
“No.”
Vittorio’s voice hardened.
“I financed him because Isabella forced me to.”
Julian laughed in disbelief.
“You expect me to believe she forced you?”
“She knew about the accounts.”
There it was.
Another layer.
Vittorio continued.
“Isabella discovered the original stolen funds years before Sofia did.”
“She threatened to expose me.”
“In exchange, I protected Valmont’s businesses.”
Julian stared.
“So this entire family has been blackmailing each other for twenty years.”
Vittorio said nothing.
Julian looked at Elena.
“And you walked into the middle of it.”
Her eyes were wet.
“I only wanted to tell you we were having a baby.”
That sentence destroyed whatever anger Julian still had left for her.
He reached for her hand.
This time she let him.
Claudia looked toward the hallway.
“We need to leave.”
Julian held up the memory card.
“Where can we read this?”
“There’s an offline terminal in the accounting office.”
“Where?”
“Two floors down.”
Vittorio said,
“That office is controlled by Valmont.”
Claudia looked at him.
“Not tonight.”
“The building is evacuating.”
They moved through a service stairwell.
Elena walked slowly.
Julian stayed beside her.
At the accounting floor, Claudia led them to a locked office.
She entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a small server terminal.
No windows.
No cameras.
Claudia inserted the memory card.
The screen remained blank.
Julian frowned.
“Nothing.”
“Wait.”
A password request appeared.
Elena stared at it.
“I don’t know.”
Julian looked at her.
“You created the card.”
“I don’t remember.”
Vittorio moved closer.
“What password would Sofia have used?”
Julian shook his head.
“This was Elena’s.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Julian watched her.
“Don’t force it.”
She breathed slowly.
Then typed.
SOFIA34.
The folder opened.
Julian looked at her.
“Why thirty-four?”
Elena’s hand moved to her stomach.
“I was supposed to tell you at dinner.”
“I had bought a baby jersey.”
“Number thirty-four.”
“Your grandfather’s old football number.”
Julian stared at her.
Another memory he had never received.
He looked at the screen.
Dozens of files appeared.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
Audio.
Legal papers.
Julian clicked the first folder.
Accounts opened under Luca’s name.
Signatures.
Transfer records.
Then a scan of a handwritten letter from Sofia Rossi.
Julian read.
IF JULIAN EVER FINDS THIS, TRUST ELENA.
His chest tightened.
He scrolled.
ELENA DOES NOT KNOW THE FULL TRUTH.
SHE MUST NEVER BE BLAMED FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
Julian looked at her.
Elena shook her head.
“I’ve never seen that.”
He continued.
Then reached the final paragraph.
The words made him freeze.
THE CHILD WHO INHERITS ROSSI HOLDINGS MAY NOT BE JULIAN’S FIRST CHILD.
Julian stared at the screen.
Elena’s face went pale.
“What does that mean?”
No one answered.
Julian scrolled lower.
There was an attachment.
A birth certificate.
He opened it.
The name of the mother meant nothing to him.
But the father’s name did.
Julian Alessandro Rossi.
May you like
His own name.
And the child had been born nine years earlier.
