CHAPTER 7 — “The Secret Heir Who Was Never Supposed to Exist”
The helicopter cabin fell into complete silence.
Even the steady hum of the engines seemed to disappear.
Dominic slowly lowered the satellite phone from his ear.
Enzo's final words echoed through his mind.
"The real heir was born twenty-five years ago."
The line went dead.
Carlo stared at Dominic.
"What the hell does that mean?"
No one answered.
Not even Dominic.
Because there had only ever been one official heir to the Valente empire.
Him.
Thirty minutes later, the helicopter landed on the roof of a private trauma hospital outside Boston.
Doctors rushed Meline into emergency surgery.
"The baby still has a heartbeat!" one surgeon shouted.
"But she's losing blood!"
Dominic followed until nurses physically stopped him outside the operating room.
"You can't come any farther."
For the first time in years, the man who had conquered entire criminal organizations found himself powerless.
He stood outside the operating room, his hands stained with Meline's blood.
He couldn't wash them.
He didn't want to.
It reminded him exactly what he almost lost.
Silas arrived carrying a heavily encrypted hard drive.
"Boss."
"I think I know what Enzo meant."
Dominic looked up.
Silas connected the drive to his laptop.
A collection of documents appeared.
Birth certificates.
Old newspaper articles.
Financial records dating back twenty-six years.
One faded photograph filled the screen.
A much younger Enzo stood beside Dominic's father, Alessandro Valente.
Between them stood a beautiful young woman holding a newborn baby.
Dominic frowned.
"I've never seen this picture."
"You weren't supposed to."
Silas enlarged the back of the photo.
Someone had written in black ink:
"For the day our first son inherits everything."
Dominic's heartbeat quickened.
First son.
Not only son.
Carlo whispered,
"My God..."
Silas nodded grimly.
"According to every document I've recovered..."
"Your father had another child."
The room went completely still.
Dominic's face hardened.
"Who?"
Silas opened another file.
The mother's name had been erased from almost every official record.
But one medical document had survived.
Mother: Isabella Moretti.
Dominic froze.
"Moretti?"
Silas nodded.
"The younger sister of Victor and Enzo Moretti."
Carlo looked stunned.
"That means..."
Silas finished the sentence.
"The secret heir isn't just a Valente."
"He's also a Moretti."
Dominic felt the floor shift beneath him.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Enzo had never been protecting the Valente family.
He had been protecting his own bloodline.
If Isabella had secretly given birth to Alessandro Valente's first son, then Enzo had spent twenty-five years preparing that child to inherit the empire.
Dominic had never been the chosen successor.
He had only been...
The replacement.
Just then, the operating room doors burst open.
A surgeon hurried toward Dominic.
His face was tense.
"The surgery was successful."
Dominic let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"And the baby?"
"The heartbeat is strong."
Relief flooded through him.
"But..."
The doctor's expression darkened.
"Your wife regained consciousness for only a few seconds."
Dominic immediately corrected him.
"She's not my wife."
The doctor gave him a tired smile.
"She asked us to tell you something before she passed out again."
Dominic stepped closer.
"What did she say?"
The doctor glanced down at the handwritten note.
"She said..."
'Don't trust Victor.'
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"Those were her exact words."
Carlo frowned.
"That doesn't make any sense."
Victor had saved her life.
He had fought Seraphina's men.
He had nearly died protecting her.
Silas suddenly looked back at his computer.
"Boss..."
"You need to see this."
Security footage from the apartment building appeared on the screen.
It showed Victor entering the basement apartment hours before the attack.
Then, five minutes later...
He quietly stepped into the hallway.
He looked directly toward a hidden security camera.
And almost imperceptibly...
He nodded.
Exactly thirty seconds later...
The black SUVs carrying Seraphina's assassins arrived.
Nobody spoke.
Carlo whispered,
"No..."
Dominic replayed the footage three times.
Victor had known.
Whether he had lured the attackers there...
Or merely signaled someone else...
One thing was undeniable.
He had expected them to arrive.
At that exact moment, Dominic's secure phone vibrated.
A text message appeared from an unknown encrypted number.
May you like
There was only one sentence.
"If you want the truth about your brother... come alone."
