CHAPTER 6 — THE DAUGHTER WHO RECOGNIZED HER MOTHER
By sunrise, Matteo's private security team surrounded the abandoned island.
The lighthouse door stood half open.
Inside...
Dust covered the furniture.
But not everything.
A kettle on the stove was still warm.
Someone had been there recently.
Very recently.
One bodyguard called out.
"Second floor clear."
Another shouted.
"Basement empty."
Then Sofia, who had insisted on coming despite Matteo's objections, quietly walked into a small bedroom.
She froze.
Everyone watched her.
The little girl slowly picked up a faded photograph from the bedside table.
It showed a smiling woman holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
Sofia touched the woman's face.
Tiny tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Daddy..."
Matteo knelt beside her.
"What is it, princess?"
She looked at him with absolute certainty.
"This is Mommy."
The room fell silent.
Karen's heart skipped a beat.
The date written on the back of the photo made everyone's blood run cold.
It had been taken...
Eight months after Elena's supposed death.
Before anyone could speak—
A gunshot shattered the lighthouse window.
Glass exploded across the room.
"DOWN!" Marco shouted.
Bodyguards rushed to shield Sofia and Karen.
Outside, black SUVs raced across the narrow island road.
Matteo looked through the shattered window.
His expression turned to ice.
He recognized the lead vehicle immediately.
Alessandro.
He hadn't come to negotiate.
He had come to erase every secret before the truth reached the mainland.
As bullets tore through the lighthouse walls, Matteo pulled Karen and Sofia behind a stone fireplace.
Then he made a promise that echoed above the gunfire.
"They stole five years from my family."
"They will not steal another day."
Neither side realized that hidden beneath the loose floorboards upstairs was one final secret...
A waterproof metal box.
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Inside it lay Elena Moretti's handwritten diary—
Along with a confession that would destroy the Moretti empire forever.
