Chapter 10 – THE EXILED BROTHER AND THE GREENHOUSE

I couldn’t breathe.

Leo Moretti was supposed to be in hiding. Richard said Leo ran after selling his daughter.

But the footage didn’t lie. Leo and Arthur were working together.

I ran out of the house and sprinted across the dark lawn toward the abandoned greenhouse. The glass was shattered, the overgrown vines crawling up the rusty iron frame.

I crept to the heavy oak door at the back. It was locked.

I looked at the ground. Fresh mud. The same mud that was on Arthur’s brass key.

“You shouldn’t be out here, Emma.”

I spun around.

Standing in the shadows was a man who looked exactly like a younger, more broken version of Matteo.

Leo Moretti.

He looked exhausted. His clothes were ragged, his eyes haunted.

“Leo,” I stammered.

“Go back inside,” he rasped. “You’ve done enough for my daughter.”

“Where is Celeste?” I demanded, standing my ground.

Leo sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a diamond engagement ring. Celeste’s ring.

“She’s on a cargo ship to South America,” Leo said quietly. “Arthur and I put her in a shipping container. She’s got food, water, and a new passport. But she can never come back.”

I stared at him. “You didn’t kill her?”

“No,” Leo said. “We don’t kill women. Not even snakes like her.”

“Why did Arthur help you?”

Leo looked at the mansion, glowing warmly in the distance.

“Because Arthur knows I didn’t sell Mia,” Leo’s voice broke. “Richard kidnapped her. He used her to force me to steal the ledger. I’ve been hiding in the city, trying to find a way to get her back. Arthur was the only one who believed me.”

The reversal made my chest ache. Leo wasn’t a monster who abandoned his child. He was a desperate father who got outplayed by the mob.

“Matteo thinks you sold her,” I said. “You have to tell him the truth.”

“I can’t,” Leo whispered. “Matteo spent his whole life trying to make this family legitimate. If I come back, the police will arrest me for the gambling debts. I’ll drag the Moretti name back through the mud.”

Leo looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“I came to see Mia one last time. Through the window. She looks happy, Emma. Please… just make sure my brother takes care of her.”

He turned to walk into the darkness.

“Wait,” I said.

But suddenly, the floodlights in the garden snapped on, blinding us both.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel.

Matteo stepped out of the glare, holding his gun.

“You’re not going anywhere, Leo,” Matteo said, his voice trembling with a rage I had never seen before.

Matteo cocked the hammer. “You sold my niece.”

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