CHAPTER 4 — THE HEIR’S INVESTIGATION
THE BILLIONAIRE’S HEIR THEY TRIED TO FAKE
CHAPTER 4 — THE HEIR’S INVESTIGATION
The first rule Alessandro Moretti learned from his father was simple.
Never investigate the crime. Investigate the reason someone committed it.
Anyone could steal.
Anyone could lie.
Anyone could betray.
But people rarely destroyed their entire lives without believing something was worth protecting.
For twenty-four hours after the gunshot, Alessandro did not sleep.
The mansion became a fortress.
Every entrance was guarded.
Every employee was questioned.
Every camera was reviewed.
The Moretti estate, once known for elegance and privacy, became a place of suspicion.
Everyone had a story.
Everyone had an explanation.
And Alessandro trusted none of them.
The gunshot had not hit anyone.
The bullet had gone through the wooden frame beside Clara's bedroom door.
A warning.
Not an attempt.
Someone wanted them afraid.
Someone wanted Clara to know they could reach her.
Marco Bellini entered Alessandro's office just after sunrise.
He looked exhausted.
That meant the news was bad.
"Talk."
Marco placed several photographs on the desk.
"We checked every camera."
"And?"
"The cameras were disabled for forty-seven seconds."
Alessandro looked up.
"Forty-seven seconds?"
"Exactly."
A professional job.
Not random.
"Who had access?"
Marco handed him a list.
"Six people."
Alessandro scanned the names.
Head of maintenance.
Security supervisor.
Two household employees.
A former employee.
Then he stopped.
One name.
Clara Bennett.
For a moment, the room was silent.
Marco watched him carefully.
"She had access."
Alessandro didn't answer.
Because he knew something Marco did not.
Access did not mean guilt.
Not anymore.
"Remove her name."
Marco looked surprised.
"Sir?"
"She is not a suspect."
"Even though she hid evidence from you?"
Alessandro's expression hardened.
"She hid evidence because someone murdered her husband."
A pause.
"And because nobody listened when she tried to speak."
Marco nodded slowly.
He understood.
The investigation had changed.
They were not hunting Clara.
They were hunting whoever had forced her into silence.
At nine in the morning, Alessandro made a decision that shocked everyone.
He called an emergency board meeting.
Not for the company.
For the family.
The Moretti family had always been built on one dangerous idea:
Family loyalty came before truth.
Alessandro intended to break that rule.
His uncle, Lorenzo Moretti, arrived first.
A man in his late sixties.
Elegant.
Charming.
And one of the few people who had survived every generation of Moretti power struggles.
"You look tired."
Lorenzo said.
"I've had a difficult night."
Lorenzo noticed the tension.
"Vanessa?"
"No."
Alessandro placed the photograph of Daniel Bennett on the table.
"Do you know this man?"
Lorenzo looked.
Too quickly.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Alessandro saw it.
Recognition.
"I don't think so."
A lie.
A small one.
But still a lie.
Alessandro leaned back.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"Everyone who says they don't know Daniel Bennett recognizes him."
Lorenzo's face changed.
"Alessandro, be careful."
"That is exactly what Daniel was trying to do."
The room became cold.
"Be careful."
Two hours later, Alessandro found the first connection.
Daniel Bennett had not been investigating construction safety.
Not originally.
He had been investigating missing money.
Millions of dollars had disappeared from a Moretti subsidiary five years earlier.
The official explanation:
Accounting errors.
The real explanation:
Someone was moving money through fake companies.
And one of those companies belonged to someone connected to Vanessa Cole.
Alessandro stared at the documents.
Vanessa.
Daniel.
The fake pregnancy.
Everything connected.
But one question remained.
Why?
Why fake a child?
Why enter his life?
Why spend months creating the perfect lie?
The answer came that afternoon.
A private investigator Alessandro hired returned with information.
"Mr. Moretti."
The investigator placed a file down.
"You were right."
"About what?"
"Vanessa Cole did not choose you randomly."
Alessandro opened the file.
Inside were photographs.
Vanessa with politicians.
Vanessa with investors.
Vanessa meeting people connected to Moretti competitors.
Then he saw the final page.
A birth certificate.
Not Vanessa's.
A man's name.
Daniel Bennett.
Alessandro froze.
"Explain."
The investigator swallowed.
"Daniel Bennett had a brother."
"So?"
"His brother disappeared six years ago."
Alessandro looked at him.
"And?"
The investigator spoke quietly.
"His brother's last known employer was Cole Financial Group."
Vanessa's family company.
Alessandro stood.
The puzzle pieces moved.
Not completely.
But enough.
Vanessa wasn't just pretending to be pregnant.
She was connected to Daniel.
She knew about the investigation.
She knew about the evidence.
She had entered the Moretti mansion because she was searching for something.
Something Clara had.
That night, Alessandro found Clara in the kitchen.
She was preparing medicine for Emma.
"You knew Vanessa before."
Clara froze.
"No."
"Don't lie to me."
The words came out sharper than he intended.
Clara looked hurt.
"I don't know her."
"Then why did she know your name?"
Silence.
Alessandro stepped closer.
"At the gala, she didn't call you 'the maid.'"
A pause.
"She called you Clara."
The color disappeared from Clara's face.
Because he was right.
Vanessa had known her.
And Clara had been hoping nobody noticed.
"Tell me the truth."
Clara looked toward Emma's room.
Then whispered:
"Vanessa and I met before."
"When?"
"Before I worked here."
Alessandro waited.
Three years of secrets.
Three years of silence.
Finally, Clara spoke.
"I was not hired by your family."
A pause.
"I was sent here."
Alessandro's expression changed.
"By who?"
Clara looked at him.
Her eyes filled with fear.
"By Daniel."
The answer shocked him.
"Your dead husband sent you to my house?"
She nodded.
"Before he died, he told me the only place I would be safe was close to the people who had the power to uncover the truth."
Alessandro stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Clara's voice broke.
"Because Daniel didn't trust everyone in this house."
A long silence.
"Who?"
Clara whispered:
"The person who hired me."
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
"You were hired by someone inside my family?"
Clara nodded.
And then she said the one sentence that changed everything.
"The person who brought me into this mansion..."
A pause.
"...was your mother."
Alessandro stopped breathing.
Because his mother had been dead for eight years.
And suddenly, the investigation was no longer about Vanessa Cole.
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It was about a secret his family had buried long before he became its heir.
End of Chapter 4
