CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10
The Woman They Tried to Erase
The first thing Lorenzo Rossi felt was not anger.
It was disbelief.
Adrian.
His own brother.
Standing beside Hunter.
The woman who had saved his son.
The woman Sophia had trusted.
The woman Lorenzo had promised to protect.
For years, Lorenzo believed betrayal looked a certain way.
A stranger with a weapon.
An enemy across a table.
A man who smiled while planning your death.
He never imagined betrayal could have his brother's face.
Could share his childhood memories.
Could carry the same blood.
That was the cruelest part.
The person who destroyed him was not someone who hated him.
It was someone who knew him.
"Send me the location."
Marcus gave him the address.
An abandoned farmhouse outside the city.
Lorenzo grabbed his coat.
"Boss."
He stopped.
Marcus looked uncertain.
"You said no force."
Lorenzo looked at him.
The old Lorenzo would have taken fifty men.
The old Lorenzo would have arrived with one goal.
Destroy everything.
But the man who walked toward the door now was different.
Because there was a baby waiting for him at home.
Because there was a woman he needed to bring back alive.
"No one fires unless I give the order."
Marcus nodded.
"And Adrian?"
Lorenzo paused.
His brother's face appeared in his mind.
The boy who followed him.
The man who betrayed him.
"Adrian comes back alive."
Marcus looked surprised.
But he understood.
Lorenzo wasn't seeking revenge.
Not yet.
He was seeking answers.
Hunter had never been this afraid.
Not because of Adrian.
Because she knew him.
Or at least she thought she did.
The man sitting across from her looked older than the pictures she had seen.
Tired.
Broken.
Not like a monster.
Like a man carrying years of guilt.
"You knew Sophia."
Hunter's voice was quiet.
Adrian looked at the floor.
"Yes."
"How?"
A long silence.
"Because I helped deliver your son."
The words made her freeze.
"What?"
Adrian looked at her.
"I was there the night Leo was born."
Hunter stared.
"But you weren't his doctor."
"No."
His expression darkened.
"I was the person making sure nobody found out the truth."
Hunter felt sick.
"What truth?"
Adrian looked toward the window.
"Sophia discovered someone was manipulating Leo's medical records."
"Who?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Because saying the name was almost impossible.
Then:
"My father."
Hunter frowned.
"Your father?"
Lorenzo's father had been dead for years.
Adrian continued.
"Our family built its empire on one belief."
Hunter waited.
"Bloodline."
A pause.
"The Rossi name had to continue."
Hunter didn't understand.
"Leo was a baby."
"Exactly."
Adrian looked at her.
"To them, he wasn't a child."
His voice became bitter.
"He was an inheritance."
The truth unfolded slowly.
Years earlier, Lorenzo's father had created secret agreements within the Rossi organization.
If Lorenzo had no male heir, control would pass to another branch of the family.
When Sophia became pregnant, some people saw Leo as a threat.
Not a miracle.
A threat.
Because a new heir meant power would remain with Lorenzo.
Adrian discovered the plan.
He tried to stop it.
But he was too late.
Sophia found out.
And once she knew...
they couldn't let her speak.
Hunter listened silently.
Everything inside her felt unreal.
Her sister.
Sophia.
Leo.
All connected.
"Why did Harper help her?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because Harper discovered the same thing."
Hunter's breath caught.
"My sister?"
"She was working at the medical company connected to the Rossi family."
A pause.
"She found documents."
Hunter closed her eyes.
Her sister hadn't abandoned her.
She had been fighting.
Alone.
"You lied to me."
Hunter's voice broke.
Adrian looked at her.
"I know."
"You let Lorenzo hate the wrong people."
"I know."
"You let him destroy innocent lives."
Adrian lowered his head.
"I know."
The anger inside Hunter finally broke.
"Then why?"
Adrian looked at her.
Because the answer was painful.
"Because I was a coward."
Silence.
"I lost Sophia."
His voice shook.
"I lost my brother."
A pause.
"And I spent three years trying to find a way to fix something I had already destroyed."
Hunter looked away.
She hated him.
But she also saw something familiar.
Guilt.
The same guilt she carried.
The same guilt Lorenzo carried.
Everyone connected to this family was drowning in what they couldn't change.
The farmhouse door exploded open.
Everyone froze.
Lorenzo stood there.
Gun in hand.
But his eyes were not on Adrian.
They were on Hunter.
For one second, nothing else mattered.
She was alive.
She was safe.
Then his eyes moved to his brother.
The room became cold.
"Adrian."
His brother looked up.
"Lorenzo."
The name sounded strange.
After everything.
"You took her."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
He looked at Hunter.
"She came willingly."
Lorenzo looked at Hunter.
She nodded.
"It's true."
A thousand emotions crossed his face.
Anger.
Relief.
Fear.
Then something unexpected.
Trust.
He believed her.
Immediately.
And Hunter noticed.
The confrontation was not what anyone expected.
No shouting.
No violence.
No revenge.
Just two brothers standing in front of each other.
Two men who had lost everything.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Lorenzo's voice was quiet.
Adrian looked away.
"Because I knew what you would do."
"What?"
"You would destroy everyone."
Silence.
"And you did."
The words landed.
Because they were true.
Lorenzo looked down.
"I killed people who had nothing to do with Sophia."
"Yes."
"I ruined families."
"Yes."
"I became exactly what she feared."
Adrian said nothing.
Because there was nothing to say.
Then Adrian revealed the final secret.
"The person who ordered Sophia's death..."
Everyone became still.
"It wasn't my father."
Lorenzo looked up.
"Who?"
Adrian's eyes moved toward Hunter.
Then away.
"The person who benefited most from Leo dying."
A pause.
"The person who would inherit everything if Lorenzo lost his son."
Hunter felt cold.
"Who?"
Adrian whispered:
"Your uncle."
Lorenzo froze.
Not Adrian.
Not the Morettis.
Not an outside enemy.
Family.
Again.
They returned to the Rossi estate before sunrise.
But everything had changed.
Hunter walked into the nursery.
Leo immediately calmed when he saw her.
She picked him up.
And for the first time since leaving...
she cried.
Not because she was sad.
Because she was home.
Lorenzo watched from the doorway.
He didn't interrupt.
He simply stood there.
A father watching the woman who saved his son.
Later, on the balcony overlooking the ocean, Lorenzo found Hunter.
"You were going to leave forever."
She nodded.
"I thought it was safer."
"For who?"
She looked at him.
"For Leo."
Lorenzo looked toward the sea.
"You know what Sophia told me?"
Hunter waited.
"She said I always thought protecting people meant pushing them away."
A pause.
"She was right."
Hunter looked at him.
"You are changing."
Lorenzo gave a small, sad smile.
"Because of you."
The words hung between them.
Neither moved.
Neither spoke.
Because both understood something dangerous.
Something they had tried not to admit.
This was no longer just about Leo.
That night, Lorenzo received a call.
The voice on the other end was familiar.
Too familiar.
"Congratulations."
Lorenzo froze.
"Who is this?"
A laugh.
"You really forgot me?"
The voice smiled.
"The man who helped you bury Sophia."
Lorenzo's blood ran cold.
"Impossible."
The voice continued:
"You spent two months hunting the wrong family."
A pause.
"Now let's see what you do when you find the real enemy."
The call ended.
Lorenzo stared at the phone.
Because he recognized the voice.
A man who had stood beside him.
A man who cried at Sophia's funeral.
A man who knew every weakness in the Rossi family.
And somewhere in the darkness...
May you like
the true enemy was waiting.
TO BE CONTINUED...
