CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 7
The Man Who Betrayed the Rossi Blood
The old Rossi medical facility had been abandoned for almost three years.
That alone made Lorenzo suspicious.
The Rossi family owned many businesses.
Hospitals.
Clinics.
Research centers.
Private medical companies.
Every location was carefully monitored.
Every document was protected.
Every employee was investigated.
Nothing connected to the Rossi name was ever forgotten.
Except this place.
The building stood on the outskirts of the city, hidden behind overgrown trees and rusted gates.
A place that looked like it had been erased from existence.
And now Lorenzo Rossi stood inside it, searching for answers about his dead wife, his dying son, and a woman who had walked into his life carrying more secrets than anyone knew.
"How long has this place been closed?"
Lorenzo walked through the dark hallway.
Marcus followed behind him.
"Officially?"
"Yes."
"Three years."
Lorenzo stopped.
"Three years."
The same amount of time since Harper Higgins disappeared.
The same amount of time since Sophia started asking questions.
The same amount of time before everything changed.
"Who shut it down?"
Marcus checked the documents.
"Your brother."
Lorenzo turned.
"My brother?"
"Adrian Rossi."
The name landed heavily.
Adrian.
His younger brother.
The man Lorenzo had protected since childhood.
The man who stood beside him when their father died.
The man who cried at Sophia's funeral.
The man Lorenzo trusted more than anyone.
"Why?"
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
"That is the question."
The facility contained nothing.
At first.
Empty rooms.
Broken equipment.
Dust-covered furniture.
It looked abandoned.
But Lorenzo knew better.
People did not erase places unless there was something worth hiding.
"Search everything."
The guards moved.
Ten minutes later, one of them called out.
"Boss."
Lorenzo followed the voice.
Behind a false wall was a small underground room.
Inside were boxes.
Hundreds of files.
Medical records.
Financial documents.
Security footage.
Lorenzo opened the first folder.
And immediately felt sick.
Because the first page had one name.
Sophia Rossi.
The truth came slowly.
Painfully.
Like pulling glass from a wound.
Sophia had discovered something during her pregnancy.
Something involving the Rossi medical network.
Something involving Leo.
The records showed unusual genetic tests.
Unauthorized procedures.
Private consultations.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Adrian Vale.
The same doctor who delivered Leo.
The same doctor Lorenzo had personally chosen.
The same doctor who told him his son was simply premature.
Lorenzo's hands tightened around the file.
"Find him."
Marcus looked at him.
"He's been missing since the bombing."
Lorenzo looked up.
"What?"
Marcus nodded.
"We thought he died."
A pause.
"But these records suggest otherwise."
Meanwhile, Hunter was falling apart.
Not because she was afraid.
Because she was remembering.
After Lorenzo told her about Harper's connection to Leo, she had barely slept.
Every memory of her sister returned.
Harper laughing.
Harper leaving home.
Harper saying she had found something important.
Harper warning her:
"Never trust powerful families."
Hunter had thought it was jealousy.
She had thought Harper was chasing some fantasy.
Now she wondered if Harper had been trying to protect her.
Or everyone.
Leo stirred in his crib.
Hunter immediately moved closer.
"I'm here."
The words came naturally.
The same words she had whispered to Lily.
The same promise she had never been able to keep.
A tear fell.
"I couldn't save her."
A voice answered behind her.
"No."
Hunter turned.
Lorenzo stood there.
"You couldn't."
She looked away.
"But you saved him."
Hunter shook her head.
"I just fed him."
"No."
Lorenzo stepped closer.
"You gave him a reason to survive."
The words affected him too.
Because he realized something.
Hunter had not only saved Leo's body.
She had saved his future.
That night, Lorenzo confronted Adrian.
Not face-to-face.
Not yet.
He found him through a hidden communication channel.
A message appeared.
You finally found the truth.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
His blood ran cold.
Because only one person could have sent it.
Adrian.
Where are you?
The reply came immediately.
Still cleaning up your mistakes.
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
You killed Sophia.
A long pause.
Then:
No.
Another message.
Sophia killed herself the moment she chose the truth over family.
Lorenzo's eyes darkened.
You were my brother.
The answer came.
And you were always too blind to see.
The meeting happened the next night.
An abandoned church outside the city.
Lorenzo arrived alone.
Of course, he wasn't truly alone.
His men were hidden nearby.
But Adrian knew him well.
He knew Lorenzo would come personally.
Because this was not business.
This was betrayal.
Adrian stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Tired.
But still familiar.
For one impossible second, Lorenzo saw his little brother.
The boy who followed him everywhere.
The boy who believed Lorenzo could protect the world.
Then he remembered Sophia.
The explosion.
The funeral.
The empty nursery.
"What did you do?"
Lorenzo's voice was quiet.
Adrian smiled sadly.
"I did what our father taught us."
"Don't."
"Survive."
Lorenzo stared.
"You murdered my wife."
Adrian looked away.
"I didn't plan for her to die."
A dangerous silence followed.
"Explain."
Adrian sighed.
"Sophia found out."
"Found out what?"
"The truth about Leo."
Lorenzo froze.
"What truth?"
Adrian looked directly at him.
"Leo wasn't supposed to survive."
The world became silent.
"What?"
"Your son was born too early."
Adrian continued.
"The doctors expected complications."
Lorenzo stepped forward.
"Be careful."
But Adrian kept talking.
"Sophia discovered someone was interfering with Leo's treatment."
Hunter's name suddenly came to mind.
The records.
The facility.
The secrets.
"Who?"
Adrian looked at him.
"Someone inside your family."
A pause.
"Someone who wanted the Rossi bloodline to end."
Lorenzo's expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because Leo was never just your son."
Adrian whispered.
"He was the future."
The final piece arrived an hour later.
Marcus called.
His voice was different.
"Boss."
Lorenzo knew.
"What happened?"
"We found the original security footage from the night of the explosion."
"And?"
A pause.
"The bomber wasn't Moretti."
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
He already knew.
"Who was it?"
Marcus answered.
And the name destroyed everything.
"Adrian Rossi."
Lorenzo stood alone after the call ended.
His brother.
His blood.
The person he trusted most.
The person who stood beside him while he buried Sophia.
The person who watched him destroy an entire family for revenge.
All because Adrian had placed the knife in his hand.
And Lorenzo had used it.
Outside the office, Hunter watched him through the open doorway.
She had heard enough.
"You knew?"
Lorenzo looked up.
Her eyes were full of pain.
"You knew someone was responsible."
"I suspected."
"And you still went after the Morettis."
Silence.
Because there was no defense.
Hunter stepped closer.
"You destroyed innocent people's lives."
Lorenzo looked away.
"Yes."
The honesty surprised her.
No excuses.
No denial.
Just guilt.
For the first time, Hunter saw the weight Lorenzo carried.
Not the weight of power.
The weight of mistakes.
"I thought revenge would make the pain stop."
His voice broke slightly.
"It didn't."
Hunter said nothing.
Because she understood.
She had spent months blaming herself too.
Trying to punish herself for surviving.
Two broken people.
Two different tragedies.
One shared truth.
Pain did not disappear because you hurt someone else.
Before sunrise, Adrian sent one final message.
Not to Lorenzo.
To Hunter.
A video file.
She opened it.
And saw her sister.
Harper.
Alive.
Three years earlier.
Standing beside Sophia Rossi.
Harper looked terrified.
Sophia looked determined.
Then Sophia spoke.
"If anything happens to me..."
She looked directly into the camera.
"Find Hunter."
Hunter stopped breathing.
Because Sophia Rossi...
the woman she never met...
had known her name.
May you like
And she had left a message meant only for her.
TO BE CONTINUED...
