Chapter 8 - The Brother Beneath The Mask
For thirteen years, I had imagined Luca’s death.
Thousands of times.
I imagined the final moment.
Where he was.
Who was with him.
Whether he was afraid.
Whether he thought about me.
But I never imagined this.
That he was alive.
The words repeated in my head.
Luca is alive.
I stood in the destroyed archive, unable to move.
Mateo approached carefully.
“Sebastian.”
I looked at him.
“Find him.”
He nodded.
“Immediately.”
“No.”
My voice became sharper.
“Find every record.”
I looked at Richard’s escape route.
“Every camera.”
“Every communication.”
“Every hidden file.”
“If my brother has been alive for thirteen years…”
I clenched my fist.
“I want to know why he never came home.”
---
The investigation lasted twelve hours.
And every hour revealed another piece of the nightmare.
Luca had been alive.
But he had not been free.
The council had captured him after he escaped Boston.
They kept him hidden.
Using him as leverage.
They wanted access to the inheritance.
But Luca refused.
He refused to sign anything.
He refused to surrender.
He protected Emma’s future even while imprisoned.
Then we found the final file.
A video.
Recorded three months earlier.
My hands shook before I opened it.
The screen turned on.
And there he was.
My brother.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
“Sebastian.”
His voice broke me.
I sat down.
For the first time in thirteen years…
I heard my brother speak directly to me.
“If you’re watching this, then Clara found you.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“I knew she would.”
He smiled faintly.
“She always believed people were better than their mistakes.”
My eyes burned.
“Sebastian…”
He looked into the camera.
“I’m sorry.”
A tear moved down his face.
“I wanted to come home.”
I closed my eyes.
“But every time I tried, they threatened Emma.”
The screen showed another image.
A little girl.
Emma.
“Your niece was the only thing keeping me alive.”
I looked away.
Luca continued.
“The person controlling everything isn’t Victor.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
Luca’s expression became serious.
“Victor is guilty of many things.”
A pause.
“But he didn’t order my death.”
The room became silent.
“He tried to protect me.”
My heart sank.
“Then who?”
Luca looked directly into the camera.
And said a name.
A name I never expected.
“Eleanor Vale.”
My mother.
---
I stopped the video.
Nobody spoke.
My entire life had just collapsed.
My mother.
The woman who raised me.
The woman who cried when Luca disappeared.
The woman who told me every day that family mattered.
Was connected to this.
“No.”
I whispered.
Daniel looked at me.
“Sebastian…”
“No.”
I stood.
“She wouldn’t.”
Adrian watched me carefully.
“She already did.”
I turned toward him.
“You don’t know her.”
Adrian’s expression was cold.
“I know exactly who she is.”
He stepped closer.
“She chose power over blood.”
---
That night, I returned to the penthouse.
Clara was waiting.
She knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
I looked at Emma.
Then at Clara.
“Luca is alive.”
Her knees almost gave out.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“He’s alive?”
I nodded.
But I couldn’t say the rest.
Clara saw it.
“What is it?”
I looked away.
“The person behind everything…”
My voice cracked.
May you like
“Is my mother.”
---
