Chapter 10 — The Price of Truth
THE FAKE HEIR SCANDAL
Chapter 10 — The Price of Truth
The truth was never free.
That was something I learned after meeting the Moretti family.
People talked about truth as if it was a weapon.
As if finding it meant winning.
But they forgot something important.
Weapons hurt everyone who touched them.
Including the person holding them.
The investigation into Adrian’s mother’s death began the next morning.
For fifteen years, the official story had remained unchanged.
A rainy night.
A dangerous road.
A tragic accident.
Maria Moretti, beloved wife of the late Moretti patriarch, had lost control of her vehicle and died instantly.
A heartbreaking story.
A simple story.
A story nobody questioned.
Until now.
Because someone had spent fifteen years making sure nobody did.
The private investigator Adrian hired arrived at noon.
His name was Thomas Reed.
He was older, quiet, and carried himself like a man who had seen too many powerful people hide too many terrible things.
He placed a folder on the table.
“I found inconsistencies.”
Adrian stood across from him.
“Explain.”
Thomas opened the file.
“The original police report stated the vehicle lost control because of brake failure.”
“And?”
“The maintenance records show the brakes were replaced two days before the accident.”
The room became silent.
My hands tightened around my coffee cup.
“So the accident wasn’t an accident?”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“I’m not saying that yet.”
A pause.
“But someone wanted people to believe it was.”
Adrian spent the next hour reading every document.
I watched him.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I could not look away.
This was a man discovering that the person who had protected him as a child might have been taken from him.
Again.
Every page removed another piece of the life he understood.
Finally, he reached the last document.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Sir…”
“Say it.”
“The night your mother died, someone called emergency services before the crash happened.”
Silence.
Nobody moved.
“That’s impossible.”
“Yes.”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s why I looked deeper.”
He placed another paper down.
“The call came from a private number.”
Adrian stared.
“Whose?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Your uncle’s.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
I looked at Adrian.
I expected anger.
A storm.
Something.
But nothing came.
That was worse.
He simply stood there.
Still.
Too still.
“Leave.”
Thomas looked surprised.
“Sir?”
“I said leave.”
After Thomas walked out, the room remained silent.
I had seen Adrian angry before.
I had seen him cold.
But this was different.
This was a man trying to keep himself from breaking.
“Adrian…”
“Don’t.”
The word was quiet.
Not cruel.
Just exhausted.
I stopped.
He walked toward the window.
“My mother trusted him.”
I didn’t answer.
“He was there when she died.”
His voice lowered.
“He stood beside me at her funeral.”
A pause.
“He told me to be strong.”
The bitterness in his voice hurt.
“He told me family protected family.”
I looked down.
Because sometimes betrayal was not the act itself.
It was remembering every moment before it.
Every conversation.
Every smile.
Every time you believed someone was saving you.
That evening, Victor returned.
Of course he did.
Men like him never ran.
They waited.
He entered the estate like he still owned it.
Like nothing had changed.
Adrian met him in the main hall.
I stayed upstairs with Lily.
But I could still hear voices.
“You knew.”
Adrian’s voice.
Calm.
Dangerously calm.
Victor answered.
“I know many things.”
“About my mother.”
A pause.
Then Victor said:
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
The silence afterward felt endless.
“Did you kill her?”
Victor did not answer immediately.
That was enough.
Sometimes silence was a confession.
I moved closer to the stairs.
I knew I shouldn’t listen.
But some moments were too important to ignore.
Victor finally spoke.
“No.”
Adrian laughed once.
A broken sound.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth is more complicated than you want it to be.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Then tell me.”
Victor sighed.
“Your mother discovered your father’s plan.”
“What plan?”
“The plan to remove me.”
A pause.
“She knew everything.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“And?”
Victor looked away.
“She wanted to expose me.”
My stomach tightened.
The pieces were connecting.
The inheritance.
The fake heir.
Daniel’s investigation.
The hidden accounts.
Everything.
Victor had been fighting to keep control.
But why?
Why go this far?
Then Victor said something I never expected.
“Your father wasn’t the only person who wanted me gone.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Victor looked at him.
“Your mother was working with someone.”
“Who?”
A long silence.
Then:
“Daniel Carter.”
I covered my mouth.
Daniel.
Again.
Every road led back to him.
Adrian looked equally shocked.
“My mother knew Daniel?”
“Yes.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“Your father trusted him. Your mother trusted him.”
He stepped closer.
“And that is why he died.”
I couldn’t stay hidden anymore.
I stepped into the hall.
Everyone turned.
Adrian looked at me.
“Elena.”
I looked at Victor.
“You knew my husband.”
Victor’s expression changed.
For the first time…
He looked uncomfortable.
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
The question echoed through the hall.
Victor stared at me.
Then said:
“No.”
I almost laughed.
Because every guilty person said that first.
“I didn’t kill Daniel.”
He looked at Adrian.
“But I know who did.”
The world stopped.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Who?”
Victor’s eyes moved between us.
Then he spoke.
“The person you have trusted most.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Ask Marcus.”
The name hit harder than expected.
Marcus Hale.
Adrian’s security chief.
His right hand.
The person who had stood beside him through everything.
The person who had protected him.
The person who had helped uncover the truth.
“No.”
Adrian’s voice was immediate.
Victor smiled.
“That is why betrayal works.”
He walked toward the door.
“Because you never suspect the person standing beside you.”
After Victor left, Adrian did not move.
He stared at the doorway.
Then at Marcus’s security files.
“No.”
But this time, the word sounded different.
Not certainty.
Fear.
I walked closer.
“Adrian.”
He looked at me.
“If Victor is lying…”
A pause.
“He wants me to destroy the one person protecting me.”
“And if he’s telling the truth?”
Adrian looked away.
That was the question.
The impossible question.
Because the hardest betrayal was not from an enemy.
It was from someone you would defend.
Someone you trusted.
Someone you never imagined you needed protection from.
That night, Marcus disappeared.
His phone was turned off.
His apartment was empty.
And the final security report he left behind contained one message.
Not for Adrian.
For me.
ELENA CARTER KNOWS THE TRUTH. SHE IS THE KEY.
I stared at the message.
A cold feeling moved through me.
Because suddenly I understood.
Everyone had been fighting over the Moretti Empire.
The money.
The power.
The inheritance.
But maybe that was never the real prize.
Maybe the real prize was something much more dangerous.
The truth.
And now everyone who wanted it…
May you like
Wanted me.
End of Chapter 10
