Chapter 13 - THE FINAL BETRAYALNobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The newborn's cries became the only sound in the mansion.
I stared at the signature.
Then at Matteo.
Waiting.
Waiting for him to laugh.
Waiting for him to say it was fake.
But he didn't.
His face said everything.
"You..."
My voice cracked.
"You betrayed us?"
Matteo looked away.
The man who had stood beside me for decades...
The man who protected me.
The man I trusted more than anyone.
Could barely look at me.
"I didn't want this."
A bitter laugh escaped from my mouth.
"Nobody ever wants this."
Lorenzo was a fake father.
My mother hid the truth.
And now Matteo...
The person I considered family...
Was another lie.
"Why?"
Matteo closed his eyes.
"Because I was desperate."
"Desperate enough to destroy my family?"
"No."
He looked at me.
"Desperate enough to save yours."
The words made no sense.
"What?"
Matteo stepped closer.
"I never betrayed your father."
He pointed at the document.
"This confession was written by someone else."
The woman's expression changed.
"What are you saying?"
Matteo looked directly at her.
"You're the one who brought this here."
The room became tense.
"You wanted him to believe I was the traitor."
My eyes moved between them.
"Explain."
Matteo reached into his jacket.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He pulled out an old recording device.
"I kept this for twelve years."
He pressed a button.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice appeared.
A voice I had never heard before.
But somehow...
I recognized it.
"If you're hearing this..."
Everyone froze.
"It means they failed to erase the truth."
My heart started racing.
The voice continued.
"My son..."
The room disappeared.
Because I knew that voice.
My father.
"I know you were told I left you."
A tear fell from my eye.
"But I never abandoned you."
The recording continued.
"The person you called family..."
A pause.
"Was the person who hunted me."
The screen suddenly changed.
A hidden video appeared.
A man standing in the shadows.
A man wearing the same family ring.
But this time...
The camera moved closer.
The face became clear.
Everyone gasped.
Because the person standing in the video...
Wasn't Lorenzo.
Wasn't Matteo.
Wasn't anyone we suspected.
It was someone who had been watching everything from the beginning.
Someone who had access to every room.
Every file.
Every secret.
The recording ended with one final sentence.
"Trust nobody in this house."
The lights flickered.
The mansion security alarm started screaming.
And on the main screen...
A live camera feed appeared.
Showing Lorenzo.
Alive.
Standing outside the gates.
But he wasn't alone.
Beside him stood the one person nobody expected.
The person who had been controlling everything.
Matteo whispered:
"No..."
I looked at the screen.
My blood ran cold.
Because the person standing beside Lorenzo...
May you like
Was my mother.
And she was smiling.
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