Chapter 7: The Person Standing Beside Him
Nobody moved.
The video had ended.
But the final words remained in the room like smoke after a fire.
*The enemy inside our family is not your mother.*
*It is the person standing beside you right now.*
Adrian stared at the black screen.
Then slowly, his eyes moved across the room.
One person.
Then another.
His mother.
Dominic.
Marcus.
Clara.
Even Lily.
Everyone suddenly looked different.
Not because they had changed.
Because Adrian had.
For three years, he had searched for a stranger.
A hidden enemy.
A shadow outside the walls.
But his father’s warning changed everything.
The enemy was close.
Close enough to stand beside him.
Close enough to know his pain.
Close enough to watch him break.
Adrian quietly removed the memory card.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Dominic whispered:
“Adrian.””
He didn’t answer.
“Say something.””
Adrian placed the card on the desk.
“What did you know?””
Dominic looked confused.
“About what?””
“About the message.””
“Nothing.””
Adrian looked at him.
“About the enemy.””
Dominic shook his head.
“I don’t know.””
“Do you expect me to believe that?””
The younger man flinched.
“After everything?””
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“That’s exactly why I’m asking.””
The room became tense.
Dominic looked hurt.
“You think it’s me?””
Adrian didn’t answer.
And that silence was worse.
Dominic stepped back.
“After everything I did?””
“What did you do?””
The question came quietly.
But it hit harder than shouting.
Dominic stared.
“I stayed.””
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“What?””
“I stayed when everyone left.””
Dominic’s voice became emotional.
“When Dad disappeared, you became obsessed with finding answers.””
A pause.
“You stopped eating.””
Another pause.
“You stopped sleeping.””
His eyes filled with tears.
“You stopped being my brother.””
Adrian looked away.
Because he knew.
He remembered.
He remembered Dominic trying to talk to him.
Trying to bring him home.
Trying to make him stop.
And Adrian pushing everyone away.
“I tried to help you,” Dominic said.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“By hiding things?””
“Yes.””
The honesty surprised him.
Dominic continued.
“Because every time I thought about telling you, I remembered Dad’s warning.””
Adrian froze.
“What warning?””
Dominic looked at his mother.
She closed her eyes.
Like she already knew.
“Dad told me something before he disappeared.””
Adrian stepped forward.
“What?””
Dominic hesitated.
Then said:
“He told me if you ever found out the truth too early, you would become exactly what the enemy wanted.””
Adrian frowned.
“What does that mean?””
Dominic looked at him.
“He was afraid you would become a man who only knew revenge.””
The words cut deeper than Adrian expected.
Because he knew that man.
He had become that man.
A man who measured every conversation.
Every friendship.
Every relationship.
By one question.
Can this person hurt me?
His mother moved closer.
“Adrian.””
He looked at her.
“I need you to believe me.””
“Why?””
“Because I know who the enemy is.””
Everyone froze.
Adrian turned.
“Who?””
She looked at Marcus.
The security chief immediately became alert.
“What?””
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Why are you looking at him?””
His mother looked away.
“I’m not.””
“You are.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Adrian.””
“No.””
Adrian raised his hand.
“Let her speak.””
The woman took a breath.
“The person your father feared most was not someone who wanted money.””
“Then what did they want?””
“Control.””
A pause.
“They wanted the Moretti family to destroy itself.””
Adrian looked around the room.
“And who had the ability to do that?””
Nobody answered.
Then the security alarms suddenly sounded.
Everyone turned.
A guard’s voice came through the speaker.
“Security breach detected in the underground level.””
Marcus immediately reacted.
“The vault.””
Adrian looked at him.
“You have an underground vault?””
Marcus hesitated.
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Another secret.””
Marcus ignored the comment.
“We need to move.””
“No.””
Marcus stopped.
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re staying here.””
“Adrian—”
“You’re the person my father warned me about.””
The words hit the room.
Marcus’s face changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
“You really think that?””
Adrian didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Marcus slowly nodded.
“Understood.””
He stepped back.
The guards moved toward the underground entrance.
Adrian followed.
His mother grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.””
He looked at her.
“Why?””
“Because whoever is down there wants you to go.””
Adrian looked at the hallway.
“Then I’ll disappoint them.””
“No.””
Her voice became urgent.
“Listen to me.””
She lowered her voice.
“Your father didn’t build those systems to keep enemies out.””
Adrian frowned.
“Then what?””
“To keep something inside.””
A cold feeling moved through him.
“What?””
His mother didn’t answer.
Because the alarm suddenly stopped.
Everything went silent.
Too silent.
Then the house speaker turned on.
A voice came through.
A familiar voice.
“Adrian.””
Everyone froze.
The voice belonged to his father.
But it wasn’t a recording.
It was live.
Adrian slowly looked toward the ceiling.
“Dad?””
The speaker crackled.
“I know you’re confused.””
Adrian stepped closer.
“Where are you?””
No answer.
Only breathing.
Then:
“I know you’re angry.””
His hands tightened.
“You disappeared.””
“I know.””
“You let me think you were dead.””
“I know.””
“Why?””
Silence.
Then his father said:
“Because I was trying to keep you alive.””
Adrian closed his eyes.
Three years.
Three years of pain.
And now the voice he wanted more than anything was speaking to him.
Yet he felt no relief.
Only questions.
“Where are you?””
A pause.
“Not where you think.””
Adrian looked around.
“Enough games.””
His father sighed.
“You always were impatient.””
The old familiarity almost broke him.
Almost.
Then the voice became serious.
“Adrian, listen carefully.””
Everyone leaned closer.
“The person beside you is not the person who betrayed you.””
Adrian frowned.
“What?””
“The person beside you is the person who has been protecting you.””
The room froze.
His father continued.
“The person who betrayed us is someone you stopped seeing years ago.””
Adrian’s mind raced.
Someone he stopped seeing?
Someone who disappeared?
Someone he trusted?
Then his father said:
“Look at the family portrait.””
Adrian turned.
On the wall opposite him hung an old photograph.
A picture of the Moretti family.
His father.
His mother.
Adrian.
Dominic.
He walked toward it.
“What am I looking for?””
“Your mother.””
Everyone looked at her.
She became pale.
“Adrian, don’t.””
But he already saw it.
Something he had missed his entire life.
The portrait had been taken when Adrian was ten.
His mother was smiling.
His father was standing beside her.
Dominic was in his father’s arms.
And Adrian was holding a small object.
A ring.
His father’s ring.
Adrian touched the glass.
“Why am I wearing Dad’s ring?””
Nobody answered.
The speaker crackled.
His father’s voice became softer.
“Because that was the night I learned you were not my son.””
The room stopped.
No one breathed.
Adrian stepped back.
The world seemed to tilt.
“What?””
His father continued.
“And that was the night someone changed your life forever.””
Dominic looked horrified.
His mother covered her mouth.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“No.””
The voice continued.
“Adrian, the truth about your birth…”
A pause.
“…is the reason this war started.””
The speaker went silent.
Then one final message appeared on the security monitor.
A live camera feed.
A hidden room beneath the estate.
Someone was sitting inside.
Waiting.
The camera moved closer.
The person looked up.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Because the person on the screen was wearing the same ring from the photograph.
His ring.
May you like
And the person smiled.
“Hello, brother.””
