Victor's POV
I stared at my phone, waiting for Elena to call me back. The screen stayed dark. Come on, sis. Pick up.
My hands were shaking as I dialed her number again. Straight to voicemail. "Elena, it's me. Please call me back. This is about life and death. Lorenzo knows everything."
I ended the call and threw my phone on the couch. My flat felt like a prison cell. Small, dark, and closing in on me. The truth was eating me alive. How did it come to this? Six months ago, I was just Victor Carter.
Broke, angry, and bitter about what the Morettis did to our family. Now I was sitting in Lorenzo Santini's pocket, selling out my own sister. But she didn't understand. She never understood.
Elena thought she could walk into Moretti Enterprises and play detective. She thought she was so smart, so careful. But she had no idea how dangerous these guys really were.
I did. The first time I met Lorenzo Santini was at Dad's grave. I was there on the occasion of his death, just like every year.
Alone. Elena hadn't shown up. She never did. Too busy with her plans for payback.
"Victor Carter," a voice said behind me. I turned around and saw a man in an expensive suit. Tall, gray hair, and eyes like a snake. "Do I know you?" I asked. "Lorenzo Santini. I knew your father."
The name hit me like a punch. Lorenzo Santini was almost as strong as the Morettis. His company was their biggest foe. "What do you want?" I asked. He smiled. "To give you what your sister can't. Real justice."
We talked for an hour. He told me things about Dad's case that I'd never heard before. Details that made my blood boil.
"Your father wasn't just a victim," Lorenzo said. "He was a threat. The Morettis couldn't let him uncover their dirty business, so they destroyed him." "Elena's trying to prove that," I said.
Lorenzo laughed. "Elena's trying to get herself killed. She's going into a trap, and she doesn't even know it." That's when he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. "Work with me," he said.
"Help me bring down the Morettis the right way. From the inside." "What's in it for me?" "Control of Moretti Enterprises when it's all over.
You'll own everything they stole from your family." I should have walked away. I should have told Elena everything. But I was tired of being the broke, ignored brother.
Tired of watching Elena chase ghosts while I had nothing. So I said yes. The first few meetings were just information sharing. Lorenzo wanted to know about Elena's plans.
I told him she was working as Xavier's assistant, trying to find proof. "She's wasting her time," Lorenzo said. "The real proof isn't in Xavier's office. It's in his father's safe."
"Then why don't you get it yourself?" "Because Matteo Moretti is nervous. He trusts no one. But Xavier... Xavier has flaws we can use." That's when Lorenzo showed me the real plan.
"Your sister is going to help us whether she knows it or not," he said. "She'll get close to Xavier. Earn his trust.
And when the time is right, she'll give us everything we need." "Elena will never work with you," I said. "She won't have to. We'll use her feelings against her." "What feelings?" Lorenzo smiled like he knew a secret.
"Xavier Moretti and your sister have past. One night at a hotel six months ago. Very... intimate past." My stomach dropped. "You're lying."
"I have photos."
He was telling the truth. I could see it in his eyes. "Elena slept with the enemy? " I couldn't believe it. "And she's about to do it again. Xavier's going to propose to her.
A fake marriage, of course. But feelings have a way of making fake things real." That's when I understood Lorenzo's plan. He was going to use Elena's heart against her.
And against Xavier. "When they're married, she'll have access to everything," Lorenzo added. "Family meetings, work records, personal conversations.
She'll be our inside source." "She'll never agree to marry him." "She will. Because Xavier's going to force her into it."
Lorenzo was right about everything. Elena did marry Xavier. She did get inside access. And she had no idea she was being used by both sides. But now things were spinning out of hand.
My phone rang. Lorenzo's name showed on the screen. "Victor. We have a problem." "What kind of problem?" "Xavier knows about our talks. He has pictures." My heart stopped.
"How?" "Does it matter? What matters is that your sister is in danger. Xavier's not going to let this slide." I started pacing around my room.
"We have to warn her." "We have to move faster," Lorenzo said. "I need you to get into Xavier's penthouse tonight." "What? No. I'm not breaking into—"
"The safe code is his mother's birthday. Get the papers inside and bring them to me." "I can't do that. Elena lives there now."
"Elena won't be there. She's at dinner with Xavier. You have two hours." Lorenzo hung up before I could argue. I sat down hard on my couch. This was getting too scary.
Too complicated. But if I backed out now, Lorenzo would destroy me. And Elena would never forgive me for betraying her. I had to finish what I started.
An hour later, I was standing outside Xavier's building. The doorman knew me from when I'd visited Elena. I told him I was surprising my sister.
The elevator ride to the top floor felt like forever. Xavier's apartment was huge. Glass walls, expensive furniture, and a view of the whole city.
This was the life the Morettis lived while my family fell apart. I found Xavier's office and started looking for the safe. It was hidden behind a picture of some old guy in a suit.
My hands were sweating as I typed in the password. The safe clicked open. Inside were piles of papers, some jewelry, and a small black book. I grabbed everything and stuffed it in my backpack.
That's when I heard the elevator. Elena. I ran to the window and looked down. Xavier's car was pulling into the parking garage.
They were back early. I had maybe three minutes before they got upstairs. I closed the safe and ran to the front door.
But before I could leave, I heard voices in the hallway. "—need to tell her about Victor tonight," Xavier was saying. "She's not ready," Elena answered. "Finding out he's working with Santini almost killed her."
My chest got tight. She knew. Elena knew about my deal with Lorenzo. "She needs to know everything," Xavier said. "Including what Santini is really planning."
"Which is what?" "He's not just after my company. He wants to destroy our entire family. Your brother is helping him commit murder."
Murder?
The door handle turned. I dove behind the couch just as Elena and Xavier walked in. "I still can't believe Victor would betray me like this," Elena said.
Her voice was broken. "People do crazy things when they're desperate," Xavier responded. "But he's my brother. My only family."
"And he sold you out for money." I wanted to jump up and defend myself.
To tell Elena that I was trying to protect her. But Xavier's words froze me in place. Murder? What had Lorenzo gotten me into? "I keep thinking about Dad," Elena said.
"If Victor's working with Lorenzo, does that mean everything we believed about Dad's innocence was a lie?" "No," Xavier said strongly. "Your father was innocent.
My father and Lorenzo destroyed him together. They were business partners back then." "Partners?" Elena's voice went up. "But Lorenzo said—" "Lorenzo says whatever people want to hear.
That's how he controls them." My blood turned to ice. If Xavier was telling the truth, then Lorenzo had been lying to me from the beginning. "We need to find Victor," Elena said.
"We need to get him away from Lorenzo before it's too late." "It might already be too late," Xavier said quietly. "What do you mean?" "I got a call an hour ago.
Someone broke into Matteo's house and stole files from his personal safe. The only person who knew that combination was—"
"Victor," Elena whispered. I closed my eyes. They knew I was the thief. "If Lorenzo has those files, he can destroy half the powerful families in this city," Xavier said.
"Including yours." "What do you mean, mine?" "Those files hold the real story about your father's death.
And the truth about who really killed him." The room went quiet. "Killed him?" Elena's voice was barely a whisper. "Dad died of a heart attack."
"No, Elena. He didn't." I heard Elena start crying.
Soft, broken tears that made my chest hurt. What had I done? My phone buzzed with a text from Lorenzo: "Good job. Meet me at the building in one hour.
Time to finish this." I looked at the backpack full of stolen papers. At my sister crying in the next room. At the mess I'd made.
Lorenzo hadn't just been using Elena. He'd been using me too. And now he was about to use both of us to commit murder.