Chapter 6: The Servant Who Knew Everything
The person standing in the doorway did not run.
That was the first thing I noticed.
A guilty person usually moved differently.
They avoided eye contact.
They searched for exits.
They panicked.
But this person simply stood there in the darkness, as if they had been waiting for this exact moment for years.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
And everyone saw him.
Mr. Victor Hale.
The Moretti family’s head butler.
The man who had worked in the mansion for twenty-eight years.
The man who knew every hallway, every locked room, every family secret.
The man who had handed Alessandro his first suit after his father died.
The man everyone trusted.
Including Alessandro.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Alessandro’s voice cut through the silence.
“Victor.”
The old butler lowered his head.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“What are you doing here?”
Victor looked around the room.
At the camera.
At the pillow.
At me.
Then finally at Emma.
“I was hoping you would never find this.”
My stomach tightened.
“You installed the camera?”
I barely recognized my own voice.
Victor looked at me.
And that was when I saw something unexpected.
Regret.
Not guilt.
Regret.
“I did.”
The room exploded.
Security moved instantly.
Two guards stepped forward.
Alessandro raised one hand.
Everyone stopped.
“Why?”
Victor remained silent.
Alessandro walked closer.
“You secretly recorded my house.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Clara.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Vanessa’s fake pregnancy.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The honesty shocked everyone.
Because a lie would have been easier.
A lie would have given him time.
But Victor was not trying to escape.
He was accepting something.
A punishment.
“Why?” Alessandro repeated.
Victor looked at him.
“Because your father asked me to.”
The sentence destroyed the room.
Alessandro froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
Victor shook his head.
“No, sir.”
His voice became heavy.
“That is the one thing that is not impossible.”
For years, Alessandro had built his entire life around one belief.
His father was murdered.
His accountant betrayed him.
His family suffered because someone they trusted stole from them.
But now the person standing before him was suggesting something else.
Something much worse.
“What did my father ask you to do?”
Victor looked at me.
Then at Emma.
“He asked me to protect Clara Hayes.”
My heart stopped.
Alessandro turned.
“Protect her?”
Victor nodded.
“Your father knew Thomas Hayes was innocent.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The truth that I had spent fifteen years carrying alone had finally been spoken.
“He knew?” Alessandro whispered.
Victor nodded.
“Your father discovered the money was stolen by someone inside the company.”
“Who?”
Victor looked away.
And that hesitation said more than words.
“Victor.”
The old man swallowed.
“Your uncle.”
Everyone went still.
Alessandro’s uncle.
The man who had helped raise him after his father died.
The man who had comforted him at the funeral.
The man who had become the temporary head of Moretti Development.
A man who had been dead for five years.
I watched Alessandro’s expression change.
Not anger.
Something deeper.
Betrayal.
The kind that comes when someone you loved becomes a stranger.
“My uncle was involved?”
Victor nodded.
“He framed Thomas Hayes.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas found the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Victor reached inside his jacket.
He pulled out a small envelope.
Old.
Yellowed.
Damaged by time.
“I have been protecting this for fifteen years.”
Alessandro stared at it.
“What is it?”
Victor looked directly at him.
“The proof your father was trying to expose before he died.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Then Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“You’re lying.”
Everyone turned.
She stood near the doorway.
Her face was pale.
“You’re all crazy.”
Alessandro looked at her.
But Victor did not.
He looked at Vanessa.
And said something that changed everything.
“No, Miss Cole.”
“You are the one who has been lying.”
Vanessa froze.
Victor continued.
“The fake pregnancy was not your idea.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“You were instructed to do it.”
The room went silent.
Alessandro looked at Vanessa.
“Who instructed you?”
Vanessa said nothing.
For the first time all night…
She looked truly terrified.
Not embarrassed.
Not exposed.
Terrified.
Because whoever was behind this was someone she feared more than Alessandro.
Victor stepped forward.
“The person who ordered her to create a fake heir…”
He paused.
“And destroy Clara’s reputation…”
Another pause.
“Is someone who wants control of the Moretti empire.”
Alessandro’s voice became colder.
“Who?”
Victor looked toward the window.
The rain hit the glass harder.
May you like
Then he said:
“Your mother.”
