He ended the call.
Sofia stared at him.
"My father is alive."
"Yes."
She covered her mouth.
For the first time since entering the Moretti estate, she smiled.
It was small.
Fragile.
But real.
Alessandro had seen hundreds of people smile in his presence.
He had never cared about any of them.
***
The journey to Switzerland took place two days later.
Alessandro traveled with Sofia and a small medical team.
They arrived at the facility shortly before noon.
Enzo Romano occupied a private room on the third floor.
He was thinner than Sofia remembered from the photographs. His hair had turned almost completely white, and a long scar crossed his forehead.
Years of injuries and medication had left him weak.
But when Sofia entered the room, his eyes opened.
"Dad?"
The old man looked at her.
At first, he seemed confused.
Then his lips moved.
"Sofia?"
She crossed the room and took his hand.
"Dad."
He began to cry.
She lowered her head against his chest.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Alessandro remained near the doorway.
He watched the reunion without interrupting.
When Enzo finally looked up, his eyes found Alessandro.
Fear appeared immediately.
"Moretti."
Alessandro stepped closer.
"Mr. Romano."
The old man tried to sit up.
"Your father..."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Sofia squeezed his hand.
"Dad, it's all right. He helped me."
Enzo looked at her.
Then back at Alessandro.
"Did you find the archive?"
"Yes."
"Then Vittorio knows."
"He knows."
Enzo closed his eyes.
"Then we're all in danger."
Alessandro pulled a chair beside the bed.
"Tell me everything."
Enzo looked at his daughter.
"I kept quiet because I thought it would protect you."
Sofia shook her head.
"You should have trusted me."
"I was afraid."
"I know."
Enzo swallowed.
"Vittorio did not work alone. Your father's death was not his only crime. There were men inside the Moretti family who helped him."
Alessandro's expression hardened.
"Who?"
Enzo looked toward the window.
Then he said a name.
"Matteo."
The room became completely still.
Sofia looked at Alessandro.
He did not move.
"Are you certain?" he asked.
Enzo nodded.
"I saw him with Vittorio the night Lorenzo died. He was young, but he understood what was happening."
Alessandro stared at the old man.
"Why would my brother help kill my father?"
Enzo closed his eyes.
"Because Vittorio promised him the empire."
***
Alessandro returned to Italy alone.
Sofia stayed with her father.
Before leaving, he stood beside her in the hospital corridor.
"I'll send security."
"You don't need to."
"I do."
She looked at him.
"Don't let this destroy you."
Alessandro almost smiled.
"That is a difficult request."
"Then make it a promise."
He looked at her for several seconds.
"I promise to come back."
Sofia nodded.
He turned toward the elevator.
"Alessandro."
He stopped.
"Thank you."
He looked over his shoulder.
"You don't owe me anything."
"I know."
For some reason, that answer stayed with him all the way to the airport.
***
Matteo was waiting in the Moretti mansion.
He stood in the library, holding a glass of whiskey.
When Alessandro entered, he did not appear surprised.
"You're back."
"Where is Vittorio?"
Matteo smiled faintly.
"Always straight to business."
"Where?"
"Not here."
Alessandro removed his coat.
"Then we have time."
Matteo placed the glass on the table.
"You found the accountant."
"Yes."
"Is he alive?"
"Yes."
Matteo looked toward the fireplace.
"That's unfortunate."
Alessandro stared at him.
"Did you help Vittorio kill my father?"
Matteo did not answer.
"Look at me."
His brother turned.
"I was twenty."
"You were old enough to understand murder."
"You don't understand what happened."
"Then explain."
Matteo laughed bitterly.
"You always had everything."
Alessandro's expression did not change.
"Everything?"
"The name. The respect. The authority. Father looked at you as though you were the only son he had."
"He was trying to prepare me."
"He was preparing you to take everything."
Matteo moved closer.
"I spent my entire life standing beside you. I watched you receive his approval while I was treated like an assistant."
Alessandro listened.
Then he asked quietly:
"Did you kill him?"
Matteo looked away.
"I gave Vittorio the information about his route."
Alessandro felt the answer settle between them.
"And the car?"
"I knew what they planned."
"You knew he would die."
Matteo nodded.
For a moment, Alessandro could not speak.
He remembered their childhood.
The games in the garden.
The afternoons in their mother's bedroom.
Their father's lessons.
Matteo crying after falling from a horse.
Alessandro promising to protect him.
All of it now seemed to belong to another life.
"Why?"
Matteo's eyes hardened.
"Because I was tired of being second."
Alessandro looked at him.
"You were my brother."
"And you were always going to be king."
Silence.
Then Alessandro said something Matteo would remember for the rest of his life.
"I would have given you half the world."
Matteo's expression changed.
"But you wanted it while I was dead."
***
Vittorio was arrested three days later.
Not by the police.
By his own men.
The financial documents had been sent to several independent investigators. The recordings had been copied and distributed to lawyers outside Italy. The evidence connecting Vittorio to Lorenzo's murder, Enzo's disappearance, and the attempted killing of Sofia could no longer be contained.
His political allies abandoned him.
His business partners denied knowing him.
The men who had once stood when he entered a room suddenly stopped answering his calls.
Power had a strange way of disappearing.