Chapter 5: Who’s lying?
1473 Words
Thony’s POV
I stared at the message.
“You don’t know the truth about your father’s death.”
My hands were cold.
I read it again.
Then again.
It didn’t make sense.
Victor had never spoken about my father’s death like this.
Not once.
He had always told me that my father’s death was an unfortunate accident.
That I needed to accept it.
That there was nothing I could do to change what had happened.
That I should stop worrying about things I couldn’t control.
So why was he saying this now??
I looked at Alessandro.
He was watching me carefully.
“What did he say?”
I locked my phone.
“Nothing.”
His expression didn’t change.
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“No.”
He took a step toward me.
“But if Victor is contacting you, I need to know why.”
I stared at him.
“You said I shouldn’t trust anyone.”
“Yes.”
“So why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
His answer caught me off guard.
He didn’t even hesitate.
I looked away.
“Then stop acting like you know what’s best for me.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The truth.”
“So do I.”
“Then we want the same thing.”
I didn’t respond.
My eyes returned to my phone.
Another message appeared, “Answer me, Thony.”
I felt my chest tighten.
I wanted to call him.
I wanted to demand answers.
I wanted to hear him explain himself.
But something stopped me.
Maybe it was the way Alessandro had warned me.
Maybe it was the photograph.
Or maybe I was simply tired of being lied to.
I turned my phone off.
Alessandro watched me.
“You’re not going to answer?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I looked at him.
“Don’t sound so pleased.”
“I’m not.”
He walked toward the table and picked up the folder containing my father’s documents.
I followed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing you something.”
He opened the folder.
I looked down.
It was another document.
I recognized my father’s signature immediately.
My heart began beating faster.
“What is that?”
“Your father’s will.”
I stared at the paper.
For a moment, I couldn’t speak.
“This is…”
“The copy available to me.”
I reached for it.
He handed it to me.
I read the first few lines.
My eyes moved slowly across the page.
Everything looked official.
The language.
The signatures.
The dates.
Then I reached the section concerning the inheritance.
My breath caught.
The same thing I had been told years ago was written there.
My stepbrother was listed as the primary beneficiary.
I stared at the words.
“So it is real.”
Alessandro didn’t answer.
I looked up.
“You said I should see it myself.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Look at the date.”
I looked back at the document.
My eyes moved to the top.
I frowned.
“What?”
“The date.”
I read it again.
Then my heart stopped.
“This was signed…”
I looked at Alessandro.
“Six months before my father died.”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“That can’t be right.”
“Why?”
“Because my father told me something different.”
“What did he tell you?”
I swallowed.
“He told me that everything would be mine.”
Alessandro said nothing.
I stared at the document.
My father had told me that himself.
I remembered the conversation clearly.
I had been sitting in his office.
He had looked at me and told me that one day, everything he had built would belong to me.
I had been twenty-three at the time.
I hadn’t thought much about it.
I had simply believed him.
So why would he change his will six months before his death?
I looked at Alessandro.
“Maybe he changed his mind.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“No.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because there is something else.”
He took another document from the folder.
I looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An earlier version of the will.”
My heart began pounding.
“You have another one?”
“Yes.”
I took it.
The date was almost two years earlier.
I read the inheritance section.
My name was there.
I was the sole beneficiary.
I stared at it.
My vision blurred.
“This…”
“Was the original arrangement.”
I looked up.
“Then why was it changed?”
“I don’t know.”
I shook my head.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
I looked between the two documents.
My name.
Then my stepbrother’s.
One will.
Then another.
Something had changed.
But I didn’t know what.
“Who witnessed the second will?”
Alessandro pointed to the bottom.
I read the names.
My heart sank.
One of them was a lawyer I remembered.
He had been at my father’s funeral.
He had been one of the people who told me that my father had made his wishes clear.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Do you know this man?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He worked for your father.”
I sat down.
Everything felt like it was happening too quickly.
First Kamila.
Then Alessandro.
Then the photograph.
Victor.
And now the will.
My father’s death had always been the one thing I thought I understood.
Now even that was beginning to feel uncertain.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Why are you helping me?”
He was quiet.
“I have my reasons.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I can give you.”
I shook my head.
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
I looked down at the photograph on the table.
Victor and Kamila.
My father’s office in the background.
I suddenly noticed something I hadn’t seen before.
There was something lying on my father’s desk.
A small black object.
I leaned closer.
“What is that?”
Alessandro looked at the photograph.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“That.”
I pointed.
He picked up the photograph.
For a few seconds, he stared at it.
Then he looked at me.
“You noticed that?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.”
He turned the photograph over.
There was something written on the back.
I hadn’t noticed it before.
A short line.
And beneath it, a date.
Alessandro’s expression became serious.
“Where did you get this photograph?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
His eyes met mine.
“I mean where did the person who gave it to you get it?”
He didn’t answer.
My heart began beating faster.
“You know something.”
He looked away.
“Alessandro.”
He finally spoke.
“This photograph wasn’t supposed to exist.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“It was taken from a camera that disappeared years ago.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“Whose camera?”
He looked directly at me.
“Your father’s.”
Silence.
I couldn’t breathe.
My father’s camera had disappeared after his death.
I remembered searching for it.
I remembered asking about it.
I remembered being told that it had probably been lost during the chaos after the funeral.
But if Alessandro was telling the truth…
Then this photograph had been taken by my father.
And somehow, it had survived.
I looked at the image again.
Victor.
Kamila.
My father’s office.
The date.
The writing on the back.
Everything felt different now.
My phone suddenly rang.
Victor again.
I stared at the screen.
This time, I answered.
“Hello?”
There was silence.
Then his voice.
“Thony.”
My heart tightened.
“What do you want?”
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“Please.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You don’t get to ask me for anything.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you calling?”
He was silent for a moment.
Then he said something that made my entire body go cold.
“Because I know who killed your father.”
I stopped breathing.
Across the room, Alessandro’s eyes immediately lifted to mine.
He had heard the words.
Victor continued.
“And if you want to know the truth…”
His voice dropped.
“You need to stay away from Alessandro Moretti.”
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