Adrian Moretti
591 Words
Elena stared at the birth certificate in Adrian’s trembling hands while cold air moved through the tunnel around them.
Child: Adrian Moretti.
The surname felt impossible.
Slowly, Adrian looked up.
His expression had completely changed.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Shock.
Real, devastating shock.
“That’s not my name,” he whispered.
But even he no longer sounded convinced.
⸻
Elena carefully took the document from his hands.
The paper was old but official.
Date of birth.
Hospital seal.
Mother’s name:
Isabella Moretti.
Father’s name had been scratched out violently with black ink.
Elena’s pulse quickened.
“Your father lied to you.”
Adrian stepped backward slowly, running a hand over his face like the room itself was collapsing around him.
“No…”
But memories were already surfacing behind his eyes.
Fragments.
A woman singing softly.
A hidden room.
Arguments late at night.
His father shouting.
And then—
Fire.
Adrian suddenly grabbed the edge of the crib hard enough for his knuckles to whiten.
“I remember her.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“I remember Isabella.”
⸻
Footsteps echoed again somewhere inside the tunnel behind them.
Closer now.
Elena immediately looked back nervously.
“We need to go.”
But Adrian remained frozen beside the crib.
Like a man realizing his entire life belonged to someone else.
Then his eyes lifted toward another object hidden beneath dust in the corner of the room.
A videotape.
Labeled carefully in faded handwriting:
FOR ADRIAN — IF I DON’T SURVIVE.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
Adrian picked it up slowly, staring at it like it might destroy him.
Before either of them could speak—
A gunshot exploded through the tunnel.
The bullet slammed into the stone wall beside them.
Elena screamed instinctively.
Adrian reacted instantly, pulling her down behind old shelves as another shot echoed through the chamber.
Voices shouted from the tunnel entrance.
“DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”
Adrian’s expression darkened immediately.
The shock vanished.
Survival took over.
He grabbed Elena’s hand tightly.
“Run.”
⸻
They sprinted deeper through the underground passage while footsteps thundered behind them.
The tunnel shook from distant gunfire.
Elena’s lungs burned as they turned sharply through narrow corridors beneath the estate.
“Who are these people?” she gasped.
Adrian didn’t slow down.
“People connected to my father.”
“Your father is trying to kill us?”
A dangerous silence followed.
Then finally:
“I don’t know anymore.”
⸻
At the end of the tunnel, Adrian shoved open a hidden metal hatch leading outside.
Cold night air hit them instantly.
They stumbled into the vineyards behind the estate beneath a silver moonlit sky.
For one brief second, everything felt still.
Then headlights appeared in the distance.
Cars.
Multiple black vehicles speeding toward the vineyards.
Elena’s heartbeat dropped.
“Adrian—”
He turned sharply toward her.
His eyes were intense now.
Protective.
Desperate.
“Listen to me carefully,” he said. “If anything happens tonight, take the videotape and leave Italy immediately.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Adrian stared at her silently.
Something emotional flickered across his face.
Then suddenly—
A bullet shattered the wine bottle beside them.
The attackers had found them.
Adrian grabbed Elena and pulled her down into the vines just as armed men flooded the hill above.
And standing among them—
A familiar figure removed his silver mask slowly.
Matteo Ricci.
Alive.
Smiling.
“You should’ve stayed away from the truth, Adrian.”
- Writer
