Chapter 10 - THE WALL IN MISSION BAY
Claire’s Mission Bay condo had belonged to her father before she bought out the remaining mortgage from his estate.
Samuel had renovated the study himself. He often joked that old buildings kept secrets better than people.
Ethan, Claire, and federal agents searched the room.
Behind a built-in bookcase, they found a narrow steel panel. The lock opened with the serial number engraved on the silver pin.
Vanessa’s pin was not random.
It was copied from an old Moretti security key Samuel once possessed.
Inside the wall were flash drives, laboratory files, and a handwritten letter addressed to Claire.
Samuel wrote that Victor had ordered illegal genetic screening and bribed judges, doctors, and adoption agencies. He feared Moretti executives were also purchasing newborn identities to hide heirs, affairs, and inheritance disputes.
One file contained Nathan’s original birth record.
Nathan Moretti was not Victor’s nephew by blood.
He was the biological son of Charles Moretti’s former assistant, adopted secretly after Charles and his wife lost their infant.
Under the trust, Nathan could inherit company control—but his biological child could not, because the heir clause required direct genetic descent from Charles.
Vanessa’s fake pregnancy had never been capable of controlling the company.
Unless Victor planned to replace Nathan.
A second file identified Victor’s secret biological son.
Julian Hale.
Claire understood the entire plan.
Vanessa would produce a false Moretti heir. A later DNA “revelation” would disqualify Nathan, allowing Julian—Victor’s true son—to seize control.
Her phone rang.
Vanessa’s voice came through, calm and cold.
“You found the wall.”
“Where are you?” Claire demanded.
“With Nathan.”
A video message arrived.
Nathan was tied to a chair inside an unfinished high-rise.
Vanessa held a gun against his neck.
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“Bring the files,” she said, “or this family loses another heir tonight.”
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