Chapter 6 - Sophia’s Second Secret
Marco Bellini looked exactly as Elena remembered him.
That angered her.
She wanted betrayal to leave visible marks.
Instead, Marco still wore the charcoal suit she had once admired. His hair remained perfectly cut. His expensive watch caught the afternoon light.
Only his eyes had changed.
Or perhaps Elena had.
She met him in the conference room.
Alessandro arrived before she sat down.
Marco looked at him.
“You brought a Moretti?”
Elena replied, “He was already here.”
“You’re staying with them.”
“That stopped being your concern when I found you with my sister.”
Marco flinched.
Good.
Elena sat.
Dante and Matteo remained outside the glass wall.
Alessandro stood at the far end of the room.
Marco noticed.
“What is this?”
“My office.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. I’m learning I knew very little about what you meant.”
Marco lowered his voice.
“Elena, I came to apologize.”
“Do it.”
He blinked.
“I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“Everything.”
“Too broad.”
His jaw tightened.
“You want me to humiliate myself?”
“You managed that without my help.”
Alessandro looked down, hiding what might have been amusement.
Marco noticed and reddened.
“This is between us.”
“There is no us.”
“Elena—”
“Did you take the San Aurelio Covenant from my mother’s archive?”
Marco froze.
It lasted less than one second.
Enough.
“What are you talking about?”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did Enzo give you copies?”
“No.”
“Have you met Niccolò Casano?”
Marco leaned back.
“I work in development. Of course I’ve met Casano.”
“You never mentioned it.”
“I meet hundreds of people.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
He stood.
“This is insane.”
Elena didn’t move.
“I didn’t accuse you of forging it personally.”
Marco realized his mistake.
Alessandro’s gaze sharpened.
Elena said softly, “But you knew there was a forged signature.”
Marco stared at her.
“I’m leaving.”
“Sit down.”
“You don’t order me.”
“No.”
Elena stood.
“But if you walk out before answering, the next conversation will happen through lawyers.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“Is that what Moretti told you?”
Alessandro finally spoke.
“She doesn’t need me to tell her anything.”
Marco looked at him.
“This family will use you, Elena.”
She almost smiled.
“The irony is exhausting.”
His face changed.
For the first time, Marco seemed genuinely afraid.
“Elena, there are things you don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
He looked at Alessandro again.
“Privately.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“No more private explanations.”
Marco remained silent.
Then he whispered, “Sophia made mistakes.”
Elena’s anger flared.
“Don’t you dare.”
“She took money.”
“So did you?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe the struggling developer suddenly had private meetings with Casano out of professional curiosity?”
“You financed my company. You know how desperate things became.”
There.
Not a denial.
Elena’s voice softened.
“How much did Niccolò promise you?”
Marco looked toward the windows.
“Enough.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“For what?”
Marco laughed.
“You already know.”
“We know pieces.”
Marco shook his head.
“You Morettis think everything belongs to you.”
Alessandro remained calm.
“That estate has belonged to my family for generations.”
“And that makes it sacred?”
“No. The law does.”
Marco looked at Elena.
“Your father trapped hundreds of millions in unusable land because he had romantic ideas about history.”
“My father protected it.”
“Your father is dead.”
The room changed.
Alessandro moved first.
Elena raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
She walked toward Marco herself.
He seemed to realize too late what he had said.
“Elena, I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
Her voice remained almost gentle.
“That’s why I’m grateful you said it.”
Marco swallowed.
“You never respected his work.”
“That isn’t true.”
“You respected what it could do for you.”
Silence.
Elena opened the door.
“Leave.”
“Elena.”
“Leave.”
He took one step.
Then stopped.
“There’s something Sophia hasn’t told you.”
Elena’s hand tightened around the door handle.
“What?”
Marco gave Alessandro a quick glance.
“Sophia didn’t start working with Casano because of me.”
Elena stared.
“Then why?”
“She contacted them first.”
Marco left.
Nobody stopped him.
Ten minutes later, Elena called Sophia again.
No answer.
Then a message appeared.
Please don’t believe everything Marco says.
Elena typed:
Did you contact Casano first?
Three dots appeared.
Vanished.
Returned.
Finally:
Yes.
Elena sat down.
Another message came.
But it wasn’t supposed to become this.
Then what was it supposed to become?
No answer.
Alessandro sat across from her.
“You don’t have to keep reading.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her phone vibrated.
Sophia had sent an audio recording.
Elena pressed play.
Her sister’s voice filled the room.
“I was angry at you.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Sophia continued.
“You had everything. Dad trusted you with the firm. Mom always asked your opinion first. People introduced me as Elena Rossi’s little sister. Even Marco looked at you like you were the only person in the room.”
Her voice broke.
“I hated feeling invisible.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“So when someone from Casano Holdings contacted my company and asked if I could introduce them to people at Rossi Studio, I said yes. They paid me. It felt like something that belonged to me.”
Elena listened without moving.
“I gave them schedules. Project names. Nothing important at first. Then Niccolò started asking about San Aurelio. I didn’t even know what it was.”
A pause.
“Marco found out.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“He said he could turn it into something bigger. He said after the deal was done we could finally be together.”
Alessandro’s expression hardened.
Sophia continued.
“I know what I did to you. I know saying I was jealous doesn’t excuse anything.”
Then her voice dropped.
“But there’s something Marco doesn’t know.”
Elena leaned closer to the phone.
“I kept copies.”
A second attachment arrived.
Photographs.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Messages between Marco and Niccolò.
One line stood out.
The wedding gives us the final access mechanism. Keep Rossi calm until then.
Elena stared until the words blurred.
Then another message arrived from Sophia.
There is one document I couldn’t photograph. Niccolò keeps it in a private office at Hotel Varenna. Marco calls it the master agreement.
Alessandro read over Elena’s shoulder.
Dante entered.
“What happened?”
Elena handed him the phone.
He scanned the messages.
Then looked up.
“If this is real, Sophia just gave us the first direct connection.”
“Why now?” Matteo asked.
Elena knew.
“Because Marco came here.”
“And?”
“And he blamed her.”
Sophia had betrayed Elena.
But Marco had betrayed Sophia too.
Some people only discovered morality when they stopped benefiting from its absence.
Elena hated that.
Yet evidence was evidence.
She looked at Alessandro.
“What is Hotel Varenna?”
“A Casano property.”
“Can we get the master agreement?”
“Legally?”
“Yes.”
“Not without probable cause or cooperation.”
Elena looked at Sophia’s messages.
“Then maybe we get cooperation.”
Her phone rang.
Sophia.
Elena answered.
“I need help,” Sophia whispered.
“Where are you?”
“At Marco’s apartment.”
“Why?”
“I came for my things.”
A crash sounded.
Sophia gasped.
Then whispered four words that changed everything.
“Marco knows I copied them.”
May you like
The line went dead.
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