Chapter 6 - My Mother’s First Lie
Dominic did not confront Rafael immediately.
That surprised me.
I expected rage.
Instead, Dominic became calm.
Too calm.
He walked toward the door.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Elina.”
“If Rafael is involved, I'm not staying alone with Thomas.”
Thomas looked offended.
I ignored him.
Dominic thought for a second.
“Fine.”
Outside, Rafael stood beside the car.
He smiled faintly when he saw us.
Then noticed Dominic's expression.
The smile vanished.
“Boss?”
Dominic stopped several feet away.
“You visited Thomas three weeks before Elena died.”
Rafael didn't move.
Thomas had followed us to the doorway.
For a long moment nobody spoke.
Then Rafael said, “Yes.”
Dominic's hands curled into fists.
“You lied to me.”
“I withheld something.”
“That's called lying.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rafael looked at me.
Then back at Dominic.
“Elena asked me to.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“Of course she did.”
“She was frightened.”
“Of who?”
“Not you.”
“Then who?”
Rafael's answer changed everything again.
“Your uncle.”
Dominic froze.
“Marco?”
Rafael nodded.
I looked between them.
“Who's Marco?”
“My father's younger brother.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Powerful?”
Rafael gave me a grim look.
“Very.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What did Elena discover?”
Rafael exhaled.
“She believed your father wasn't the person who ordered Gabriel DeLuca's disappearance.”
Thomas emerged behind us.
“That's impossible.”
Rafael looked at him.
“You know better.”
Thomas paled.
Dominic's gaze moved between the two older men.
“Start talking.”
The story came out slowly.
Carlo Moretti and Gabriel DeLuca had built businesses together.
Marco Moretti had always been part of their world, but unlike Carlo, Marco resented Gabriel.
Gabriel wanted to leave.
Worse, Gabriel possessed financial records that could have destroyed several people.
Marco feared exposure.
Carlo wanted Gabriel controlled.
Marco wanted him gone.
When Gabriel disappeared, Carlo assumed he had run.
Years later, he learned Marco may have been responsible.
But by then Marisol and the twins had become vulnerable.
Carlo made a brutal decision.
Separate the girls.
Keep Marisol silent.
Protect them by hiding one child completely.
“You're calling kidnapping protection?” I asked.
Rafael's expression was bleak.
“No. I'm telling you how Carlo justified it.”
“Did Elena know Marco was involved?”
“She suspected.”
“Why didn't she tell Dominic?”
Rafael looked at him.
“Because she didn't know who in the family still answered to Marco.”
Dominic's face hardened.
Including you.
The words weren't spoken.
They didn't need to be.
Rafael nodded as though Dominic had said them.
“She didn't trust me completely.”
“Should she have?”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
Rafael reached beneath his jacket.
Dominic's bodyguards reacted instantly.
Rafael froze.
Slowly, he removed an envelope.
“I've carried this for eleven months.”
Dominic took it.
Inside was a memory card.
“Elena gave it to me two days before she died.”
My heart started pounding.
“What is on it?”
“I don't know.”
“You never looked?”
“She told me only to give it to Dominic if her death appeared suspicious.”
Dominic stared at him.
“My wife died in a one-car crash on an empty road, and you didn't consider that suspicious?”
“I did.”
“Then why keep it?”
“Because Marco came to see me at the funeral.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“What did he say?”
“That if I gave you anything Elena had left behind, Leo would grow up without either parent.”
The air felt suddenly colder.
“You believed him?”
“I believed he was capable of trying.”
Dominic turned away.
For the first time, I saw how close he was to losing control.
Rafael spoke quietly.
“I watched Leo. I watched you. I waited until I knew where Marco's people were.”
“And now?”
“Now Elena's sister appeared.”
He looked at me.
“And Marco knows.”
The anonymous phone call.
My stomach dropped.
“That was him?”
“Possibly.”
Dominic held up the memory card.
“We find out what's on this.”
Back at the Moretti house, we inserted the card into an isolated laptop.
There were six files.
Photographs.
Bank documents.
Scanned letters.
And one video.
Elena appeared on the screen.
I forgot how to breathe.
She was alive.
Not really.
But moving.
Talking.
Her hair was pulled into a loose bun exactly the way mine often was.
She looked exhausted.
Beautiful.
Frightened.
Dominic sat beside me.
His face collapsed for half a second before he forced it back into control.
Elena spoke.
“If you're watching this, then I didn't get the chance to explain.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
She continued.
“My name is Elena Romano Moretti. I recently learned I was born Elena Valdez. I have a twin sister named Elina.”
Hearing her say my name nearly broke me.
“I haven't contacted her yet.”
The video shifted slightly.
“I wanted proof first.”
Elena explained her investigation.
She had discovered Gabriel DeLuca was our biological father.
She had found evidence Marco Moretti diverted money through companies Gabriel managed.
Gabriel threatened to expose him.
Then Gabriel disappeared.
Elena believed Marco arranged it.
But she also discovered something else.
Our mother hadn't chosen Elena because she loved me more.
My hands started shaking before Elena even explained.
“Marisol chose me because I was sick.”
I stared at the screen.
“When we were toddlers, I had a heart condition. Carlo told Marisol he could place one child with a wealthy family capable of paying for treatment.”
I covered my mouth.
“She gave me away because she believed I would die if I stayed.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“She didn't keep Elina because she loved her more. She kept Elina because Elina was healthy. She gave me up because she was trying to save me.”
I sobbed.
Dominic reached for my hand.
I let him.
The wound created twenty minutes earlier disappeared and was replaced by another.
My mother had spent her entire life knowing one daughter might believe she had been unwanted.
Elena looked directly into the camera.
“Elina, if you ever see this, our mother loved us both.”
I couldn't see clearly anymore.
Then Elena's expression became serious.
“And Dominic, if you're watching…”
He stiffened.
“…don't go after Marco.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“He wants you angry. Anger makes you predictable.”
A faint smile crossed Elena's face.
“You hate when I say that.”
Dominic whispered, “Yes.”
My heart broke for him.
Elena continued.
“I found where Gabriel hid his evidence.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“So did Marco.”
The video ended.
No location.
No explanation.
Just black screen.
“What?” I said.
Dominic replayed the final seconds.
Nothing.
Rafael checked the files.
“There may be something encrypted.”
A technician arrived.
For two hours, he examined the memory card.
Finally, he found hidden metadata embedded inside a photograph.
Coordinates.
They led to an address in the city.
I recognized it immediately.
Orelio.
The restaurant.
The place where Dominic had carried Leo through the door.
The place where the portrait of Elena had been hanging for years.
Gabriel's evidence had been there the entire time.
And somehow, Leo had led Dominic directly to the woman who could help him find it.
May you like
Me.
---
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