Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind the Rossi Name
Antonio wanted Teresa searched before allowing her inside.
Sophia refused.
“She came for me.”
“That doesn't make her safe.”
“She may be my only living connection to my father.”
Antonio looked toward the gate camera.
“You met her once and someone tampered with my mother's medication.”
“You don't know she did that.”
“No. And until I do, I treat her as a threat.”
Sophia stepped closer.
“You don't control me.”
His eyes held hers.
“I know.”
“Then open the gate.”
Several seconds passed.
Antonio pressed the button.
“Bring her in.”
Teresa entered the library ten minutes later.
She looked older than the woman in the old photograph, but unmistakably the same.
Her eyes immediately found Sophia.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Teresa whispered:
“You have Michael's eyes.”
Sophia swallowed.
“You're his sister?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you disappear?”
Teresa looked at Antonio.
“Because a Rossi ordered my brother's death.”
Antonio's jaw tightened.
“My father?”
“No.”
Elena entered in her wheelchair.
Teresa's expression softened.
“Elena.”
“Teresa.”
“You got old.”
“So did you.”
Despite everything, both women smiled.
Sophia couldn't understand it.
“You know each other.”
“Very well,” Elena said.
“Then somebody explain.”
Teresa opened her envelope.
Inside were documents, photographs, and an old cassette tape.
“Your father discovered that someone inside Carlo Rossi's organization was stealing from him.”
“Who?”
“Carlo's younger brother, Vittorio.”
Antonio stiffened.
“My uncle.”
Teresa nodded.
“Michael found proof.”
Elena continued.
“He planned to give it to Carlo.”
“But Vittorio discovered what Michael knew,” Teresa said.
On October 14, Michael and Carlo arranged to meet privately.
Neither returned home.
Their car was found destroyed after leaving the road in heavy rain.
Authorities called it an accident.
Teresa never believed them.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?” Sophia asked.
“I tried.”
Teresa looked at Elena.
“Margaret tried too.”
Sophia remembered her grandmother.
“What did she know?”
“Everything.”
Teresa explained that Margaret had been caring for Rebecca during the pregnancy. When Michael died, Margaret became terrified that whoever killed him might target his unborn child.
Sophia.
“So she changed everything,” Teresa said. “Your history. Your records. Even the story of your father.”
“And Daniel?”
“A friend who agreed to let you carry his name.”
Sophia's eyes filled.
“He protected me.”
“Yes.”
“Why come back now?”
Teresa looked toward Elena.
“Because Vittorio died last month.”
Antonio frowned.
“My uncle died twelve years ago.”
“No.”
Teresa shook her head.
“The man buried under that name wasn't Vittorio.”
Antonio's expression changed.
Teresa produced a recent photograph.
An older man stepped from a car in Switzerland.
Antonio stared.
Sophia knew immediately.
“You recognize him.”
“My uncle.”
“Alive?”
Antonio took the photograph.
“Yes.”
Sophia looked at Teresa.
“What does this have to do with Elena's medication?”
“Nothing.”
Antonio's gaze sharpened.
“You were in this house.”
“Yes.”
“You approached her medication.”
“No.”
Sophia studied Teresa.
“Then who did?”
Teresa's eyes moved toward the doorway.
“Someone who doesn't want Elena remembering the past.”
Antonio ordered a complete review of the security footage.
Hours passed.
Sophia remained beside Elena.
Near midnight, Antonio entered.
He looked furious.
“We found it.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
The footage showed one of Elena's longtime household attendants entering the sitting room.
He opened the medication organizer.
Removed a tablet.
Replaced it.
Sophia recognized him.
“Who is he?”
Antonio answered quietly.
“Someone who's worked for my family for seventeen years.”
The attendant was questioned.
By dawn, he admitted he had been paid.
Not by Teresa.
By an anonymous intermediary.
Antonio wanted names.
There was only one clue.
A bank transfer from an offshore company.
DeLuca Holdings.
Sophia stared at the screen.
“My father's name.”
Teresa shook her head.
“Michael's company disappeared after his death.”
“Apparently not,” Antonio said.
They searched old financial records.
What they discovered changed everything.
Michael had established a trust shortly before Sophia was born.
A trust for his child.
It contained property, investments, and ownership interests that had quietly grown for twenty-six years.
Sophia laughed when Antonio explained the estimated value.
Not because it was funny.
Because the number was absurd.
“I have forty-three dollars in my checking account.”
Antonio almost smiled.
“Not anymore.”
“I don't want it.”
“That may be the first time I've heard someone say that about this much money.”
“It came from a father I never knew.”
“Which may be exactly why he left it.”
Sophia looked at him.
“Money doesn't give me twenty-six years back.”
“No.”
Antonio's voice softened.
“It doesn't.”
That night, Sophia found him alone on the terrace.
“Why did you stay?”
He looked toward her.
“What?”
“In this life.”
Antonio leaned against the stone railing.
“Because somebody had to protect my mother.”
“That sounds like an excuse.”
“Probably.”
He looked across the dark gardens.
“My father died when I was seven. After that, everyone around us wanted something. Money. Territory. Influence. Loyalty. I learned very young that being feared was easier than being vulnerable.”
Sophia sat beside him.
“And does it work?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
“It just makes the room quieter.”
Sophia smiled.
Antonio looked at her.
For a moment, the mystery disappeared.
No families.
No secrets.
No money.
Just two exhausted people sitting beneath the night sky.
His hand moved toward hers.
Then stopped.
Sophia noticed.
“You can hold my hand.”
Antonio's gaze lifted.
“You're sure?”
“We know we're not related.”
That earned a real laugh.
He took her hand.
Warm.
Careful.
Nothing like the intimidating man from Bella's Diner.
“I thought you were arrogant when I met you,” Sophia said.
“You were correct.”
“And controlling.”
“Also correct.”
“Annoying.”
“Now you're becoming insulting.”
She smiled.
Antonio's thumb moved gently over her knuckles.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He stood.
“When?”
Sophia followed.
“What happened?”
Antonio ended the call.
“The trust.”
“What about it?”
“Someone tried to access it tonight.”
“Who?”
Antonio looked at her.
“The authorization required biometric confirmation.”
Sophia frowned.
“So?”
“The request passed.”
Her stomach dropped.
“How is that possible?”
Antonio's voice became quiet.
“Because the account wasn't created for Michael's daughter.”
Sophia stared.
“It was created jointly.”
“With who?”
Antonio turned the tablet toward her.
There were two beneficiary names.
The first:
Sophia Michael DeLuca Bennett.
The second made Sophia's heart stop.
Unknown Male Child — DNA Confirmation Required.
Michael DeLuca had not left behind one child.
May you like
He had left behind two.
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