HE LEFT HER AT THE ALTAR FOR HER SISTER—UNAWARE SHE WAS THE DON’S ONLY BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER
Chapter 3
Elena didn’t go home with Victor that night.
She returned to the apartment she had shared with Daniel.
She packed a suitcase.
Then another.
By midnight, every photograph of Daniel was gone.
She didn’t cry.
That frightened her more than anything.
She felt empty.
The next morning, Daniel came to the apartment.
Sofia was with him.
Elena opened the door.
Neither spoke.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Elena, we need to talk.”
“No.”
“You deserve an explanation.”
“I already got one.”
“I never meant to hurt you.”
She laughed.
“You left me at an altar.”
“I know.”
“For my sister.”
“I know.”
“Then what exactly is there to explain?”
Sofia stepped forward.
“I love him.”
Elena looked at her.
“That doesn’t explain why you lied to me.”
Sofia lowered her head.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you would always be the one he chose.”
Elena stared.
“You were my sister.”
Sofia began crying.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Elena closed the door.
She thought that was the end.
It wasn’t.
That afternoon, she received a message from Thomas.
Your mother left something for you.
Elena agreed to meet him.
He brought her to a small law office downtown.
An elderly attorney named Richard Blake greeted her.
“I represented your mother.”
Elena sat.
“What did she leave?”
Richard placed a sealed envelope on the table.
“She instructed me to give this to you only if your wedding ended.”
Elena stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard sighed.
“Your mother knew something might happen.”
“She knew Daniel would leave me?”
“No.”
“She knew you would eventually discover Victor.”
Elena opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Her mother’s handwriting.
My Elena,
If you are reading this, then the time has come for me to tell you what I couldn’t say when I was alive.
Elena stopped.
Her mother’s words blurred.
Your father is Victor Moretti.
Elena covered her mouth.
I loved him. I still loved him when I left.
But there were people who wanted to use you to destroy him.
I believed disappearing was the only way to keep you alive.
Elena continued reading.
Her mother explained that Victor had never abandoned them.
He had searched.
He had sent investigators.
He had paid people to look for them.
But Isabella had remained hidden.
Then Elena reached the final paragraph.
There is something else.
Victor is not the man people believe he is.
But he is dangerous when someone threatens his family.
Elena folded the letter.
Richard watched her.
“Did my mother trust him?”
“With her life.”
“Then why didn’t she return?”
Richard looked down.
“Because she believed someone inside Victor’s organization betrayed her.”
Elena looked up.
“Who?”
“We never discovered the name.”
Thomas entered the room.
He looked serious.
“Mr. Moretti wants to see you.”
Elena hesitated.
Richard said quietly:
“You should hear him.”
That evening, Elena entered Victor’s mansion.
It was enormous.
Dark wood.
Marble floors.
Old paintings.
Security guards everywhere.
Victor waited in a private dining room.
A place had been prepared for her.
He stood when she entered.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
“Neither was I.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“I don’t expect you to call me father.”
“I don’t even know if you’re my father.”
“We can take the test.”
“I want it.”
Victor nodded.
“Tomorrow.”
They sat across from each other.
For the first time, Elena studied him closely.
“Did you really search for me?”
“For thirty years.”
“Why did you stop?”
“I never did.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“My mother told me you were dead.”
“I know.”
“She thought you were dangerous.”
“I am.”
Elena looked at him.
Victor didn’t deny it.
“I have done terrible things,” he said. “But I never harmed your mother. And I never abandoned you.”
Elena asked:
“Then who tried to kill you?”
Victor’s expression changed.
“That’s what I need to find out.”
He placed a file on the table.
Inside was a photograph.
A much younger Isabella.
Standing beside a man Elena recognized.
Daniel’s father.
Elena’s blood ran cold.
