My Family Used Me to Settle Their Debt—I Never Expected the Mafia Boss to Open His Arms
Chapter 5
Elena had always been told that the Carter family moved into the city when she was six.
But Luca found a different address.
An old farmhouse outside town.
The property had been abandoned for years.
Elena stood before the house.
Something about it felt wrong.
Familiar.
She touched the gate.
A flash of memory hit her.
A swing.
A red bicycle.
Her mother laughing.
A man shouting.
Then darkness.
She staggered.
Luca caught her.
“You okay?”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“A room.”
“Which one?”
“The basement.”
They entered.
Dust covered everything.
The living room was empty.
The kitchen was rotten.
But Elena walked directly toward a door.
Luca followed.
She opened it.
A staircase descended.
At the bottom was a child’s room.
A bed.
A broken toy.
A faded wall drawing.
And on the wall, scratched into the wood:
ELENA — DON’T TRUST THE MAN WITH THE GOLD RING.
Luca touched the words.
“Do you recognize it?”
“No.”
Then Elena noticed a photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed her mother with a man she didn’t know.
He wore a gold ring.
Behind them stood Gabriel Voss.
Elena stared.
“That’s him.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Luca looked at her.
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“The man in the photograph.”
Luca studied it.
“That isn’t Gabriel.”
“Then who?”
On the back:
Marcus Vale.
Luca’s expression changed.
“Your father used another name.”
“What?”
He pointed at the photograph.
“Marcus Vale was my father’s closest partner.”
Elena felt dizzy.
“So our families were connected.”
“Yes.”
A hidden compartment opened beneath the child’s bed.
Inside were letters.
Elena read the first.
Luca, if anything happens to us, protect Elena.
Her mother’s handwriting.
The next letter was from Luca’s mother.
The child must never know why she was chosen.
Elena froze.
“Chosen?”
Luca read another.
Marcus believes Elena’s blood can open the trust.
“What trust?” Elena asked.
Luca looked up.
“I don’t know.”
Then a final document appeared.
A medical record.
Elena’s name.
A note:
Genetic match confirmed.
She stared.
“Match to what?”
Luca turned the page.
A man’s name.
Antonio Delacroix.
His grandfather.
Elena’s eyes widened.
“Your grandfather?”
Luca nodded.
“My grandfather’s blood.”
She backed away.
“That means…”
“You’re related.”
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“Not directly.”
“Then how?”
“Your mother may have been his daughter.”
Elena stared at him.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Her mother had always said her own family was dead.
But if she was related to the Delacroix family, Elena’s entire identity changed.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Luca pulled Elena behind him.
A man’s voice echoed.
“You finally came home.”
Elena froze.
The voice was familiar.
Her father’s.
She stepped forward.
“Dad?”
A man entered the doorway.
Older.
Pale.
Alive.
Elena stared.
“You’re alive.”
Her father looked at Luca.
Then at Elena.
“I never wanted you to know.”
“You sold me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I did what I had to do.”
“You lied!”
“I protected you.”
“You told them I was worth two million dollars!”
His face crumpled.
“They weren’t buying you.”
“Then what?”
He looked directly at her.
“They were buying the truth.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“What truth?”
Her father whispered:
“You are the only heir to the Delacroix family trust.”
