My Family Used Me to Settle Their Debt—I Never Expected the Mafia Boss to Open His Arms
Chapter 6
Elena stared at her father.
“What trust?”
“The Blackstone Trust.”
Luca’s face hardened.
His grandfather had created it decades ago.
It held properties, shipping assets, and investment accounts worth far more than two million dollars.
But the trust could only be transferred to a blood heir.
Elena.
Her mother had been the secret daughter of Antonio Delacroix.
When she fell in love with Elena’s father, she left the family.
But the trust remained.
When Antonio died, the legal documents disappeared.
Everyone assumed there was no heir.
Until Elena was born.
Her father had spent years keeping her identity secret.
Not to steal the trust.
To protect her from people trying to seize it.
Gabriel Voss was one of them.
Elena’s father had accumulated fake debt in order to create the illusion that Elena was being transferred to Luca.
The goal was to draw Gabriel into the open.
It had worked.
But too many people had become involved.
Her father’s plan was collapsing.
Elena stared at him.
“You used me.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always say that.”
He looked broken.
“You’re right.”
Luca stepped between them.
“Who else knows?”
Her father hesitated.
“Your uncle.”
“Your uncle?” Luca asked.
“My brother Victor.”
Luca went silent.
Victor Delacroix.
The uncle everyone believed was dead.
The man who had secretly controlled several companies.
The man who had ordered Elena’s kidnapping years earlier.
Elena remembered the words on the wall.
Don’t trust the man with the gold ring.
Victor always wore a gold ring.
She looked at Luca.
“He tried to take me when I was five.”
Luca nodded.
“That’s why they moved you.”
Her father added:
“He believed killing you would make him heir.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“And now?”
“Now he knows you’re alive.”
A car engine sounded outside.
Luca looked toward the window.
Black vehicles.
Several.
His expression hardened.
“They found us.”
Rafael entered.
“Boss, we’re surrounded.”
Luca turned to Elena.
“Stay behind me.”
Her father looked terrified.
“You have to take her through the tunnel.”
“What tunnel?”
The father pointed toward the wall.
“There is one under the old nursery.”
Luca pushed the furniture aside.
A hidden door appeared.
Elena stared.
“You built this?”
Her father nodded.
“For emergencies.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I hoped you’d never need it.”
Luca opened the door.
Darkness beyond.
They moved underground.
Behind them, the farmhouse door shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
Elena ran.
Luca stayed beside her.
Her father came behind them.
At the end of the tunnel was another hidden room.
A steel safe.
Her father entered a code.
Inside was a ledger.
The same one everyone had been searching for.
Elena opened it.
Names.
Payments.
Bribes.
Protection.
Murder.
Then she saw something.
A signature.
Her father’s.
Next to a payment to Victor Delacroix.
“What is this?”
Luca looked.
His face changed.
“My father.”
“He paid Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect me.”
Luca read the document.
Then whispered:
“My father was working with him.”
Elena stared.
“So all this time…”
Luca shook his head.
“I don’t know who betrayed whom.”
A voice came from the tunnel.
“You don’t need to.”
Victor stepped into the room.
Gold ring.
Silver hair.
A gun in his hand.
Elena’s breath stopped.
He smiled.
“Hello, little Elena.”
