Chapter 6 - THE SECRET MY MOTHER DIED TO PROTECT
For eighteen years, I had imagined what I would say if I ever saw my mother again.
I had rehearsed angry speeches.
Questions.
Accusations.
I had promised myself I wouldn't cry.
But when Isabella DeLuca stood in front of me, none of those words mattered.
I ran to her.
She caught me so tightly I could barely breathe.
“My baby,” she whispered.
I buried my face against her shoulder.
“You left.”
“I know.”
“You never came back.”
“I tried.”
I pulled away.
“Then why didn't you?”
She touched my cheek.
“Because every time I got close, someone died.”
Behind me, Vincenzo said nothing.
My mother looked over my shoulder.
Her expression hardened.
“You need to leave him.”
I stepped back.
“Mom, he saved my life.”
“His father destroyed ours.”
“His father is dead.”
“That doesn't mean the danger died with him.”
Vincenzo moved closer.
“Mrs. DeLuca—”
“Don't.”
Her voice was sharp enough to stop him.
“I know who you are.”
He held her gaze.
“Then you know I was fifteen when you disappeared.”
“You were fifteen when your father made you watch a man die.”
Vincenzo went pale.
I looked between them.
“What man?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“The man everyone believes was your father.”
The church fell silent.
I stared at her.
“What?”
She gripped my hands.
“Thomas Anderson loved you. He raised you. He was your father in every way that mattered.”
“But?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“But he wasn't your biological father.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“Who was?”
She looked toward Vincenzo.
And for one horrible second, I thought she was about to say something impossible.
Then she whispered a name.
“Adrian DeLuca.”
Gio inhaled sharply.
Vincenzo's expression changed.
I looked at him.
“You know that name?”
He nodded slowly.
“Adrian was the head of the DeLuca family.”
My mother squeezed my fingers.
“He was also my husband.”
I stared at her.
“You were married?”
“Before Thomas. Before I tried to build a normal life.”
“Where is he?”
Her face crumpled.
“Dead.”
I couldn't move.
Vincenzo looked at Isabella.
“My father told me Adrian died in a warehouse fire.”
“He did.”
“Then why did you say my father ordered Violet's murder?”
Isabella reached into her coat.
She removed a small black flash drive.
“Because Adrian discovered Lucino Mercante was working with a man named Elijah Robbie.”
Gio swore under his breath.
My mother continued.
“They were moving money through shipping companies. Drugs. Weapons. People. Adrian wanted out.”
Vincenzo's jaw tightened.
“My father said Adrian betrayed the alliance.”
“Your father lied.”
She held up the drive.
“Adrian recorded everything before he died. Payments. Meetings. Names.”
I looked at it.
“That's the ledger?”
“A digital copy. The original was hidden somewhere else.”
“Where?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Vincenzo stepped forward.
“If you had this evidence, why didn't you go to the authorities?”
“I did.”
Silence.
“Three federal agents died within a week.”
Gio looked at the door.
“We need to move.”
Isabella nodded.
“There's more.”
She looked at me.
“Your father left something for you.”
“Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“An inheritance.”
I almost laughed.
“An inheritance?”
“Forty percent of DeLuca Maritime. Held in trust until your twenty-fifth birthday.”
I stared at her.
“I turned twenty-five last month.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because the shares were hidden under your birth name.”
“What birth name?”
My mother swallowed.
“Violet DeLuca.”
Vincenzo's eyes widened.
Gio took a step back.
I looked from one man to the other.
“What?”
Vincenzo spoke quietly.
“DeLuca Maritime controls the eastern shipping terminals.”
“So?”
“So those terminals are the only ones my uncle hasn't been able to buy.”
My mother nodded.
“Luca needs your shares.”
I thought of Derek.
Of the million dollars.
Of the marriage proposal.
And suddenly the pieces began fitting together.
I turned to Vincenzo.
“You knew.”
He shook his head.
“I knew Isabella had a daughter. I didn't know about the trust.”
“Then why did you want to marry me?”
“Because my father's will required a marriage. And because I recognized your name.”
I stepped away.
“You said you wanted to protect me.”
“I do.”
“But marrying me would give you access to my inheritance.”
“Not without your consent.”
I looked at my mother.
She was staring at him with naked hatred.
Then she said something that silenced everyone.
“Ask him what his father left in the second will.”
Vincenzo froze.
“What second will?”
Isabella gave a bitter laugh.
“The one Lucino signed three days before he died.”
She pulled a folded document from her coat.
Gio stepped forward.
“Where did you get that?”
“From the lawyer who disappeared after witnessing it.”
Vincenzo opened the document.
I watched his face change as he read.
“What does it say?” I demanded.
He looked at me.
Then at my mother.
And finally he spoke.
“It says that if I marry Violet DeLuca…”
His voice stopped.
I felt cold.
“Finish the sentence.”
Vincenzo swallowed.
“Then all of DeLuca Maritime's voting rights transfer to my family.”
My mother nodded.
“That's why they wanted him to marry you.”
I stepped backward.
“And you didn't know?”
Vincenzo looked devastated.
“I swear to you, I didn't.”
Before I could answer, Gio's phone rang.
He listened for five seconds.
Then his expression changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Derek's been found.”
“Where?”
Gio looked at me.
“Outside the police station.”
I felt a flicker of hope.
“Did he confess?”
Gio shook his head.
May you like
“He's dead.”
Then he added, “And someone carved your name into the dashboard of his car.”
