Chapter 2 - THE LETTER BEHIND THE WALL
Lorenzo had spent his entire adult life learning how to recognize a lie.
He recognized the tiny pause before a frightened man spoke. The false confidence of a rival who believed he had the upper hand. The desperate silence of someone who knew the truth could cost him everything.
Vanessa was lying.
He could see it in the way she clutched her handbag.
“Everybody out,” he ordered.
Marcus hesitated. “Including Mrs. Sterling?”
“Especially Mrs. Sterling.”
Vanessa shot to her feet. “You cannot throw me out of a room in my own future home!”
“Your future home?” Lorenzo asked quietly. “You haven't married me yet.”
Her expression changed.
For the first time that morning, she looked genuinely afraid.
Nora remained beside Giovanni while the doctor examined the old man's chest. His skin appeared unharmed, but his pulse had accelerated after his attempt to speak.
“Mr. Romano needs rest,” the doctor warned. “Whatever happened, don't pressure him to repeat it.”
Lorenzo nodded.
Then he turned to Nora.
“Come with me. I want to see the letter your mother left you.”
Nora hesitated before following him into his private study.
She had never been inside the room. Dark wood shelves covered the walls, and an enormous photograph of Lorenzo's late mother stood above the fireplace.
Nora stopped when she saw it.
The woman in the photograph wore a pearl necklace and a warm smile.
“She looks kind,” Nora murmured.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“I'm sorry.”
Lorenzo studied Nora's face. “You said your mother died recently?”
“Three years ago.”
“Did she ever tell you how she met my father?”
“No. She only said she worked for the Romano family and that Mr. Giovanni had once saved her life.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
“My father saved hundreds of people over the years. Some were business partners. Some were men who owed him favors.”
“She said it wasn't like that.”
“What did she say?”
Nora pulled a folded envelope from the inner pocket of her handbag.
“She wrote that if anything happened to me, I should find Giovanni. But she made me promise never to contact the family unless I was desperate.”
Lorenzo opened the letter carefully.
The handwriting was elegant, though several lines had blurred with age.
My dearest Nora,
If you are reading this, I can no longer protect you myself. There is something about your birth that I should have explained long ago. I was afraid of the Romano name, but I was even more afraid of what would happen if the truth reached the wrong person.
Find Giovanni Romano. Show him the silver pendant. Ask him what happened on the night of October 14.
Trust no one who tells you that your mother abandoned you.
Lorenzo read the final sentence twice.
“October fourteenth,” he whispered.
“What is it?”
He opened a drawer and removed an old leather-bound diary. Several pages were missing, but he found a calendar entry from twenty-six years earlier.
October 14.
The night Lorenzo's infant sister had supposedly died.
He looked up slowly.
“Nora, how old are you?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Your birthday?”
“October fifteenth.”
Lorenzo felt the room tilt beneath him.
Before he could speak, his phone vibrated.
Marcus had sent a message.
We found someone inside the west wing. She was searching Giovanni's medical records.
A second message appeared.
She says Vanessa sent her.
Lorenzo looked toward the door.
Then he heard a crash from the corridor.
Nora flinched.
Marcus's voice rang through the mansion.
“Boss! You need to see this!”
Lorenzo hurried outside.
A housekeeper stood beside a shattered picture frame. Behind her, a concealed panel had been pulled from the wall, revealing a narrow compartment.
Inside lay a small velvet box.
Lorenzo recognized the initials engraved on its lid.
G.R.
He opened it.
A hospital identification bracelet rested inside, yellowed with age.
The name printed across it made his blood run cold.
BABY GIRL ROMANO — OCTOBER 15.
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
May you like
If Lorenzo ever discovers the truth, make sure he never finds his sister.
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