Chapter 6 - The Mother Behind the GlassDante survived the shooting.
But the bullet that struck his chest left him unconscious for nearly two days.
Lorenzo arranged for him to be treated at a private medical facility under heavy security.
Elena visited once.
She stood beside the hospital bed, watching the man who might have betrayed them.
His face was pale.
A ventilator helped him breathe.
She wanted answers.
Instead, she felt an unexpected sadness.
Dante had been the first person at the estate to speak to her without treating her like an inconvenience.
And now she didn't know whether that kindness had been genuine.
Lorenzo stood in the doorway.
“Dr. Aris says he has a chance.”
Elena nodded.
“Do you believe him?”
“About Dante surviving?”
“About anything.”
Lorenzo looked at the unconscious man.
“I don't know anymore.”
They left together.
Outside, rain tapped against the windshield of Lorenzo's car.
Elena watched the city pass.
Finally, she spoke.
“There's something I need to tell you.”
Lorenzo turned toward her.
“When I was sixteen, I didn't just run away.”
He waited.
“My father found out I'd opened his cabinet. He accused me of stealing the notebook.”
“Had you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He locked me in the basement for two days.”
Lorenzo's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
Elena continued.
“Margaret Ellis came to the trailer pretending to be a social worker. She told my father she'd received a report about a minor being abused.”
“Was she really a social worker?”
“No. She was investigating him.”
“How did she get you out?”
“She threatened to call the sheriff. My father let me leave because he thought she didn't know about the notebook.”
“And she took you somewhere safe?”
Elena nodded.
“She helped me finish high school. She paid for my first nursing classes.”
“Why nursing?”
Elena looked down.
“Because when my mother disappeared, nobody helped her. And when I was hurt, nobody helped me.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
She glanced at him.
“I wanted to become someone who could help.”
For a long moment, the only sound was the rain.
Then Lorenzo spoke.
“My brother wanted the same thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted to build clinics. Scholarships. Places where people could leave violent homes.”
Elena looked at him.
“What happened to those plans?”
Lorenzo's expression darkened.
“After he died, I buried them.”
“Maybe you shouldn't have.”
He looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Not romance yet.
Something quieter.
The recognition of two people who had survived different kinds of damage.
That evening, Lorenzo received a call from an attorney in Vermont.
The attorney represented Margaret Ellis.
She had left instructions that certain documents be released if Elena Vance ever contacted his office.
Lorenzo arranged a secure video call.
The attorney, a gray-haired woman named Susan Bell, appeared on the screen.
“Elena,” she said gently. “Margaret hoped you'd never need this.”
Elena leaned forward.
“Where is she?”
Susan hesitated.
“Margaret died three years ago.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The woman who had saved her had been gone all this time.
Susan continued.
“She was diagnosed with cancer. Before she died, she placed several documents in a protected trust.”
“Did she leave the notebook?”
“Yes.”
Elena's breath caught.
Susan held up a sealed envelope.
“But there's something you need to understand. Margaret believed your mother had been forced into hiding.”
“By my father?”
“Not exactly.”
Susan opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Rachel Vance standing beside a hospital bed.
A man lay unconscious beneath white sheets.
Elena leaned closer.
“Who is that?”
Lorenzo stepped toward the screen.
His face drained of color.
“Matteo.”
Elena looked at him.
“Your brother?”
Lorenzo nodded.
The man in the photograph was unmistakable.
Matteo Moretti.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken six years after his supposed death.
Susan explained that Margaret had discovered a secret medical facility operating under the name Northbridge Recovery Center.
The center treated patients whose identities were concealed through private trusts.
Matteo had been one of them.
Rachel Vance had worked there under another name.
Elena struggled to breathe.
“My mother was alive?”
Susan nodded.
“At least when that photograph was taken.”
“And Matteo?”
“He was alive too.”
Lorenzo gripped the desk.
“Where is this facility?”
Susan hesitated.
“It's no longer operating.”
“Where was it?”
“Upstate New York.”
Lorenzo demanded the address.
Susan sent the records.
Then she added something else.
“Margaret believed Rachel was trying to protect Matteo from the people who arranged the warehouse fire.”
“Who were they?” Elena asked.
Susan looked directly at her.
“Your father was one of them.”
Elena closed her eyes.
She had suspected it.
But hearing it confirmed was different.
Susan continued.
“There was another person involved. Someone with access to the Moretti family's finances.”
Lorenzo leaned forward.
“Name?”
Susan glanced at the papers.
“According to Margaret's notes, the payments were approved by a woman named Isabella Moretti.”
Lorenzo froze.
Elena turned toward him.
“Who is Isabella?”
May you like
His voice was barely audible.
“My mother.”
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