Chapter 5 - THE MESSAGE MY MOTHER LEFT BEHIND
My mother had been dead for fourteen years.
Yet somehow, a message she'd hidden inside a silver pendant had reached me through the daughter I never knew existed.
I couldn't stop staring at the tiny piece of jewelry.
Sofia held it carefully.
"Your mother gave this to me."
I nodded.
"I remember."
We were young then.
Sofia had been frightened about the future.
My mother, Isabella Mancini, had taken her hands and said:
"Whatever happens, remember that love doesn't belong to powerful men."
At the time, I'd thought she was offering comfort.
Now I wondered whether she was trying to warn Sofia.
Hannah left the pendant with Sofia after confirming it could be returned with Elena's belongings.
Sofia carefully opened the hidden compartment.
Inside was a folded piece of paper no larger than a postage stamp.
I recognized my mother's handwriting immediately.
For the child who carries this.
My throat tightened.
Sofia unfolded the note.
If you are reading this, someone finally discovered what Vittorio did.
I stopped breathing.
The message continued.
My brother-in-law has been hiding evidence of terrible crimes committed against our family.
He knows what happened to Antonio Mancini.
My father.
I stared at the words.
He also knows why Sofia Bennett must never return to the Mancini estate.
I looked at Sofia.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"She knew," Sofia whispered.
"My mother knew."
I continued reading.
I placed copies of the evidence in a protected archive.
The access information is hidden behind the photograph of Antonio and Luca in my old bedroom.
A memory returned.
My mother's room.
After she died, Vittorio insisted it remain locked.
He said I needed to let the past rest.
For fourteen years, nobody had entered.
I looked toward Marco.
"Have someone secure my mother's room. Nothing gets touched without investigators present."
Marco nodded.
Then Sofia reached for my hand.
"Luca, please be careful."
I looked at her.
"I will."
She studied my face.
"That's not something you used to say."
I smiled sadly.
"Seventeen years can change a man."
Her expression softened.
"Or maybe seventeen minutes can."
I looked toward Elena's room.
She was alive.
Still unconscious.
But alive.
And something inside me had changed forever.
I no longer wanted to punish the world for what it had taken.
I wanted to recover what remained.
Then Marco returned.
His expression was grave.
"Luca, we have confirmation about the crash."
My chest tightened.
"What confirmation?"
"The vehicle that struck Sofia's car was registered to a company connected to Vittorio."
I went cold.
"Was it deliberate?"
"Investigators are examining the evidence. But the driver appears to have been following them."
I looked toward Sofia.
Her face drained of color.
The accident.
The ambush.
The threats.
All connected.
Then Marco added something worse.
"There's a recording from a traffic camera."
"What does it show?"
He hesitated.
"Another vehicle nearby."
I stared.
"Whose?"
May you like
Marco swallowed.
"Enzo Caruso's."
