Chapter 11 - THE NIGHT VICTOR BROUGHT MY MOTHER TO THE GATES
I don't remember crossing the room.
One moment, I was standing beside Dante.
The next, I was demanding someone open the estate gates.
Dante caught my arm.
Not roughly.
“Rosa.”
“He has my mother.”
“I know.”
“Let me go.”
“Not until we know what he wants.”
I looked at him.
“If that were your mother—”
His face changed.
Then he released me.
“You're right.”
The admission surprised me.
But there was no time to appreciate it.
The security cameras showed Victor sitting inside the sedan.
My mother beside him.
She looked frightened.
But conscious.
Victor called the estate phone.
Dante answered.
“What do you want?”
Victor laughed.
“You finally opened Carmela's room.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“You're finished.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you want?”
“Luca's storage card.”
My stomach tightened.
The evidence from the music box.
Dante said nothing.
Victor continued.
“And the original foundation ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because without those, you have stories. Not proof.”
That wasn't completely true.
Investigators already had copies.
Victor apparently didn't know.
Dante looked toward me.
Then said:
“You release Elena first.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
My hands began shaking.
Then Mom looked toward the camera.
Her lips moved.
I couldn't hear her.
But I knew what she said.
Don't.
Don't trade anything for me.
I started crying.
Even after everything, Mom was trying to protect me.
Then Victor stepped out of the car.
He held no visible weapon.
His hands were raised.
Security kept distance.
He walked around to Mom's side.
Opened the door.
And suddenly she collapsed.
I screamed.
Medical staff rushed forward after security cleared the area.
Victor dropped to his knees.
For a moment, everything became chaos.
Then someone shouted:
“He's unarmed!”
Dante's security team restrained him.
Mom was conscious.
She'd fainted from stress, not injury.
I knelt beside her.
“Mom.”
Her eyes opened.
“Rosa.”
I began sobbing.
She touched my face.
“Safe.”
“Yes.”
Then she looked toward Victor.
Something changed in her expression.
“Tell… Dante.”
I leaned closer.
“What?”
“Victor… not leader.”
My blood went cold.
“What do you mean?”
Mom struggled to speak.
“Someone… above him.”
I stared.
“Who?”
She closed her eyes.
Then whispered one name.
“Patricia.”
My stomach dropped.
Patricia.
The household manager.
The woman who hired me.
The woman who knew when Sophia came to work.
The woman who controlled staff schedules.
The woman who had access to every locked room.
Then I remembered Carmela's letter.
Someone inside the family has access to the household staff, medical records, and every child who enters this house.
We had been looking at Victor.
May you like
But Victor may have been following someone else's orders.
And Patricia was still inside the estate with Sophia.
