Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO KNEW HER MOTHER
Janevra had been told her mother died in an accident.
For twelve years, she had believed it.
Now Elio Vieira woke inside a guarded private hospital room and destroyed that belief with one sentence.
"I knew your mother."
Janevra stopped beside his bed.
Elio looked terrible.
His skin was pale, an IV ran into his arm, and monitors tracked every heartbeat.
But his gray eyes were sharp again.
"What did you say?"
"Lucia Moretti came to me six months before she died."
Janevra felt the room tilt.
She had expected Elio to deny the note.
Instead, he knew something.
Something her own father had never told her.
"Why would my mother come to you? You were twenty-five."
"Because she was afraid."
"Of whom?"
Elio hesitated.
That hesitation frightened Janevra more than the answer.
"Everyone."
She stepped closer.
"You have ten seconds before I start screaming for Bruno."
"He already knows part of it."
That stopped her.
Elio slowly reached toward the bedside drawer.
Inside was a tiny silver pendant.
Janevra recognized it immediately.
Her mother's.
Lucia had worn it almost every day.
Janevra had searched for it after the funeral.
Her father claimed it had been lost.
"How do you have that?"
"She gave it to me."
Janevra could barely breathe.
Elio explained that Lucia had discovered someone inside the Moretti organization was quietly moving money, changing shipping manifests, and building alliances with the Santoro family.
She feared the betrayal was bigger than business.
She feared Janevra would someday be used to complete it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your mother made me promise."
"She's dead."
"Yes."
His jaw tightened.
"And people have died because they learned less than she knew."
Janevra stared at him.
The husband she had considered indifferent had been carrying part of her mother's final secret for twelve years.
Then Bruno entered.
He closed the door behind him.
"We found something in Mrs. Vieira's wedding ring."
Janevra slowly looked down at her hand.
Bruno placed a scanner on the table.
"A transmitter."
Her stomach dropped.
"Someone has been tracking you since the wedding."
Elio's expression hardened.
May you like
Janevra remembered who had personally delivered the ring to the jeweler.
Her father.
