Chapter 13 - THE MOTHER WHO OWNED AN EMPIRE
Penelope stood outside the emergency room, staring at her mother.
"Is it true?"
Isabella lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
For a moment, Penelope couldn't speak.
"You're telling me you've owned part of Vitiello Holdings all this time?"
Isabella shook her head.
"Not exactly."
She sat beside her daughter.
"Your grandfather owned commercial properties across Chicago. Anthony stole them through fraudulent transfers. Sophia Vitiello discovered the scheme and helped me challenge it."
Penelope listened in stunned silence.
"Dominic's father negotiated a settlement. The compensation included company shares held in trust for you and Vanessa."
"Both of us?"
Isabella nodded.
"Anthony could never legally claim those shares. He needed Vanessa to reach adulthood and sign them over."
Penelope looked toward Vanessa, who sat beside Frank.
Her twin sister looked almost identical to her.
Yet they were strangers.
Vanessa approached cautiously.
"I didn't know about you," she whispered.
Penelope stood.
"Neither did I."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"Anthony told me my mother died when I was born."
Penelope stepped closer.
"Apparently we both grew up hearing the same lie."
Vanessa laughed weakly.
Then Penelope opened her arms.
Her twin stepped into them.
For the first time in twenty-six years, the sisters embraced.
Across the waiting room, Isabella began crying.
Hours later, Dominic emerged from surgery.
The bullet had missed major arteries.
His doctors expected him to recover.
Penelope sat beside his hospital bed.
He opened one eye.
"Did you find your family?"
She smiled through her tears.
"All of them."
"Good."
She squeezed his hand.
"Dominic, why did you really buy the bakery?"
He studied her.
"Because I discovered Anthony was trying to force your father out."
"And the letters?"
"I found them afterward."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
He closed his eyes.
"Because I was afraid you'd hate me."
Penelope stared at him.
"The great Dominic Vitiello was afraid of a restaurant manager?"
He smiled faintly.
"Terrified."
She laughed.
Then her expression softened.
"You don't have to control everything to keep people safe."
"I know that now."
She kissed his hand.
"Then maybe we can start again."
Dominic looked at her.
"Properly?"
"No secret accounts. No orders beneath my pictures. No deciding what's best for me without asking."
He nodded.
"Agreed."
She smiled.
"Then ask me on a date."
Dominic took a breath.
"Penelope Russo, would you have dinner with me?"
She pretended to consider.
"Depends. Are you paying?"
He laughed.
"Absolutely."
For the first time, everything seemed possible.
But outside the hospital room, Gabriel had received a troubling message.
The evidence recovered from Anthony's office contained one more hidden account.
It had been transferring money for years.
Not to Anthony.
Not to Vanessa.
But to a woman whose name appeared repeatedly in the original Vitiello family records.
Sophia Vitiello.
May you like
Dominic's mother.
The woman everyone believed had been murdered fifteen years earlier.
