Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE VICTOR SHOULD NEVER HAVE APPROACHED
Elena reached her mother’s street before Victor.
Dante’s convoy moved faster.
Her mother, Rosa, opened the front door wearing slippers and a robe.
“Elena?”
“No questions. We’re going inside.”
Rosa saw Dante.
Then stopped.
Her face changed.
“You’re Luca’s boy.”
Dante froze.
Elena stared at her mother.
“You know him?”
“I knew his father.”
Of course she did.
Another secret.
Rosa sat at the kitchen table while Dante’s men secured the street.
She had known about the trust.
Not every detail.
But enough.
Miguel told her he was protecting records.
He told her wealthy men might come looking.
He made her promise never to involve Elena unless there was no other choice.
“Why didn’t you tell me after Dad died?”
“You were sixteen.”
“I’m thirty-two now.”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“Then you were struggling through school. Then working. Then you met Marcus.”
Elena almost laughed.
“So everyone kept deciding when I was ready for my own life?”
Rosa looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
At least it was honest.
Then Rosa opened a kitchen drawer and removed an envelope.
“I was supposed to burn this.”
Inside was a photograph of Victor Laurent standing beside Miguel’s garage.
Beside him was Patricia’s father.
And Luca Salvatore.
All three men together.
Elena stared.
“They were partners.”
“Once,” Rosa said.
Before rivalry.
Before betrayal.
The three families had worked together acquiring commercial property.
Miguel repaired their vehicles and gradually realized what some acquisitions involved.
When he threatened exposure, the partnership shattered.
Luca eventually turned against Victor and Patricia’s father.
Not out of morality.
Because their fraud threatened his own businesses.
Miguel exploited the conflict to create the trust.
Dante looked at Rosa.
“Why would Victor come here now?”
Rosa did not answer.
Instead, she walked into the bedroom and returned with a small metal box.
“Because he thinks I have this.”
Inside was the final ledger.
Not the copy.
The original.
Signatures.
Payment confirmations.
Instructions.
Everything.
Dante stared.
“This could put Victor in prison.”
“And others.”
Rosa looked toward Dante.
“Possibly people still loyal to your family.”
Elena felt the floor shift again.
Then tires screeched outside.
Dante’s men moved immediately.
Victor’s SUV stopped at the end of the street.
Police vehicles appeared behind it.
Marcus stepped out of the second car.
Elena stared through the window.
“What is Marcus doing here?”
Dante’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
Marcus had given investigators the location.
And then Marcus revealed why Victor came.
Vivien had disappeared from the hotel.
She had taken something from her father’s safe.
Something Victor believed could destroy him.
May you like
A flash drive.
And according to Marcus, Vivien was on her way to Elena’s house too.
