Chapter 5 - ELENA'S LAST PLAN
Dominic’s hand remained fisted in Mateo’s shirt.
“She asked you to cut her brakes?”
Mateo nodded.
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It wasn’t supposed to kill her.”
Norah watched Dominic’s face change from fury to confusion.
Mateo continued.
“Elena wanted your father to believe she had died.”
Dominic released him.
“What?”
“She needed to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because your father had found Julian.”
Dominic stared.
Mateo looked older than he had an hour earlier.
“Elena had hidden the boy with friends outside Milwaukee. Your father found out.”
“Why didn’t she come to me?”
“You were twenty-two.”
“So?”
“You worshiped your father.”
Dominic flinched.
It was true.
Mateo continued.
“Elena believed you would tell him without meaning to.”
“So she staged an accident?”
“Yes.”
“The car went over the bridge.”
“It was supposed to.”
“Then whose body was recovered?”
Mateo looked away.
“A woman from the morgue.”
Norah felt sick.
“Someone helped fake the autopsy?”
Mateo nodded.
“Your father’s doctor.”
Dominic paced away.
“So Elena survived.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew.”
“Yes.”
“For eighteen years.”
Mateo’s voice broke slightly.
“I gave her my word.”
Dominic turned.
“You watched me bury her.”
“I watched you bury a lie that kept her alive.”
“You watched me blame myself.”
Mateo’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
The room became unbearably still.
Norah moved closer to Dominic.
He didn’t look at her.
“What happened after she disappeared?” he asked.
Mateo swallowed.
“For six months, she stayed hidden with Julian.”
“And then?”
“Your father found them.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What did he do?”
“Took the boy.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I spent years trying to find him.”
“Did Elena?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she now?”
Mateo hesitated.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Where?”
“She contacted me three months ago.”
“The photograph.”
Mateo nodded.
“She said Julian had returned to Chicago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she was afraid of what he’d become.”
Norah frowned.
“Become?”
Mateo looked at her.
“Julian spent years believing Dominic helped their father take him.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“He thinks I betrayed Elena?”
“Yes.”
“Then why save Norah?”
Mateo’s gaze moved between them.
“Because he learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Dominic never knew he existed.”
Norah crossed her arms.
“Then why use Gavin Pierce?”
“Because Julian doesn’t trust anyone inside the Castile organization.”
Dominic glanced toward the door.
“Especially you.”
Mateo nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because when your father found Elena and Julian, I was there.”
Dominic went still.
“And?”
Mateo looked at the floor.
“I failed to stop him.”
“What happened?”
“Elena fought back. Julian was taken. She escaped.”
“And my father?”
“Promised he’d kill Julian if she ever came near the family again.”
Dominic’s face turned cold.
“And then?”
Mateo looked at him.
“Three years later, your father died.”
Dominic nodded.
“Heart attack.”
Mateo shook his head.
“No.”
Norah stared.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What are you saying?”
“Elena killed him.”
A long silence followed.
Then Mateo reached into his jacket and removed a small key.
“She left something for you before disappearing again.”
“What?”
“A storage box.”
He handed Dominic the key.
“Inside is the only proof your father ever had another son.”
Dominic stared at it.
May you like
Mateo added one more sentence.
“And the proof that Julian isn’t Elena’s biological child.”
