Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind Her Silence
At 2:13 a.m., Elias Conti discovered that his secretary had been living a double life.
Not because Maya confessed.
Because his men found the envelope.
It was hidden inside the lining of her purse, sealed with old red wax and addressed in handwriting Elias recognized immediately.
His father's.
Antonio Conti had been dead for seven years.
Elias stood in the hospital corridor, staring at the envelope while Marco waited beside him.
"Where did you find it?"
"In the lining, boss. There's something else."
Marco handed him a photograph.
A younger Antonio stood outside a courthouse beside a woman Elias had never seen. The woman held a little girl in her arms.
On the back, someone had written a date.
October 18, 2004.
Elias felt an unfamiliar chill travel down his spine.
That was the year his father had vanished from public life for six months. The family had been told Antonio was recovering from a heart condition in Europe. Elias, then twenty-two, had been too busy fighting a rival crew to question the explanation.
"What does this have to do with Maya?"
Marco hesitated.
"Her personnel file says she was born in October 2004."
Elias looked toward Maya's room.
"No."
"Boss—"
"No. Find the truth before you speak again."
He entered the room with the envelope in his hand.
Maya was awake, sitting against the pillows. The moment she saw the photograph, the color drained from her face.
"Where did you get that?"
"Your purse."
"You had no right to search my belongings."
"Someone threatened your life, and you were carrying a letter from my dead father. I think I've earned a few answers."
Maya swung her legs toward the edge of the bed.
"I want to go home."
"You nearly froze to death."
"Then I suppose you should have left me where you found me."
The words cut through the room.
Elias stepped back.
Maya immediately looked as though she regretted saying them, but she didn't apologize.
He placed the photograph on the bedside table.
"Who is the woman with my father?"
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
"My mother."
Elias stared at her.
"Your mother knew Antonio Conti?"
"She worked for him. Years ago."
"And the child?"
Maya closed her eyes.
"Me."
The silence that followed was enormous.
Elias looked from the photograph to Maya's face, searching for something that would make the impossible explanation disappear.
"Are you telling me you're my sister?"
"No!"
Her answer came too quickly.
She drew a shaky breath.
"I'm telling you my mother spent the last twenty years running from your family. She told me never to trust a Conti. She told me that if anyone discovered who I was, someone would come to finish what they started."
"Finish what?"
Maya turned toward the window.
"Your father didn't die of a heart condition, Elias."
May you like
She looked back at him.
"He was murdered, and my mother believed your family ordered it."
