Chapter 6 - THE FORTUNE NO ONE KNEW ABOUT
Elena had always believed her childhood was ordinary.
It wasn't wealthy.
It wasn't glamorous.
Her mother worked constantly.
They moved often.
There were months when the electricity was nearly shut off.
Rosa had told Elena they were poor because life had been difficult.
But now Salvatore was telling her something else.
“You were never poor.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“Your mother had money.”
“How much?”
Salvatore hesitated.
“Enough to make powerful people kill for it.”
Vincent opened another file.
Inside were trust documents.
Elena's name appeared on every page.
Beneficiary.
Age twenty-five.
Restricted access until age forty.
She looked at the date.
She was thirty-nine.
“One year.”
Vincent nodded.
“Your fortieth birthday.”
Elena suddenly understood.
Her mother hadn't hidden money from her.
She had hidden the existence of the money.
“How much?”
Salvatore whispered:
“Forty-two million dollars.”
Elena stepped backward.
“No.”
“It came from the original Moretti accounts.”
Vincent looked furious.
“That money belonged to my father.”
“Not all of it.”
Salvatore pointed to Rosa's signature.
“She took what had been stolen from innocent people and placed it into a trust.”
Elena shook her head.
“My mother couldn't have done that.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because she wanted the money returned.”
Vincent stared at the documents.
“My father had been stealing from families.”
“Yes.”
“And Rosa recovered it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why was she hunted?”
Salvatore answered:
“Because returning the money would expose everyone involved.”
Elena sat down.
She suddenly understood the true meaning of the recipe card.
Number seventeen wasn't just a memory.
It was a warning.
Her mother had hidden the key to everything in the recipe that had once fed a starving teenage boy.
Then Elena noticed one final page.
It contained a list of names.
Some were crossed out.
Some were circled.
One name made Vincent stop breathing.
EVELYN MORETTI.
His mother.
Elena looked at him.
“Your mother was involved?”
Vincent didn't answer.
Rosie did.
“She was the person who ordered Rosa's disappearance.”
Silence.
Vincent staggered backward.
“No.”
“She believed Rosa had stolen everything.”
“She was my mother.”
“She was also the one who signed the original order.”
Vincent stared at the signature.
Then the restaurant doors upstairs opened.
Footsteps approached.
A woman called out:
“Vincent?”
His mother's voice.
Evelyn Moretti had arrived.
May you like
And she was not alone.
She had brought Elena's mother with her.
