“The remains?”
“A homeless man had died of an overdose earlier that night. Matteo paid someone at the morgue to falsify the dental records.”
Rage rose so quickly that my vision blurred.
“He stole a corpse.”
“He was desperate.”
“He let me mourn him.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“Do not defend him.”
Elena stood too.
“He loved you.”
I slammed my hand against the desk.
“Then he should have trusted me!”
“He didn’t know who around you was listening!”
Her words echoed through the study.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I saw tears spilling down her cheeks.
“He wanted to come back,” she said. “Every day, he wanted to come back. But every time he got close to proof, someone disappeared. A witness. An accountant. A police detective.”
“Why involve you?”
“Because I found one of the accounts.”
She looked down at her hands.
“And because by then, I was carrying his child.”
My heartbeat stopped.
The mansion seemed to tilt.
“Lily,” I said.
Elena nodded.
“She is Matteo’s daughter.”
The truth landed with such force that I had to grip the desk.
Lily’s fearless eyes.
Her crooked smile.
The way she spoke to me as though I were only a man.
Matteo had done the same.
He had always looked past the title, the danger, the empire, and seen the lonely older brother beneath it.
“Does she know?” I asked.
“She knows her father’s name was Matteo. She knows he loved her. Nothing more.”
“Where is he now?”
Elena’s face collapsed.
I already knew before she answered.
“He is dead.”
This time, I did not shout.
I only stared at her.
“How?”
“A year after Lily was born, he found the evidence he needed. He said he was going to meet someone who could get him safely to you.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned church outside Joliet.”
“And?”
“He never returned.”
My voice dropped.
“You saw the body?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t know he is dead.”
“I received his ring.”
She reached beneath her blouse and pulled out a chain.
Matteo’s signet ring hung from it.
The real one.
The ring recovered from the explosion had been a copy.
My brother had worn this ring from the day I gave it to him. A tiny scratch crossed the lion crest where he had once struck a brick wall during a fight with our father.
I took it from Elena.
The metal felt cold in my palm.
“There was also a message,” she said.
“What message?”
“Run. Protect Lily. Trust no Romano.”
The words cut deeper than any accusation.
Trust no Romano.
That included me.
“Why come here?” I asked.
Elena lowered her eyes.
“Because I ran out of places to hide.”
“You chose the one house he told you to avoid.”
“I didn’t choose it.”
I looked at her.
She swallowed.
“Someone sent me here.”
A chill moved through the room.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Three months ago, an envelope appeared under my door. Inside was cash, a reference letter, and your housekeeper’s hiring notice. There was one sentence written on the back.”
“What did it say?”
“Lily will be safest near the man who does not know she exists.”
I stared at her.
“You still came?”
“I thought Matteo might have arranged it before he died.”
“Or someone wanted you inside my home.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know whether you killed him.”
The words were barely audible.
But I heard them.
For the first time in years, I had no immediate response.
Elena’s eyes lifted to mine.
“I knew what people said about you. I knew Matteo had discovered a traitor inside your family. I knew he vanished while trying to reach you. How was I supposed to know you weren’t the person he feared?”
Pain sharpened into anger.
“You watched me with Lily.”
“Yes.”
“You saw I would never harm her.”
“Yes.”
“And still you lied.”
“I was waiting until I was certain.”
“Certain of what?”
“That you loved her.”
The room went silent.
I looked away first.
From somewhere beyond the study, a small voice began singing.
Lily.
The song was one she invented about Buttons crossing a river to find the moon.
I had heard it so many times that I knew every wrong note.
Elena wiped her cheeks.
“She started asking why she didn’t have an uncle,” she said. “I told her families were complicated.”
“They are.”
“She deserves more than fear and hiding.”
“Yes.”
“She deserves the truth.”
“Not yet.”
Elena stiffened.
“You cannot decide that alone.”
“I can decide what keeps her alive.”
“You sound exactly like Matteo.”
The comparison struck something raw.
Before I could answer, the study door opened.
Vincent entered without knocking.
His expression told me something had changed.
“What?” I asked.
“We found a listening device beneath Elena’s car.”
Elena went pale.
Vincent placed a small black transmitter on the desk.
“Military-grade. Recently installed.”
I looked at Elena.
“Who knew you were coming here today?”
“No one.”
“You came by bus.”
“My neighbor drove me halfway because of the rain. I borrowed her car from the station.”
