Chapter 7 - WHY ELENA WAS CHOSEN
Elena read the note three times.
Then she looked at Lorenzo.
“What does this mean?”
He took the paper.
His face hardened.
“Failed once.”
“Lucia.”
“Yes.”
“And do not fail.”
“You.”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t know these people.”
“Maybe they know you.”
“That makes no sense.”
Matteo examined the schedule.
“This was printed yesterday.”
“Then why is Lucia’s name on it?” Elena asked.
No one had an answer.
They left through the hotel’s kitchen and entered an SUV waiting in the underground garage.
This time Elena did not argue about security.
Sofia was being monitored at the clinic.
Marisol had been moved safely.
Elena should have felt relieved.
Instead she felt as if walls were closing around her.
Lorenzo sat across from her.
“Tell me about your childhood.”
Elena stared.
“That’s sudden.”
“Someone connected you to Lucia.”
“I never met her.”
“You’re sure?”
“I would remember meeting your wife.”
“Maybe you met before she was my wife.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“I grew up in foster care.”
“I know.”
Her expression changed.
“How?”
“I had Matteo check your background.”
“When?”
“During the clinic.”
“That’s invasive.”
“You found my daughter in a dumpster.”
“That doesn’t give you permission to investigate me.”
“No.”
Lorenzo held her gaze.
“It gives me a reason.”
Elena wanted to argue.
Unfortunately, he was right.
“My mother died when I was seven.”
“Father?”
“I don’t know.”
“Brother?”
Her face changed.
Lorenzo noticed.
“Daniel Reyes.”
Elena looked toward the window.
“He was eleven when we entered care.”
“You were separated.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three months later.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Records?”
“Sealed.”
“You never found him?”
“I tried.”
“For how long?”
“Seventeen years.”
The SUV became quiet.
Elena looked back at him.
“If your investigation already told you that, why are you asking?”
“Because files tell facts.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“People tell truth.”
Elena did not know what to say to that.
Matteo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed halfway through the call.
“We found something.”
Lorenzo waited.
“Claudia regained consciousness.”
Elena leaned forward.
“What did she say?”
“She remembers Anthony Serrano.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“She says he entered the nursery using an emergency override.”
“How?”
“Her words.”
Matteo read from a message.
“He told her Lorenzo had ordered Sofia moved because of a security threat.”
“That sounds believable,” Elena said.
“Exactly.”
Matteo continued.
“When Claudia became suspicious, another man appeared.”
“Who?”
“She never saw his face.”
“What happened?”
“She was forced into the service elevator.”
Elena looked away.
No graphic details were needed.
Claudia had been terrified.
That was enough.
“What about the dumpster?” Elena asked.
Matteo continued.
“Claudia says Serrano argued with the other man.”
“About Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“One wanted her harmed?”
Matteo hesitated.
“One wanted her permanently removed from Lorenzo’s life.”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
“And Serrano?”
“Apparently refused.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“There’s more.”
Matteo looked directly at Lorenzo.
“Claudia heard Serrano say, ‘I agreed to Lucia, not the baby.’”
Silence.
Lorenzo looked as if all the air had been taken from the vehicle.
Elena understood first.
“Lucia’s crash.”
Lorenzo’s voice became distant.
“Anthony was involved.”
Matteo lowered the phone.
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Lorenzo’s eyes went cold.
“He was.”
Elena touched his sleeve before thinking.
He looked at her hand.
She removed it.
“We still don’t know why my name is on that list.”
Matteo’s phone vibrated again.
A file arrived.
He opened it.
Then looked at Elena.
“What?”
“There’s a photograph.”
He turned the screen.
Elena saw a charity gala from years earlier.
Lorenzo stood beside Lucia.
Lucia was smiling.
Behind them were several volunteers.
One woman looked familiar.
Elena leaned closer.
Her heart stopped.
“No.”
Lorenzo studied her.
“You know her?”
Elena pointed to the volunteer.
“That’s my mother.”
Lorenzo looked back at the photograph.
The date was printed beneath it.
Twenty years earlier.
Elena’s mother had died nineteen years ago.
“What event was this?” Elena asked.
Matteo zoomed in on the banner.
ST. AGNES FAMILY FOUNDATION.
Elena’s voice became barely audible.
“That’s the agency that handled my foster placement.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Matteo looked at the photograph again.
Then he noticed another figure at the edge.
A young Anthony Serrano.
And standing beside him—
Gabriel Vale.
Elena sat back.
“This started before Sofia was born.”
Lorenzo’s expression was grim.
“Before I married Lucia.”
Elena looked at her mother’s face.
“Before I entered foster care.”
The vehicle turned onto a private street.
Then Matteo received another message.
This time he went pale.
“What?”
He handed Elena the phone.
A scanned document appeared.
Foster placement intake.
Name: Elena Maria Reyes.
Sibling: Daniel Thomas Reyes.
Emergency sponsor authorization.
Signed by—
Lucia Moretti.
Elena stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Lorenzo took the phone.
The date was seventeen years earlier.
Lucia would have been twenty-two.
He whispered.
“She knew you.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Then she saw a handwritten note at the bottom.
Keep the siblings together.
Underneath was another note added two weeks later.
Request denied.
Placement override authorized by G. Vale.
Elena’s hands began to shake.
May you like
Gabriel Vale had separated Elena from her brother.
And Lucia Moretti had tried to stop him.
