Chapter 10 - WHAT NADIA HID
The paternity test was Matteo’s idea.
Elena did not ask him to do it.
She would not have.
But by morning he had given Dr. Beck the samples himself.
No secrecy.
No manipulation.
No fear disguised as pride.
“I need facts.”
He said.
The results took hours.
Those hours changed him.
Matteo barely spoke.
He held Sofia longer than usual.
Walked the hallway with her sleeping against his shoulder.
At one point Elena found him beside the window.
He was whispering something in Russian.
A prayer.
She realized.
That startled her more than the guns ever had.
When the results came, Dr. Beck handed Matteo the envelope.
Matteo looked at Elena.
“You open it.”
“Why me?”
“Because I don’t trust my hands.”
She took the paper.
Read it.
Then looked up.
“You’re her father.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
Only briefly.
But the relief was enormous.
Elena handed him the report.
“So whoever asked about hereditary markers wasn’t trying to prove she wasn’t yours.”
“No.”
“They were looking for something else.”
Matteo looked down at Sofia.
“Maybe her mother.”
That was the door they had ignored.
Nadia’s family.
Before marrying Matteo, Nadia Belova came from old money.
Very old.
Shipping.
Pharmaceuticals.
Private banking.
A family whose wealth had existed before Matteo was born.
Her parents died when she was twenty-three.
No siblings.
No obvious heirs.
Except Sofia.
Elena studied the trust papers.
“Here.”
Matteo leaned over her shoulder.
A clause buried twenty-eight pages deep.
If Nadia died before Sofia reached adulthood, a separate Belova inheritance activated.
Not millions.
Billions.
Matteo stared.
“I didn’t know.”
Elena looked at him.
“How does a husband not know his wife is leaving billions to his child?”
“Nadia’s attorneys handled her family assets separately.”
“You never asked?”
“She told me it was protected.”
“And you accepted that?”
“Yes.”
Elena gave him a skeptical look.
Matteo’s mouth tightened.
“I was married to a woman who once locked me out of my own office because I opened her mail.”
Despite everything, Elena smiled.
“I think I would have liked her.”
“You would have terrified each other.”
“Good.”
The trust named three contingent trustees.
Matteo.
A private bank.
And a third person identified only by initials.
E.R.
Elena stared.
“No.”
Matteo leaned closer.
“Elena Rossi.”
“No.”
“It could be another person.”
“With those initials?”
“Yes.”
“Connected to Marco?”
His silence answered.
They contacted Nadia’s attorney.
He denied knowledge.
Then, after Matteo threatened to arrive in person, suddenly remembered a sealed letter.
It had been drafted eight months earlier.
Addressed to Elena Rossi.
Never delivered.
The attorney claimed Nadia ordered it held unless she died.
Matteo made him send a scan immediately.
Elena opened it with shaking hands.
Dear Elena,
You do not know me.
I hope you never need to.
Your husband is helping me correct something I helped create.
If you are reading this, then I failed to survive long enough to finish it.
Marco says you hate mysteries.
I’m sorry to leave you one.
There are people around my husband who believe power belongs to whoever is cruel enough to take it.
Matteo was raised to believe fear creates loyalty.
He is wrong.
But he is not the worst man in the room.
If anything happens to me, Sofia will need someone outside our world.
Someone no one can buy.
Marco said that person is you.
Elena stopped.
Tears blurred the words.
Matteo stood absolutely still.
She continued.
I have named you as Sofia’s emergency independent guardian for the Belova trust.
This does not make you her parent.
It gives you authority to protect her inheritance if Matteo becomes compromised or incapacitated.
I pray this document remains useless forever.
If it does not, trust the evidence before you trust any Volkov.
Including Matteo.
Especially Matteo.
Elena looked up.
His expression revealed nothing.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“She named me guardian over your daughter’s inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“Without meeting me.”
“Yes.”
“Because Marco recommended me.”
“Yes.”
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
Elena kept reading.
There was one final paragraph.
Marco believes the financial network is larger than either of us first understood.
He thinks someone has been using Volkov operations as cover for years.
The person responsible is protected by respectability.
Do not look for the loudest criminal.
Look for the person everyone believes is clean.
The letter ended with Nadia’s signature.
Elena slowly set it down.
“The saint.”
Matteo nodded.
“Viktor.”
“Maybe.”
“Everyone calls him a philanthropist.”
“So does half the city.”
“He founded the foundation.”
“Yes.”
“He was in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you resisting it?”
Matteo walked toward the window.
“Because Viktor saved my life when I was fourteen.”
“That does not make him innocent.”
“I know.”
“He raised you?”
“After my mother died.”
“Then he is family.”
“Yes.”
“And family is exactly where this keeps leading.”
Matteo’s phone rang.
Dmitri.
Everyone froze.
Matteo answered on speaker.
“Brother.”
Dmitri sounded exhausted.
“You finally answer.”
“Where are you?”
“Not somewhere safe.”
“Come in.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone wants you to kill me.”
Matteo looked at Elena.
Dmitri continued.
“And if I walk through your door right now, I’m not sure you won’t.”
Matteo said nothing.
“That hesitation answers me.”
“Marco left evidence clearing you.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Not completely.”
A bitter laugh.
“Comforting.”
“Where are you?”
Dmitri ignored the question.
“I know who killed Nadia.”
Matteo’s face changed.
Elena leaned closer.
“Who?”
Dmitri breathed once.
Then the line exploded with noise.
A gunshot.
Matteo shouted his brother’s name.
Another shot.
Then a crash.
The connection remained open.
Footsteps.
A man breathing.
Then a voice.
Calm.
Older.
Familiar to Matteo.
“Bring Elena Rossi to Saint Catherine’s Church at midnight.”
Matteo went pale.
The voice continued.
“Come alone.”
The call ended.
Elena stared at him.
“Who was that?”
Matteo did not answer.
She already knew.
“Viktor.”
May you like
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
