Chapter 4 - THE MOTHER WHO NEVER FORGAVE|
Elena Romano had spent twenty-five years protecting the family’s reputation.
She had buried scandals, dismissed troublesome employees, and persuaded powerful men that every rumor about the Romano family was the product of jealousy. She understood that money could repair almost anything except a secret that reached the wrong ears.
Catherine was becoming that kind of secret.
When Elena arrived at her private apartment overlooking the lake, she immediately called her son.
He did not answer.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Finally, she dialed Vittorio.
“Tell me you handled the situation.”
Vittorio’s voice was strained.
“Gabriel has the paper.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because the warehouse number is real, and the old records are not where they should be.”
Her composure cracked.
“Who moved them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were supposed to make certain no one found the silver.”
“I did. Until your daughter-in-law decided to crawl through a wall.”
Elena’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Do not speak about her as though she were a stray animal.”
Vittorio laughed without humor.
“You were the one who sent her to the kitchen.”
Elena ended the call.
For six months, she had treated Catherine as a temporary inconvenience. The young woman had entered the family through a marriage arranged to save her father’s company, and Elena believed that made her an outsider who should remain grateful and silent.
She had not expected Catherine to investigate the household.
She had certainly not expected her to recognize the hidden passage.
Years earlier, Elena had discovered that Lorenzo Romano was preparing to remove certain people from his business. He intended to close the illegal shipping operation, transfer legitimate assets into a new trust, and leave evidence of the old criminal network with a lawyer outside the family.
Elena believed his plan would destroy everything they had built.
She had helped Vittorio hide the documents and conceal the missing silver, which had been used to transport a small metal container between properties.
The container had disappeared shortly before Lorenzo’s death.
Now it had returned.
And Catherine had found it.
Elena looked at the framed photograph on her desk. Lorenzo stood beside Gabriel as a child, one hand resting on the boy’s shoulder.
She had loved her husband once.
But love had become fear, and fear had become the only language she trusted.
Her phone rang again.
This time, the caller was Arthur.
“Where are you?” she demanded.
“Somewhere safe.”
“You were supposed to keep the girl away from the passage.”
“I tried.”
“Then try harder.”
Arthur lowered his voice.
“She knows about the warehouse.”
Elena went cold.
“What else does she know?”
“Not enough. Yet.”
“Make sure it stays that way.”
There was a pause.
Then Arthur said, “You should tell Gabriel the truth.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Gabriel has spent his life believing his father was a good man. I will not allow a girl he married out of obligation to destroy that.”
“You mean you won’t allow her to reveal what you did.”
Elena hung up.
For several minutes, she stood motionless beside the desk.
Then she opened a locked drawer and removed a photograph she had kept hidden for eleven years.
It showed Lorenzo with a young woman standing outside the same warehouse.
On the back, he had written a name.
Catherine Bell.
Elena stared at it.
Catherine Romano’s maiden name was Catherine Bell.
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The girl had not discovered the secret by accident.
She was connected to the secret itself.
