Chapter 7 - WHAT HER MOTHER LEFT BEHIND|
Elena wanted to run to the gate.
Alessandro stopped her with a question, not a command.
“Would you feel safer speaking with him at the police station?”
She forced herself to think.
“Yes.”
“Then that's where we'll go.”
The contractor, Paul Dwyer, was already with officers when they arrived. He looked exhausted and frightened, his fingers twisting together in his lap.
“I didn't hurt your mother,” he told Elena immediately. “I need you to understand that.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
“Your mother worked as a bookkeeper for a small medical supply company. She discovered payments being routed through businesses that didn't exist. Thomas Vale was using the company to move money.”
Elena stared at him.
“My mother never told me that.”
“She was scared. She copied the records and gave them to someone she trusted.”
“Who?”
“Maria Santos.”
The name seemed to echo through the interview room.
Dwyer explained that Maria had worked for Alessandro's father and had helped Elena's mother organize the documents. When the financial scheme was discovered, both women began receiving threats.
Maria disappeared first.
Elena's mother died several months later.
“What happened to her?” Elena asked, her voice barely audible.
Dwyer looked down.
“I don't know. I heard she was found unconscious after someone forced her car off the road. The official report said it was an accident.”
“Was it?”
“I can't prove otherwise.”
Alessandro sat beside Elena, silent and attentive. He did not interrupt or attempt to answer for her.
Dwyer gave the officers the name of a former employee who might still possess copies of the records. He also admitted that Thomas Vale had been paying Ryan to monitor Elena's movements.
“Why Ryan?” Elena demanded.
“Because he knew you. He knew your habits, your job, your sister. Vale wanted to know whether your mother had left anything behind.”
Elena's hands went cold.
“My mother left us nothing.”
“Maybe she left something she thought was worthless.”
When the interview ended, the officers arranged to follow up on Dwyer's claims. Elena stepped outside into the cold afternoon air, struggling to make sense of the information.
Alessandro remained beside her.
“I should have looked into the old accounts years ago,” he said.
“You didn't know about my mother.”
“I knew there were unanswered questions. I chose the ones that were convenient.”
She looked at him.
“Are you always this honest about your mistakes?”
“No. I'm trying to become the kind of man who is.”
For a moment, she saw past the tailored coat and the reputation. He was a man who had inherited a damaged empire and spent years believing control could protect everyone inside it.
It had not protected Maria.
It had not protected Elena's mother.
And it had not protected Elena.
When they returned to the mansion, Mrs. Bennett was waiting in the foyer. She looked as though she had been crying.
“I need to tell you something,” she said to Alessandro.
He nodded.
The housekeeper turned toward Elena.
“Your mother visited this house once, shortly before she died.”
Elena felt the floor shift beneath her.
“What?”
Mrs. Bennett took a small brass key from her pocket.
“She left this with me. She said that if anyone ever came looking for her daughter, I should give it to the person who had earned her trust.”
“Why didn't you give it to me before?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Alessandro looked at the key.
“What does it open?”
Mrs. Bennett swallowed.
“The old records room in the east wing.”
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Then she added something that made Elena's heart pound.
“Your mother said the truth was hidden inside a book bearing Alessandro's father's name.”
