I pointed to the photograph.
“And this man has been dead for five.”
Her eyes filled.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Do not ask me for mercy until I know what you’ve done.”
“I haven’t done anything to you.”
“You entered my home under a false name.”
“I needed work.”
“You brought a child into my house.”
“My daughter needed somewhere safe.”
“You knew my brother.”
At that, she flinched.
The silence that followed felt like a wire pulled tight between us.
Finally, Elena looked toward Vincent.
“I will speak to Mr. Romano alone.”
Vincent gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
“That isn’t your decision.”
“It is now,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Adrian.”
“Outside.”
Vincent did not move for a moment. Then he nodded and left, closing the door behind him.
Elena waited until the sound of his footsteps faded.
Then she sat.
I had seen her exhausted, worried, embarrassed, and afraid. But never broken.
Now her shoulders trembled.
“Matteo was alive after the explosion,” she said.
The words entered me like a blade.
I kept my face still.
“For how long?”
“Almost two years.”
My hand closed around the arm of my chair.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“You helped him hide?”
“Yes.”
I stood so abruptly that the chair struck the wall behind me.
Elena recoiled, but she did not run.
“You let me bury him.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“No,” she said, suddenly sharper. “Not when the other choice gets everyone you love killed.”
The room went still.
“Explain.”
She looked at the photograph.
“I met Matteo while working at the law firm. He came in under another name, asking questions about shell companies and property transfers. At first, I thought he was investigating a business fraud case. Then I realized the companies were connected to your organization.”
I said nothing.
“He was trying to find money being moved without your knowledge.”
My jaw tightened.
“What money?”
“Millions. Maybe more.”
“By whom?”
“He never told me the name.”
“Then you are wasting my time.”
“He said the person was close to you. Someone you trusted enough not to question.”
That narrowed nothing.
