Trust was rare in my world, but those I did trust stood close enough to destroy me.
“Continue.”
“Matteo believed someone was preparing to take control of your empire. He said the missing money was only the beginning. He found evidence of police payments, judges being approached, and rivals being encouraged to move against you.”
The memory of that year returned with brutal clarity.
Sudden raids.
Two businesses seized.
Three allies turning against me within months.
At the time, I believed it was the natural price of power.
Now I wondered whether it had been planned.
“The night of the explosion,” Elena continued, “Matteo came to my apartment. His shirt was covered in blood.”
My expression changed before I could stop it.
“He was injured?”
“Shot in the side. He said someone inside your family had betrayed him. He had arranged the explosion himself because he needed everyone to believe he was dead.”
“The remains?”
“A homeless man had died of an overdose earlier that night. Matteo paid someone at the morgue to falsify the dental records.”
Rage rose so quickly that my vision blurred.
“He stole a corpse.”
“He was desperate.”
“He let me mourn him.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“Do not defend him.”
Elena stood too.
“He loved you.”
I slammed my hand against the desk.
“Then he should have trusted me!”
“He didn’t know who around you was listening!”
Her words echoed through the study.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I saw tears spilling down her cheeks.
“He wanted to come back,” she said. “Every day, he wanted to come back. But every time he got close to proof, someone disappeared. A witness. An accountant. A police detective.”
“Why involve you?”
“Because I found one of the accounts.”
She looked down at her hands.
“And because by then, I was carrying his child.”
My heartbeat stopped.
The mansion seemed to tilt.
“Lily,” I said.
Elena nodded.
“She is Matteo’s daughter.”
The truth landed with such force that I had to grip the desk.
Lily’s fearless eyes.
Her crooked smile.
The way she spoke to me as though I were only a man.
Matteo had done the same.
He had always looked past the title, the danger, the empire, and seen the lonely older brother beneath it.
“Does she know?” I asked.
“She knows her father’s name was Matteo. She knows he loved her. Nothing more.”
“Where is he now?”
Elena’s face collapsed.
I already knew before she answered.
“He is dead.”
This time, I did not shout.
I only stared at her.
“How?”
