Chapter 7 - The Secret Elena Had Kept for Five Years
Thomas Castillo had been dead for eight years.
At least Elena believed he had.
Her older brother had disappeared after years of drifting from job to job.
Eventually a death certificate arrived from another state.
No body had been returned.
Elena had accepted it because grief sometimes accepted paperwork when reality offered nothing else.
Now Thomas was alive.
And he had spent years hiding behind another man’s identity.
Gabriel explained that Thomas had approached him shortly before Sophia was born.
He claimed he wanted to protect Elena.
Instead, he had been working with Vane.
When the original Vane disappeared, Thomas took over his network.
“He blamed Adrian’s family for everything that happened to ours,” Gabriel said.
Elena stared at him.
“What happened to ours?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You really don't know.”
Their father had invested his entire retirement savings through a company secretly controlled by Vane.
The company collapsed.
Their father lost everything.
His health deteriorated.
Thomas became obsessed with revenge.
But Adrian had never known.
Vane had used the Moretti name without authorization.
Thomas eventually learned that.
By then revenge had become more important than truth.
Elena felt sick.
“My brother put that phone in Sophia’s bear.”
“Yes.”
“He entered her bedroom.”
Gabriel said nothing.
That silence answered.
Elena’s grief hardened.
Whatever Thomas had suffered did not excuse frightening a child.
Dante traced a vehicle connected to Thomas.
An abandoned warehouse near the harbor.
Police surrounded it.
Empty.
Inside they found one chair.
One laptop.
One photograph.
Elena and Thomas as children.
Written beneath:
YOU WERE THE ONLY GOOD THING I HAD LEFT.
Elena closed her eyes.
Then the laptop activated remotely.
Thomas appeared on-screen.
Older.
Tired.
Nothing like the brother she remembered.
“Elena.”
She stepped forward.
“Stop.”
“I never wanted Sophia hurt.”
“You put a phone inside her toy.”
“To watch over her.”
“You broke into her room.”
“I needed the drive.”
“You used my daughter.”
Thomas looked away.
“I made mistakes.”
“No. You made choices.”
He flinched.
She continued.
“You want someone to blame? Blame the man who stole Dad’s money. Blame the system that let him. Blame yourself for what you did afterward. But you don't get to terrorize my child and call it love.”
Thomas’s eyes filled.
“I wanted Adrian to feel powerless.”
“He didn't destroy our family.”
“His name did.”
“A name isn't a person.”
Thomas stared at her.
For a moment Elena saw her brother again.
Then the screen went black.
Police traced the connection.
Back to the Moretti mansion.
Everyone froze.
Thomas was inside.
Dante ordered a room-by-room search.
Titan stood.
His ears lifted.
Then he ran.
Sophia followed before Elena caught her.
“No.”
Titan disappeared down the corridor.
A door slammed.
Dante and Adrian followed.
The sound came from the old library.
They opened it.
Empty.
Titan scratched at a bookcase.
Adrian pulled one volume.
The shelf moved.
A hidden staircase descended into darkness.
Elena stared down.
A light burned below.
Then Thomas’s voice came through an old intercom.
“Elena.”
She closed her eyes.
“I'm here.”
“I need you to come down alone.”
“No.”
A pause.
Then:
“Because there’s something Gabriel never told you.”
Elena looked at Gabriel.
His face had gone white.
Thomas laughed softly through the speaker.
“Ask him where he really was the night your father died.”
Gabriel stepped toward the stairs.
“Elena, don't.”
She turned.
“Why?”
Gabriel said nothing.
That was enough.
Elena looked down into the hidden passage.
May you like
A door opened at the bottom.
Someone was waiting for her.
