Chapter 3 - The Voice From The Past
The voice on the phone whispered my name:
“Alessandro.”
I dropped the envelope when I heard the woman I buried twelve years ago.
But one sentence made my blood turn cold:
“I never left you willingly.”
I finally understood the truth had been hidden from me.
For twelve years, I had imagined that moment.
Not exactly like this.
Not in a dark alley.
Not with rain falling around me.
Not with an eight-year-old girl standing beside a dying dog while my entire world collapsed in front of strangers.
But I had imagined hearing Elena’s voice again.
In dreams.
In memories.
In the moments before sleep when the mind becomes cruel enough to bring back the people we lost.
Every time, I woke up angry.
Because dreams gave me what reality refused to return.
Elena.
Alive.
Smiling.
Looking at me like she had never disappeared.
But this was not a dream.
The phone was still in my hand.
The number was still on the screen.
And the voice was still there.
“Alessandro?”
I could not answer.
For the first time in twenty years, words failed me.
The woman on the other end breathed quietly.
Like she was waiting.
Like she knew exactly what this moment meant.
“Say something,” she whispered.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who is this?”
A silence followed.
A painful silence.
Then she said the only name that could break me.
“Elena.”
The world stopped.
I looked at Sophia.
The little girl was watching me carefully.
Not like a child watching a stranger.
Like someone waiting for a promise to be fulfilled.
The old man from the vehicles looked away.
Even he could not hide the emotion crossing his face.
“You’re alive,” I finally said.
My voice sounded different.
Lower.
Broken.
A voice I did not recognize.
“I am.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“No, you don’t get to say that.”
The anger came before the pain.
It always did.
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I searched for you.”
My voice grew louder.
“I destroyed every person who lied to me about what happened.”
The rain fell harder.
Sophia lowered her eyes.
Even the dog stopped growling.
Elena said nothing.
And somehow, that hurt more.
“You want to know why I never came back?”
My jaw tightened.
“I want to know why you left.”
A pause.
Then her voice became softer.
“Because if I came back, they would have killed you.”
The words hit differently.
Not because I believed them.
Because part of me did.
For years, I told myself Elena chose to leave.
Because accepting that someone forced her away meant admitting there were people powerful enough to hide something from me.
And I hated that possibility.
“Who?”
The question came instantly.
“Who took you from me?”
Another silence.
Then:
“The same people who are trying to take Sophia now.”
My eyes moved toward the vehicles.
The men standing nearby.
The child.
Everything connected.
“What is Sophia to you?”
I looked at the girl.
She was holding the locket.
Waiting.
Elena’s breathing changed.
“She is our daughter.”
Even though I already knew.
Even though the photograph was still in my hand.
Hearing the words made something inside me break.
Our daughter.
I had spent twelve years believing I lost Elena.
But she had left me something.
Someone.
A child who had spent the night sleeping beside trash.
A child who carried my past around her neck.
A child who knew my name before I knew hers.
I closed my eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Many times.”
Her voice trembled.
“But every time I got close, they found me.”
“Who are they?”
Before she answered, another sound came through the phone.
A door closing.
Then a man’s voice in the background.
“Elena, we need to move.”
My entire body went still.
Someone was with her.
Someone was watching her.
“Who is that?”
She ignored me.
“Alessandro, listen carefully.”
The urgency in her voice changed everything.
“Take Sophia and leave the city.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I spent twelve years thinking you were dead.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“I’m not running again.”
A pause.
Then Elena whispered:
“That’s exactly why they chose you.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You were never just the man who controlled the city.”
The rain ran down my face.
“You were the reason they were afraid.”
I looked at the photograph again.
At the baby in Elena’s arms.
“Tell me everything.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because the person behind this is someone you trusted.”
My expression hardened.
“Everyone says that.”
“I’m serious.”
Her voice cracked.
“Alessandro, the person who destroyed us was not your enemy.”
The alley became silent.
“Then who?”
She did not answer immediately.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because Elena was never afraid.
Not of danger.
Not of threats.
Not of anyone.
But now...
She was afraid of a name.
“I wrote everything down.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
I looked at the envelope.
“The letter?”
“No.”
Her voice became quieter.
“The letter is only the beginning.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere they cannot reach me.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I can give.”
I looked at Sophia.
She was staring at me.
Her eyes were filled with questions she was too young to ask.
Then Elena said:
“Alessandro.”
“Yes?”
“If you love our daughter…”
I closed my eyes.
“Protect her.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
No signal.
Nothing.
Like Elena had vanished again.
But this time, I refused to let her disappear.
I lowered the phone.
Sophia stepped closer.
“Was it my mom?”
I looked at her.
A thousand emotions fought inside me.
I had spent my entire life controlling every situation.
Every negotiation.
Every battle.
But standing in front of my own daughter...
I had no idea what to do.
“Yes.”
Her lips trembled.
“Is she okay?”
I wanted to lie.
I wanted to give her the answer every child deserved.
But I had built my life on one rule.
Never promise something you cannot guarantee.
“She’s alive.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears.
But she did not cry.
She simply nodded.
Like she had been waiting years to hear those words.
I removed my coat and placed it around her shoulders.
This time, Bear did not growl.
The dog looked at me differently.
Like he understood something had changed.
Mateo approached slowly.
“Boss.”
I turned.
“We need to leave.”
I looked at the men who came after Sophia.
“They’re still here.”
Mateo nodded.
“More are coming.”
“How many?”
His face became serious.
“Too many.”
I looked toward the street.
The old me would have ordered them destroyed.
The old me would have turned the entire city upside down.
But now I had something different.
A daughter.
A daughter who had already lost too much.
“Get the cars ready.”
Mateo nodded.
Then he looked at the envelope in my hand.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“There’s something else.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He reached into his coat.
And pulled out an old security photograph.
My blood froze.
Because the image showed Elena.
Standing beside Sophia.
Standing beside another man.
A man I knew.
A man I trusted.
A man who had attended my father’s funeral.
Mateo whispered:
“Boss…”
I looked closer at the photograph.
The date was twelve years ago.
The same week Elena disappeared.
And written on the back was one sentence.
“Ask the man who raised you why Elena ran.”
I turned the photograph over again.
Because underneath the message was a name.
A name I never expected to see.
My father’s closest friend.
Victor Morelli.
And behind me, someone quietly said:
“Alessandro…”
I turned toward the voice.
Because Sophia was pointing at the photograph.
And she whispered:
“That’s not the man my father was afraid of.”
She looked at the street.
May you like
At the approaching headlights.
Then she said the name of the person standing behind me…
