Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The door opened.
Everyone turned.
I expected a stranger.
A threat.
Someone dangerous.
But the person standing outside the office was someone I knew.
Someone I had seen almost every day for two years.
My hands went cold.
Because he was supposed to be dead.
"Mr. Moretti..."
The name escaped my mouth.
The old man standing in the doorway looked at me with tired eyes.
Thomas Moretti.
My father’s closest friend.
The man who had disappeared the night my parents died.
The man everyone told me had been killed in the same accident.
But he was standing there.
Alive.
Cassian immediately raised his weapon.
Nobody moved.
Thomas looked at him calmly.
"Still pointing guns first, Cassian."
Cassian’s expression hardened.
"You were dead."
Thomas gave a small smile.
"So were half the people in this room."
His eyes moved to my mother.
Then to me.
And when he looked at me...
I saw something I had never seen from anyone connected to my past.
Regret.
"Elena."
I stepped back.
"No."
My voice shook.
"No, this isn't real."
Thomas looked hurt.
"I know what you were told."
"You were at the funeral."
"Yes."
"You watched them bury my parents."
"Yes."
"Then why are you here?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew the answer would change everything.
Cassian moved closer.
"You have thirty seconds to explain why a dead man is standing in my house."
Thomas looked at him.
"I came because the people who started this are finally moving."
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Thomas looked at the burner phone.
"You already know."
"No."
Cassian’s voice became colder.
"I want names."
Thomas looked around the room.
At my mother.
At Rosa.
At me.
Then he closed the door behind him.
"They're not listening anymore."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Thomas looked at the security camera in the corner.
"They know we're here."
Cassian immediately turned.
One of his guards answered through the radio.
"Boss?"
"Check all cameras."
A few seconds passed.
Then the guard's voice changed.
"Boss..."
"What?"
"The cameras in this wing were turned off."
Silence.
Cassian looked at Thomas.
"You did that?"
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
"Someone else did."
That was worse.
Because nobody entered Cassian Renzi's mansion without him knowing.
Unless someone already had access.
Cassian walked toward the desk.
"Start from the beginning."
Thomas looked at me.
"No."
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Thomas pointed at me.
"She deserves to hear it first."
My chest tightened.
I hated that everyone kept saying that.
As if my entire life was a story other people were allowed to read except me.
I stepped forward.
"Then tell me."
Thomas looked down.
"Your parents didn't die because of a car accident."
I already knew.
But hearing it again hurt.
"How did they die?"
Thomas was silent.
My mother looked away.
Cassian watched me carefully.
Finally, Thomas answered.
"They were trying to expose a person inside the Renzi organization."
Cassian's expression changed.
"Who?"
Thomas looked at him.
"Your uncle."
The room froze.
I looked at Cassian.
For the first time, he looked genuinely shocked.
"My uncle died before I took control."
Thomas nodded.
"That's what everyone wanted you to believe."
Cassian stepped closer.
"My uncle has been dead for eight years."
"Yes."
"Then how was he involved six years ago?"
Thomas didn't answer.
He looked at the phone.
"Because he wasn't the one who died."
Nobody spoke.
My mind struggled to understand.
A dead man.
A fake death.
A hidden family.
Everything I believed was breaking apart.
Cassian took the phone.
"Explain."
Thomas walked toward the desk.
"Six years ago, your father discovered someone was selling private information from inside the family."
Cassian looked at the files.
"To who?"
Thomas's face became serious.
"To the same people who ordered your parents' deaths."
I looked at my mother.
"Why were my parents involved?"
She finally spoke.
"Because your father knew something."
"What?"
She looked at me.
"He knew your family was connected to the Renzi family before you were born."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Cassian looked at her.
"What are you saying?"
My mother swallowed.
"Elena's father wasn't just a businessman."
Thomas continued.
"He was one of the people who helped build the original Renzi network."
Cassian stared at him.
"That's impossible."
"No."
Thomas shook his head.
"What's impossible is believing everything you were given."
I felt dizzy.
My whole identity suddenly felt like a lie.
The quiet life.
The ordinary childhood.
The belief that I was nobody important.
All of it.
A carefully created story.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
My mother looked at me.
"Because your father asked us not to."
"Why?"
"Because he knew if you carried his name..."
She stopped.
I waited.
"Someone would come for you."
A cold silence filled the room.
Cassian looked at me.
Not as a maid.
Not as an employee.
Like he was seeing me for the first time.
Then Rosa walked toward me.
She grabbed my hand.
"Are you sad?"
I looked down at her.
I wanted to say no.
But I couldn't lie.
"Yes."
She squeezed my fingers.
"Mommy said you were strong."
My eyes burned.
"Your mommy knew me?"
Rosa nodded.
"She knew you before Daddy did."
Cassian heard that.
He turned.
"What does that mean?"
Rosa looked confused.
"Mommy said she had to watch Miss Elena."
Nobody moved.
Cassian's expression changed.
"Watch her?"
Rosa nodded.
"To make sure bad people didn't find her."
I looked at my mother.
"You were all watching me."
No one denied it.
That hurt more.
Thomas stepped closer.
"Elena, you need to understand something."
"What?"
"Your parents didn't abandon you."
My eyes filled.
"Then why did they leave me?"
Thomas looked at the floor.
"Because they believed leaving you alive was more important than staying with you."
I hated that answer.
Because it sounded like love.
And somehow that made it harder.
Cassian suddenly looked at the phone.
A new notification appeared.
Everyone stopped.
Another file had unlocked.
No one touched it.
It opened by itself.
A video.
The date was six years ago.
The same night my parents died.
Cassian pressed play.
The screen showed a dark room.
A man was sitting in a chair.
His face was hidden.
Then he spoke.
And the entire room changed.
Because I recognized the voice.
It was the voice from the phone.
The person who had called Cassian.
The person who knew everything.
The man leaned toward the camera.
"Elena."
I stopped breathing.
The video continued.
"I know you survived."
Cassian looked at me.
My mother covered her mouth.
Thomas whispered:
"No..."
The man on the screen smiled.
"Your parents failed."
A pause.
"But I didn't."
The video cut for a second.
Then the camera moved closer.
The man's face slowly appeared.
May you like
And Cassian dropped the phone.
Because the person on the screen was someone he had buried years ago.
