Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Never Died
The phone kept ringing.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The name glowing on the screen was impossible.
A name that should have belonged only to the past.
A name that had haunted Lorenzo for twenty-three years.
Elena.
My eyes moved from the phone to Matteo.
Then to Lorenzo.
“Who is Elena?” I asked.
Neither brother answered.
That scared me more than anything else.
Because I had learned something about powerful people.
They could lie.
They could threaten.
They could manipulate.
But silence meant something had touched a wound too deep to hide.
Matteo slowly lowered the phone.
“She shouldn’t be calling.”
Lorenzo’s grip tightened around his weapon.
“You said she was dead.”
Matteo looked at him.
“I said that because it was the only way to keep her alive.”
The room went completely still.
I felt my heartbeat in my ears.
“Wait.”
I looked between them.
“Who is Elena?”
Matteo turned toward me.
His expression changed.
Not fear this time.
Sadness.
“Your mother.”
The words hit harder than anything I had heard before.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Camila—”
“No.”
My voice became louder.
“My mother died.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Camila.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
He didn’t answer.
That was enough.
My chest tightened.
“You knew she was alive?”
“No.”
His answer came quickly.
“But I knew there was a possibility.”
I stared at him.
A possibility.
That was what my entire life had become.
Possibilities.
Secrets.
Half-truths.
I turned to Matteo.
“Why did you let me believe she was gone?”
His eyes dropped.
“Because your mother wanted you to.”
I laughed softly.
It wasn’t because anything was funny.
It was because my mind couldn’t handle any more.
“She wanted me to think she was dead?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Matteo looked at the necklace in my hand.
“Because if the Black Serpent knew you were her daughter, they would have used you to find her.”
I froze.
“You’re saying my whole life was a disguise?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Lorenzo.
“And you knew about this?”
He shook his head.
“Not everything.”
“But something.”
A painful silence followed.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt.
More than I expected.
Because I had started trusting him.
I didn’t know when it happened.
Maybe when he apologized.
Maybe when he told me the truth about Matteo.
Maybe when I saw fear in his eyes for someone other than himself.
But I had trusted him.
And now I felt betrayed.
“You should have told me.”
“I should have.”
His honesty made it worse.
“You had no right to decide what I deserved to know.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to protect me by lying to me.”
“I know.”
His voice was quiet.
Almost broken.
For a moment, I saw the man behind the reputation.
The man who had lost his brother.
The man who had failed my mother.
The man who had spent years carrying guilt.
But I was still angry.
I turned away.
Then Matteo’s phone stopped ringing.
A message appeared.
He looked at the screen.
And his face changed.
“What?”
Lorenzo noticed immediately.
“What did she say?”
Matteo didn’t answer.
“Matteo.”
He handed the phone to Lorenzo.
I watched as Lorenzo read the message.
The color drained from his face.
“What is it?”
He looked at me.
Then at Matteo.
Then back at me.
“She knows you’re here.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
Lorenzo didn’t respond.
I already knew.
“Elena?”
He nodded.
A strange feeling passed through me.
Fear.
Excitement.
Anger.
All at once.
My mother was alive.
Somewhere.
Waiting.
And I had no idea whether I wanted to see her or scream at her.
“What did the message say?”
Matteo took the phone back.
He hesitated.
Then read it aloud.
“Tell Camila I’m sorry.”
Four words.
That was all.
My eyes burned.
After everything.
After five years of believing I lost her.
After all the pain.
All the questions.
She only had four words.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked away.
“She doesn’t get to say that.”
Nobody answered.
Because nobody could.
A sudden sound interrupted us.
A crash from downstairs.
Everyone turned.
Lorenzo immediately moved.
“Stay here.”
I almost smiled.
“Seriously?”
He looked at me.
“This is not the time.”
“You’ve been saying that all night.”
For a second, something almost changed in his expression.
Almost.
Then his face became serious again.
“Camila, please.”
Again.
That word.
Please.
The most dangerous man in the city asking me to stay safe.
I hated that it worked.
Lorenzo and Matteo moved toward the hallway.
But before they left, Matteo stopped.
He looked at me.
“If you see her…”
I waited.
“What?”
His expression became painful.
“Remember that she loved you.”
I swallowed.
“That doesn’t erase what she did.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“But it explains why.”
Then they disappeared.
I stood alone in the room.
A room that suddenly felt like it belonged to someone else.
My whole life had changed in one night.
My mother was alive.
My father was still a mystery.
The man I thought was dangerous was protecting me.
The man who was supposed to be dead had returned.
And somewhere outside this mansion, someone was hunting all of us.
I looked down at the necklace.
Then I noticed something.
The engraving.
I had only looked at the front.
Not the inside.
There was a tiny piece of metal hidden beneath the chain.
A small compartment.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
Old.
Yellowed.
Written in my mother’s handwriting.
I knew it immediately.
Because she used to leave notes in my lunchbox when I was a child.
Three words.
Three words that made my heart stop.
“Trust Lorenzo Moretti.”
I stared at the message.
That was impossible.
My mother had written this before I ever met him.
Before I ever worked at the estate.
Before I knew his name.
A noise came from behind me.
I turned.
The bedroom door was slightly open.
I was certain I had locked it.
Slowly, I walked toward it.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Only silence.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One new message.
I opened it.
A picture appeared.
My mother.
Alive.
Standing outside the mansion.
But the timestamp was from ten minutes ago.
My breath caught.
She was here.
Right now.
Another message appeared.
“Don’t let Lorenzo reach her first.”
I looked toward the open door.
Then toward the hallway.
Because someone was standing in the darkness outside my room.
May you like
And when the figure stepped into the light, I heard a voice I had spent five years waiting for…
“Camila.”
