Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The woman stepped out of the elevator.
Elena stopped breathing.
For a moment, the entire world became silent.
She only saw the face in front of her.
The face she had spent twelve years trying to forget.
The face she had dreamed about hundreds of times.
The face she had cried over when she was nineteen years old and realized nobody was coming back.
Her mother.
Sofia Hart.
Alive.
Standing only twenty feet away.
Elena’s fingers loosened.
The photograph slipped from her hand and landed on the floor.
“No…”
The word barely left her mouth.
Sofia looked at her.
And Elena saw something worse than surprise.
Fear.
Real fear.
Not for herself.
For Elena.
“Don’t come closer,” Sofia whispered.
Those four words shattered everything.
Elena had imagined this moment for years.
She imagined running toward her.
She imagined crying.
She imagined asking why.
She imagined finally hearing an apology.
But she never imagined her mother looking at her like she was in danger.
“You’re alive.”
Elena’s voice cracked.
Sofia’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
The answer was so simple.
So cruel.
“Yes.”
Elena took one step forward.
“Where were you?”
Sofia looked away.
“Not here.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You left me.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
The pain on her face almost made Elena stop.
Almost.
But twelve years of unanswered questions were heavier than sympathy.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“You wanted to.”
Sofia looked at Antonio.
Then at Luciano.
And Elena noticed something.
Her mother was afraid of Luciano.
Not Antonio.
Luciano smiled slightly.
“Beautiful reunion.”
Antonio immediately stepped between them.
“Leave.”
Luciano looked amused.
“You don’t give orders anymore.”
Antonio’s expression changed.
Elena noticed.
A small reaction.
A hidden wound.
Something between these two men went much deeper than she understood.
Sofia looked at Antonio.
“You shouldn’t have brought her into this.”
Antonio’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t.”
Sofia looked at Elena.
“Yes, he did.”
Elena turned toward Antonio.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
That was becoming a pattern.
Everyone had pieces of her life.
Everyone except her.
She was tired of being the last person to know the truth.
“No.”
Her voice became stronger.
“I’m done.”
The three adults looked at her.
“I spent twelve years wondering if my mother hated me.”
Sofia’s expression broke.
“I spent twelve years wondering if I wasn’t worth coming back for.”
“Elena…”
“No.”
Tears ran down her face.
“But now I find out everyone knew something.”
She looked at Antonio.
“You knew.”
Then Sofia.
“You knew.”
Then Luciano.
“And you definitely know.”
Luciano smiled.
“Your anger is understandable.”
“Don’t talk to me like you know me.”
“I know more about you than you realize.”
Elena stepped back.
The sentence made her uncomfortable.
Antonio noticed.
“Luciano.”
His voice was dangerous.
But Luciano ignored him.
“You should tell her why Sofia disappeared.”
Sofia’s face changed.
“No.”
Antonio looked at her.
“Sofia.”
“No.”
Her voice trembled.
“If she knows, she becomes a target.”
Elena stared at her.
“A target for who?”
Silence.
That silence was the answer.
Her mother had spent twelve years hiding because someone was hunting her.
But who?
Antonio walked toward Sofia.
“You can’t protect her by keeping her blind.”
Sofia looked at him.
“You couldn’t protect me.”
The words hit him.
Antonio looked away.
For the first time, Elena saw guilt on his face.
Not the guilt of someone caught.
The guilt of someone who had failed.
“What happened between you two?”
Neither answered.
Sofia looked at the floor.
“Your mother and Antonio were trying to expose someone.”
“Who?”
Sofia looked toward Luciano.
Nobody spoke.
Elena slowly turned.
Luciano’s calm expression disappeared.
Only for a second.
But she saw it.
“You?”
Luciano laughed quietly.
“That’s what Antonio wants you to believe.”
Antonio moved closer.
“Don’t listen to him.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Antonio looked at Sofia.
Sofia looked back.
A silent conversation passed between them.
One full of years of secrets.
Finally, Sofia spoke.
“Luciano wasn’t the only person involved.”
Elena frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the person who betrayed us was someone close.”
“Who?”
Sofia hesitated.
And that hesitation terrified Elena.
Because there were only a few reasons someone would hesitate before saying a name.
One was fear.
The other was love.
Before Sofia could answer, a loud sound came from downstairs.
A crash.
Everyone turned.
Antonio immediately reacted.
He moved toward the hallway.
“Stay here.”
Elena almost laughed.
“Still saying that?”
Antonio looked at her.
“This time, I mean it.”
The seriousness in his voice made her stop.
He wasn’t controlling her.
He was afraid.
Antonio disappeared down the hallway with two staff members who had appeared silently from nowhere.
Elena looked at Sofia.
For the first time, they were alone.
Twelve years.
Twelve years between them.
And only a few feet of distance.
“I missed you,” Sofia whispered.
Elena’s expression hardened.
“You don’t get to say that.”
Sofia nodded.
“I know.”
“You don’t get to come back and act like nothing happened.”
“I know.”
“Do you know what it was like?”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“I imagined.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“You don’t.”
Her voice broke.
“I waited by the window every night.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
“I thought maybe you were coming home.”
A tear fell down Sofia’s cheek.
“I wanted to.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Sofia looked at her daughter.
“Because someone threatened you.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
“They told me if I returned, they would hurt you.”
“Who?”
Sofia looked terrified.
Then she whispered:
“Someone inside Antonio’s world.”
Elena stepped back.
“So you trusted him?”
“I trusted Antonio to keep you safe.”
“But he didn’t tell me.”
“Because I asked him not to.”
That hurt more.
“Why?”
Sofia looked at her.
“Because I knew you would search for me.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“And?”
“And I knew they would follow you.”
A sound came from behind them.
A phone vibrating.
Not Elena’s.
Sofia reached into her coat pocket.
Her face changed when she saw the screen.
“What?”
Elena noticed.
“Who is it?”
Sofia didn’t answer.
The phone rang again.
This time Elena saw the name.
A name saved on the screen.
A name she recognized.
Impossible.
Because that person had died years ago.
Sofia answered with shaking hands.
“Hello?”
A voice came through.
Elena couldn’t hear the words.
Only Sofia’s reaction.
Her face turned pale.
“No…”
A pause.
Then Sofia whispered:
“You can’t be alive.”
Elena felt cold.
She slowly looked at the phone.
Then at her mother.
“Who is it?”
Sofia lowered the phone.
Her eyes filled with terror.
May you like
And before she could speak, Antonio returned from the hallway with blood on his sleeve and one sentence that made Elena’s heart stop.
“He found us.”
