Chapter 6 - The Person Who Was Hiding Beside Us
The door opened.
Everyone turned.
Nobody breathed.
Because the person standing there was not a stranger.
Not a hidden enemy.
Not someone breaking into the security room.
It was someone who had been with us the entire night.
Someone who had watched me get accused.
Someone who had watched the ruby disappear.
Someone who had stood silently while my life was being torn apart.
Mia.
The bride.
She stood at the entrance, still wearing her white wedding dress.
But the smile she had carried earlier was gone.
Her face was pale.
Her hands were shaking.
Damiano immediately stepped toward her.
"Mia."
She looked at him.
"I'm sorry."
Those two words made my stomach tighten.
Because I had heard them too many times that night.
Sorry after damage was already done.
Sorry after trust was already broken.
I looked at her.
"What are you doing here?"
She didn't answer.
Her eyes moved to my mother.
Then to the ruby.
Then to the memory card sitting on the table.
And I understood.
Mia knew more than she had admitted.
Damiano noticed too.
"What aren't you telling us?"
Mia looked down.
"I wanted to tell you."
"When?"
Her eyes lifted.
"When it was safe."
I almost laughed.
"Safe?"
My voice became sharper.
"You let everyone think I stole something."
"I didn't."
"But you knew something was wrong."
She looked away.
That was enough.
The truth was in her silence.
Damiano's expression hardened.
"Mia."
She flinched.
Not because he was angry.
Because she knew she had disappointed him.
"I didn't know the ruby would be involved."
My mother stepped forward.
"You knew about the symbol."
Mia looked at her.
Slowly.
"Yes."
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"My grandmother told me."
Damiano frowned.
"Your grandmother?"
Mia looked at him.
"Before she died, she told me never to let anyone from the Vercelli family open the ruby."
Damiano froze.
"Why?"
Mia swallowed.
"Because she said the Vercellis had already lost one person because of it."
My mother closed her eyes.
I felt a cold wave move through me.
One person.
My father.
Everyone kept circling back to him.
The missing man.
The forgotten story.
The reason everyone was afraid.
I looked at Damiano.
"Who did your family lose?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That hesitation hurt.
Then he said:
"My brother."
The room became silent.
I had never heard about Damiano having a brother.
Nobody had.
Not in the newspapers.
Not in the rumors.
Not anywhere.
"When?"
"Twelve years ago."
My heart dropped.
The same year my mother disappeared.
The same year my father vanished.
The same year everyone decided my life should become a mystery.
"What was his name?"
Damiano looked at me.
And for a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer.
Then he whispered:
"Marco."
My mother stepped back.
Like the name itself had hit her.
"You knew him."
Damiano looked at her.
"You knew my brother?"
She didn't answer.
And that was the answer.
Damiano's face changed.
The controlled man disappeared.
The powerful mafia boss disappeared.
Only a person who had just discovered another betrayal remained.
"You knew Marco."
My mother looked at the floor.
"Yes."
"How?"
She closed her eyes.
"Because he was the reason I survived."
Nobody spoke.
I felt like the ground beneath me had disappeared.
My mother.
Damiano's brother.
The ruby.
My father's disappearance.
Everything was connected.
But I still didn't understand.
"What happened twelve years ago?"
My mother looked at me.
"I was trying to protect you."
"From who?"
She hesitated.
Then she said:
"From the people who created the Vercelli empire."
Damiano's eyes narrowed.
"My family?"
"Not your family."
She looked at him.
"The people above them."
Damiano went still.
I noticed something.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Not angry.
Not suspicious.
Afraid.
"Who?"
My mother looked toward the security cameras.
Then toward the memory card.
"They are the reason your father disappeared."
The room went silent.
My hands became cold.
"My father..."
She nodded.
"Your father discovered what the ruby contained."
"What?"
"The names."
I frowned.
"What names?"
My mother picked up the memory card.
"People who were supposed to be protected."
A pause.
"And people who were supposed to disappear."
Nobody spoke.
The meaning was clear.
The ruby wasn't valuable because of the stone.
It was valuable because of what was hidden inside.
A record.
A list.
A secret powerful enough that people had destroyed lives to keep it buried.
Damiano walked toward the table.
"Then we need to see what's on this card."
My mother grabbed his arm.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because whoever sent that message knows we have it."
Damiano looked at her.
"And?"
"And they are waiting for us to open it."
A chill moved through the room.
I looked at the memory card.
Something that small.
Something that could fit between my fingers.
Had controlled people's lives for twelve years.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone looked at me.
Another message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
A photo appeared.
My bakery.
Sweet Mercy.
But the picture was not old.
It was taken that morning.
Someone had been standing outside my bakery.
Watching.
Under the photo was a message.
"Your father tried to protect you."
A second message appeared.
"Your mother tried to hide you."
A third message.
"But neither of them told you the truth."
My breathing became uneven.
Damiano saw my face.
"What is it?"
I showed him.
His expression changed immediately.
Because the next message appeared.
And this time, it wasn't a warning.
It was a name.
A name that made my mother drop the ruby from her hand.
A name that made Damiano whisper:
"Impossible."
I looked at the screen.
The message contained only four words.
"Ask Serena about Elena."
My mother stepped back.
Because Elena was not just a name.
It was the name of the woman she had spent twelve years pretending never existed.
Then the security monitor turned on.
A live camera feed appeared.
It showed Sweet Mercy Bakery.
The front door.
The empty street.
And someone standing outside my bakery holding a photograph of my childhood.
May you like
The person slowly turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
