Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The man standing at the entrance did not look like a ghost.
That was the most terrifying part.
He looked alive.
He looked calm.
He looked like he had walked into the ballroom expecting everyone to be waiting for him.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Even the security guards who had stopped me minutes earlier now stood frozen.
Because everyone in that room knew the same thing.
That man could not be there.
Matteo Bellandi stared at him.
For the first time since I met him, I saw something different in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not suspicion.
Fear.
"Who are you?"
Matteo's voice was low.
The man slowly stepped into the ballroom.
His expensive black coat moved with every step.
He looked older than Matteo.
Similar features.
Same sharp eyes.
Same controlled expression.
And when he stopped beneath the chandelier, he looked directly at Matteo.
Then he said one sentence.
"You really thought your father was the only person who disappeared?"
The room exploded.
Guests started whispering.
Security immediately moved.
But Matteo raised his hand.
Nobody touched the man.
Nobody dared.
I looked at Matteo.
"Your father?"
He didn't answer.
Because he was staring at the man like his entire reality had just cracked open.
"My father died six years ago," Matteo said.
The man smiled slightly.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
A chill went through me.
I had spent my entire career analyzing numbers.
Patterns.
Missing information.
Things that didn't make sense.
And this was the biggest missing piece I had ever seen.
A dead man standing in front of his son.
Victoria suddenly stepped forward.
"Matteo, don't listen to him."
Everyone turned toward her.
Her reaction was too fast.
Too emotional.
Too prepared.
The man noticed.
And smiled.
"Interesting."
Victoria's face tightened.
"What?"
"You still defend the lie before anyone asks you about it."
The ballroom became silent.
Matteo looked at Victoria.
Then back at the man.
"Who are you?"
The man reached into his coat.
Several security guards reacted immediately.
But he only removed a small envelope.
He placed it on the nearest table.
"My answer is inside."
Matteo didn't move.
"Open it."
The man looked at him.
"No."
A pause.
"You open it when you are ready to accept what happened."
I looked at the envelope.
Something about it bothered me.
Not the paper.
Not the handwriting.
The way Matteo looked at it.
Like he already knew what was inside.
I walked closer.
"What's wrong?"
Matteo didn't respond.
I looked at the envelope.
There was a name written on the front.
Not Matteo.
Not Victoria.
Mine.
Elena Brooks.
My heart stopped.
"Why does this have my name?"
The man looked at me.
For the first time, his expression changed.
Not much.
But enough.
"You really don't know."
I stepped back.
"Know what?"
He looked at Matteo.
Then at me.
"Why they tried to remove you tonight."
The room felt smaller.
Matteo picked up the envelope.
His eyes never left the man.
"What does Elena have to do with this?"
The man answered immediately.
"Everything."
Victoria interrupted.
"This is ridiculous."
She walked toward us.
"This woman is manipulating you."
I looked at her.
"No."
My voice surprised even me.
"She's afraid."
Victoria stopped.
"You don't know anything about me."
I held up the folder.
"I know numbers."
I opened the financial records again.
"And numbers tell stories."
I pointed at one page.
"Three years ago, money was moved from Bellandi Foundation accounts into a private company."
Matteo looked down.
Then I turned another page.
"That company belonged to someone connected to Victoria."
Victoria's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Matteo noticed.
"Is that true?"
She looked at him.
"Matteo, I can explain."
The words were simple.
But they were dangerous.
Because innocent people usually said:
"That's impossible."
Guilty people usually said:
"I can explain."
The man who claimed to be Matteo's father watched silently.
Almost like he had been waiting for this exact moment.
Matteo looked at him.
"You knew."
The man nodded.
"I tried to tell you."
"When?"
"Before my death."
Matteo froze.
The man continued.
"But someone made sure I couldn't."
The room became completely silent.
I felt my hands become cold.
Because this was no longer about money.
This was about a family secret.
A secret powerful enough to fake a death.
A secret powerful enough to destroy anyone who found it.
Matteo walked toward the man.
"Where have you been?"
The man looked away.
"Surviving."
"From who?"
A long pause.
Then:
"From the people standing in this room."
Everyone looked around.
Nobody knew who he meant.
Or maybe everyone did.
Matteo's father reached into his pocket.
He removed a small flash drive.
"I kept proof."
Matteo stared at it.
"What proof?"
"The reason your mother died."
The words hit harder than anything else.
Matteo stopped.
I looked at him.
His mother.
Another death.
Another secret.
Another story nobody had told him.
The man placed the flash drive on the table.
"Everything is inside."
Matteo reached for it.
But before his fingers touched the drive, every phone in the ballroom vibrated.
Again.
Everyone looked down.
A new message.
From an unknown number.
I opened mine.
One sentence appeared.
"Matteo Bellandi is protecting the wrong woman."
My stomach tightened.
Then another message arrived.
This time only to me.
"Ask him why your father was paid to disappear."
I stopped breathing.
Because I had never told anyone about my father.
Not Matteo.
Not Victoria.
Nobody.
I looked up.
Matteo was already watching my face.
"You received something."
I slowly turned my phone toward him.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
"Elena..."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward his father.
Then toward the flash drive.
Then back at me.
Because something had just connected in his mind.
Something that scared him more than seeing his father alive.
"Your father..."
His voice became quieter.
"He wasn't the only one who disappeared."
I felt my heartbeat increase.
"What are you saying?"
Matteo reached for the flash drive.
Then stopped.
Because the ballroom doors behind us slowly opened.
A woman stood there.
Older.
Terrified.
Holding a document with my name printed across it.
May you like
And she whispered the one thing that made Matteo drop the flash drive...
"Elena Brooks was never supposed to find out who her real family was."
