Chapter 5 - THE SECRET IN THE PENDANTVictor dragged Tessa into the study and locked the doors.
Paulie posted two guards outside.
The estate went unnaturally quiet.
Tessa stood near the fireplace, staring at the pendant.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
“You knew.”
Victor looked at her.
“I knew nothing.”
“You recognized my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You recognized the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew Massimo.”
“Yes.”
“But you never knew me.”
“No.”
Tessa laughed once.
It was a broken sound.
“My entire life is apparently a lie.”
Victor said nothing.
She turned toward him.
“Who am I?”
“I don't know.”
“My mother knew your father.”
“Yes.”
“She had a photo with him.”
“Yes.”
“And Massimo.”
“Yes.”
“And me.”
“Yes.”
“So what does that mean?”
Victor stepped closer.
“It means you were connected to my family before you ever entered this house.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He picked up the photograph again.
“There are only three people who could explain this.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“My mother?”
“He's dead.”
“Massimo.”
Victor nodded.
“And your mother.”
“She is dead too.”
“Maybe.”
Tessa stared.
“My mother died in front of me.”
“I didn't say she was alive.”
“But you said maybe.”
Victor's eyes darkened.
“Because people in my world don't always die when bodies are buried.”
A knock sounded.
Paulie entered.
“Boss.”
Victor looked up.
“What?”
“We found something in Liam's room.”
He placed a small envelope on the desk.
Tessa recognized the handwriting immediately.
Liam.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
Inside was a single page.
Tess,
If you're reading this, I failed.
Don't trust anyone.
Not the police.
Not the lawyers.
Not the Romano family.
Especially not Victor.
Tessa looked at Victor.
His expression remained unreadable.
She continued reading.
Mom didn't die the way we were told.
She was taken.
And she left us one instruction.
Find the girl with the Romano blood.
Tessa stopped.
Her heart seemed to disappear.
She read the sentence again.
Then again.
Victor slowly stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
Tessa handed him the paper.
He read it.
His eyes sharpened.
“Romano blood?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
He looked at her.
“Neither do I.”
Paulie suddenly interrupted.
“Boss.”
Victor looked over.
Paulie held up another photograph.
“We found this inside Liam's apartment.”
The photograph showed a hospital room.
Victor recognized it immediately.
It was taken fourteen years ago.
The night his father died.
A nurse stood beside a hospital bed.
The face belonged to Tessa's mother.
And in her arms was a newborn baby.
Victor stared.
“What the hell?”
Paulie turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
BABY ROMANO.
FEMALE.
MOTHER: ELENA MOORE.
FATHER: VINCENT ROMANO.
Silence.
Tessa looked at Victor.
Victor looked at Tessa.
She whispered:
“Your father?”
Victor's face had gone blank.
“My father.”
The door opened.
A guard stumbled inside.
“Boss…”
Victor turned.
“What?”
The guard's voice shook.
“We received a phone call.”
“From whom?”
The guard handed him the phone.
Victor listened.
A man's voice spoke.
Massimo.
“Now you know.”
Victor's jaw clenched.
Massimo continued.
“The girl is not your enemy, Victor.”
A pause.
“She is your sister.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
Victor's fingers tightened around the phone.
Massimo laughed softly.
“And if you want to know why your father kept her secret…”
The call ended.
Victor stared at the screen.
Tessa whispered:
“Sister?”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time, the terrifying mafia boss looked completely lost.
Then his phone received a photograph.
He opened it.
The image showed a grave.
The name carved into the stone was:
ELENA MOORE.
The date of death was twelve years ago.
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Underneath it, someone had written:
SHE WAS MURDERED FOR HIDING THE TRUTH.
