Chapter 10 - The Secret EmpireElena Romano Was Never Just a Victim

The room became silent.

Sophia stared at her mother.

"You?"

Elena nodded.

"Before you were born, I managed the Bellandi finances."

Matteo looked stunned.

"You?"

"You think your father built everything alone?"

"He told me you were a waitress."

"I was."

"And?"

"And your father needed someone who could move money without attracting attention."

Sophia struggled to process it.

"Why would my mother do that?"

"Because I was good at numbers."

Elena smiled sadly.

"And because men who feared women never bothered to look twice at them."

Matteo stared at her.

"You kept the books."

"I kept the empire alive."

"Then why did you disappear?"

"Because I discovered where the money was really going."

Sophia stepped closer.

"Where?"

"Politics."

"Drugs?"

"That too."

"Weapons?"

"Yes."

Sophia's stomach twisted.

"And you?"

"I tried to stop it."

Matteo whispered:

"My father killed people."

"He did."

"You knew."

"I did."

"Why didn't you expose him?"

"Because I had you."

Matteo looked at her.

"You were pregnant."

"With Sophia."

He froze.

Sophia's voice broke.

"Then I am..."

"Matteo's daughter."

Sophia stared at him.

Suddenly the photograph made sense.

The birth certificate.

The phrase.

The ring.

Everything.

She looked at Matteo.

He didn't move.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Elena answered.

"Because someone was searching for children born into powerful families."

"Why?"

"To control succession."

Matteo's voice turned cold.

"And Luca?"

"Luca was born two years after Sophia."

"Not my son?"

Elena shook her head.

"No."

Sophia looked at Luca's photograph.

"What?"

"He is your half-brother."

"Then who is his father?"

Elena hesitated.

Matteo noticed.

"Tell her."

Elena's eyes closed.

"Luca's father was Enrico."

Sophia stepped back.

"What?"

Matteo's face darkened.

"Enrico?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you hide him?"

"Because Enrico wanted Luca."

"To inherit."

"No."

Elena looked at Matteo.

"To use him."

A crash came from upstairs.

Everybody froze.

Matteo drew his weapon.

Elena whispered:

"They're here."

Security shouted from the hallway.

Gunfire erupted.

Matteo pushed Sophia behind the stone wall.

"Stay down."

Elena moved toward the vault.

Sophia grabbed her.

"Where are you going?"

"To end this."

"No."

"Listen to me."

Elena pulled a small drive from her coat.

"Everything they need is on this."

"What is it?"

"The names."

"Whose names?"

"The men who built the empire."

Matteo saw the drive.

"Give it to me."

Elena stared at him.

"No."

"Elena."

"You've spent twenty years thinking you inherited power."

She placed the drive in Sophia's hand.

"You inherited a war."

The lights went out.

A voice came through the house speakers.

A woman's voice.

Old.

Calm.

Familiar.

"Hello, Matteo."

Matteo froze.

Sophia looked at him.

"Who is that?"

He whispered:

"My mother."

The speakers crackled.

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Then the woman laughed.

"You finally found your daughter."