Chapter 9 - THE MOTHER WHO STOLE HER GRANDSONThe Woman Everyone BlamedAlina refused to believe it.

"That's impossible."

Matteo stared at the security footage.

Elena entered Leo's room.

Picked him up.

Walked out.

No resistance.

No struggle.

No weapon.

The guards let her pass.

Alina rewound the footage.

Again.

Again.

Then she noticed something.

Elena never looked at the camera.

She looked directly at the reflection in the glass.

At the exact same moment, someone behind the security booth lifted two fingers.

A signal.

Alina stopped the video.

"That's not my mother."

Matteo looked closer.

"What?"

"My mother always touches Leo's forehead."

"What?"

"When she's nervous."

Alina pointed to the footage.

"She didn't."

Matteo's eyes narrowed.

"That's a disguise."

They searched the hospital.

Nothing.

Then Alina saw a tiny detail.

The woman wore Elena's coat.

But the shoes were wrong.

Her mother never wore heels.

Never.

Matteo ordered every exit sealed.

An hour later they found a car abandoned six blocks away.

Inside:

A wig.

A coat.

A bloodied bandage.

And a photograph of Elena tied to a chair.

On the back:

Your mother is alive.

Then another sentence.

Your nephew is the price.

Alina sat down.

Matteo knelt in front of her.

"Look at me."

She did.

"We're getting them back."

"How?"

"By doing exactly what they expect."

He opened the ledger.

"The old chapel."

"Midnight."

"Yes."

"I go alone."

"No."

"You heard the message."

"I don't care."

"Matteo."

His eyes hardened.

"Someone is using your family against you. They want you emotional. They want me angry. They want both."

Alina stared.

"What do you want?"

"To end this."

At midnight they arrived at the chapel.

Alina entered alone.

The church was empty.

Candles burned along the aisle.

At the altar sat Elena.

Her hands were tied.

Leo slept beside her.

Alina ran forward.

A gun clicked.

Adrian stepped from behind a column.

"Stop."

Alina froze.

"Let them go."

"Not yet."

"Where's Victor?"

"Dead."

She stared.

"What?"

Adrian smiled.

"Your grandfather was never going to leave this building alive."

Behind him hung a giant painting of a dragon.

Adrian pointed.

"That is the real inheritance."

"I don't care."

"You will."

He placed the ledger on the altar.

"This book doesn't just contain criminal records."

He opened it.

"Every Vescari asset has a beneficiary."

Alina looked down.

Her name.

Again.

Adrian said:

"You're worth billions."

She shook her head.

"I don't want it."

"You don't get to choose."

A gunshot thundered.

Adrian collapsed.

Matteo stood in the doorway.

He crossed the room.

Elena cried.

Leo woke.

Alina grabbed him.

Then Matteo lifted the ledger.

There was a final page.

A handwritten note.

Not Victor's.

Not Gabriel's.

Elena's.

I killed the wrong man.

Alina stared.

"Mom?"

Elena looked at her.

Then whispered:

"I didn't run from Victor."

"I ran from Matteo's mother."

Alina frowned.

"Why?"

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Elena's eyes filled with tears.

"Because she was the one who ordered your father's murder."