Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS AFRAID TO LOSE EVERYTHING
The elevator doors opened on the seventh floor of St. Catherine Medical Center.
Emma jumped out before Alessandro could stop her.
“Mom!”
Her wet sneakers squeaked against the polished floor.
A nurse looked up sharply.
“Sweetheart, you can’t run—”
Alessandro appeared behind her.
The nurse stopped speaking.
Marco followed several steps back.
Emma searched every doorway.
“Where is she?”
Alessandro caught up and gently touched her shoulder.
“Room 714.”
Emma ran again.
She reached the room and pushed through the half-open door.
Sophia Delgado lay beneath a white hospital blanket.
An oxygen tube rested beneath her nose.
Her dark hair was damp against her forehead.
Her face looked exhausted.
But the instant she saw Emma, terror replaced exhaustion.
“Emma?”
Sophia tried to sit up.
“What are you doing here?”
Emma rushed toward the bed.
“I did your work.”
Sophia froze.
“What?”
“I went to the mansion.”
Every trace of color disappeared from Sophia’s face.
“You did what?”
“I cleaned Mr. Moretti’s window.”
Sophia pulled off the oxygen tube.
“Emma, no.”
Her breathing immediately became rough.
“Mom?”
“Put that back on.”
The voice came from the doorway.
Sophia looked up.
And saw Alessandro Moretti.
Fear hit her so visibly that even Emma noticed.
Sophia grabbed the oxygen tube with trembling fingers.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Alessandro stepped inside.
“You should keep it on.”
“I’m sorry.”
Those were Sophia’s first words to him.
Not thank you.
Not hello.
I’m sorry.
Alessandro’s expression tightened.
“For what?”
“For missing work.”
Emma looked between them.
Alessandro slowly removed his coat.
“You’re hospitalized with pneumonia.”
“I know.”
“You called the house.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you apologizing?”
Sophia looked at Emma.
Because her daughter was listening.
That much was obvious.
“Emma, sweetheart, could you wait outside with Mr. Rizzi?”
Emma immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Sophia tried to smile.
“I’ll be okay.”
“No.”
Emma grabbed her hand.
“You couldn’t breathe.”
Marco stepped into the room.
“I can stay right outside the door.”
Emma looked suspiciously at him.
“Can Mom see me?”
“Yes.”
Emma finally agreed.
Marco took her into the hallway.
The door remained partially open.
Alessandro pulled a chair toward Sophia’s bed.
Sophia watched him nervously.
“Your daughter asked me something in the car.”
Sophia went still.
“She asked why you’re afraid I’ll take your job.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“Children misunderstand things.”
“Emma doesn’t.”
Silence.
Alessandro leaned forward.
“Why are you afraid of me?”
Sophia stared at the blanket.
“It isn’t you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Her breathing became faster.
Alessandro immediately leaned back.
“I’m not interrogating you.”
Sophia gave him a tired look.
“You don’t know how to do anything else.”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro almost laughed.
“There it is again.”
Sophia looked away.
For several seconds, rain tapped against the hospital window.
Then Alessandro noticed something on the bedside table.
A worn leather envelope.
His eyes stopped on the symbol stamped into its corner.
A small silver falcon.
The Moretti family crest.
His father’s crest.
Alessandro stood.
“Where did you get that?”
Sophia’s hand shot toward the envelope.
Too late.
Alessandro had already recognized it.
“My father used those envelopes.”
Sophia said nothing.
“Sophia.”
“Please.”
“Where did you get it?”
Her eyes filled with something that wasn’t fear anymore.
It was anger.
“Your father gave it to mine.”
Alessandro stopped.
“Who was your father?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Mateo Delgado.”
The name struck Alessandro harder than he expected.
He knew that name.
Everybody who had been close to Vittorio Moretti knew it.
Mateo Delgado had been Vittorio’s driver.
His friend.
And, according to the official story, the man responsible for the crash that killed him.
Alessandro stared at Sophia.
“Your father killed mine.”
Sophia’s expression changed.
“No.”
Alessandro’s voice became colder.
“He was driving.”
“He was blamed.”
“The police report—”
“Was a lie.”
Alessandro stopped speaking.
Sophia reached for the envelope.
“My father didn’t kill Vittorio Moretti.”
Her fingers trembled.
“He saved your life.”
Alessandro felt the room tilt.
“What are you talking about?”
Sophia looked toward Emma in the hallway.
Then back at him.
“Your father knew someone inside the Moretti organization was going to betray him.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“He gave my father evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Sophia held up the envelope.
“This.”
Alessandro reached for it.
Sophia pulled it back.
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You brought my father into this.”
“And your family destroyed mine.”
The words landed between them.
Alessandro’s face hardened.
Sophia continued.
“My father died with everyone believing he murdered Vittorio Moretti.”
“Mateo survived the crash.”
“For eleven months.”
Alessandro remembered.
Mateo had died in prison.
Officially from a heart condition.
Sophia’s voice broke.
“He spent those eleven months begging someone to listen.”
Alessandro looked at the envelope again.
“What’s inside?”
“A letter.”
“From my father?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
Sophia stared directly into his eyes.
“To you.”
Alessandro’s breath stopped.
Sophia held the envelope against her chest.
“He told my father that if anything happened to him, this had to reach you when you were old enough to understand.”
“Why didn’t it?”
“Because the person who framed my father spent twenty years making sure it never did.”
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Who?”
Sophia looked toward the doorway.
Marco was standing there.
Emma beside him.
And behind them stood Rosa.
Sophia’s face went white.
Not because of Marco.
Because of Rosa.
Rosa slowly entered the room.
“Sophia.”
Sophia clutched the envelope.
“You knew.”
Alessandro turned.
“What?”
Rosa’s eyes filled with tears.
“I knew Mateo had something.”
Alessandro stared at the woman who had practically raised him.
“For twenty years?”
Rosa whispered,
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
May you like
Then Rosa said the words that changed everything.
“And your father’s death was never an accident.”
