Chapter 11 - ELENA’S CONFESSION
Mateo refused to speak to Elena.
They returned to the estate before dawn.
He sat beside Adrian.
Elena stood across from them.
“Tell him.”
She looked at Mateo.
“I changed more than your name.”
Mateo waited.
“I forged adoption documents.”
“I told schools I was your mother.”
“I moved us six times.”
“I kept you away from doctors whenever I could.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“There’s something else.”
Her voice broke.
“Three years ago, Isabella found us.”
Isabella stared at her.
“You knew?”
Elena nodded.
“I saw the investigator.”
“I moved Mateo the next morning.”
Mateo looked hurt.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t trust her.”
Isabella whispered.
“You were right.”
Elena continued.
“Then Victoria found us too.”
Everyone froze.
“She offered me five million euros.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“For what?”
“To disappear permanently.”
Mateo whispered.
“You took it?”
“No.”
“But I pretended I would.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed evidence.”
Elena walked to an old cabinet.
She removed a small black phone.
“I recorded every conversation.”
Dozens of recordings were stored on it.
Victoria discussing Gabriel.
Victor.
Thomas.
The inheritance.
The false death certificate.
Everything.
Adrian stared at Elena.
“You had this the entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I was afraid.”
Isabella laughed bitterly.
“So was I.”
Elena looked at her.
“And look what fear did to all of us.”
Mateo stood.
“You all keep saying you were afraid.”
Nobody answered.
“I was locked in a room today.”
“I had a gun pointed at me.”
“I found out my name wasn’t my name.”
“My mother knew I was alive.”
“My great-aunt wanted me dead.”
“My nanny lied about being my mother.”
“My father is dead.”
“And everybody keeps telling me they were scared.”
His voice cracked.
“What about me?”
Elena started crying.
Mateo ran upstairs.
Nobody followed immediately.
Because he was right.
Every adult had justified their choices with fear.
And a seven-year-old child had paid for every one of them.
Later that morning, Adrian found Mateo sitting beneath an olive tree.
“Can I sit?”
Mateo shrugged.
Adrian sat.
“Do I have to live with Isabella?”
“No.”
“Do I have to call her Mom?”
“No.”
“Do I have to be Gabriel?”
“No.”
Mateo looked at him.
“Then who am I?”
“Who do you want to be?”
“Mateo.”
“Then you’re Mateo.”
“What about Gabriel?”
Adrian thought carefully.
“Gabriel is part of your story.”
“But he doesn’t get to erase Mateo.”
The boy nodded.
Then he asked the question Adrian had been dreading.
“Can I live with you?”
Adrian stared at him.
Before he could answer, a police vehicle entered the estate.
An officer stepped out.
May you like
His expression was grim.
Victoria Laurent had escaped custody.
