Chapter 6 - THE SECRET LORENZO COULDN’T REMEMBER
I grabbed Mia’s hand.
“Stay behind Mommy.”
The stranger smiled.
“Protective.”
“Who are you?”
He ignored my question.
Instead, he looked at Lorenzo.
“You should have stayed asleep.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
He recognized him.
“Victor…”
The man smiled.
“So you remember.”
My blood ran cold.
Lorenzo tried to move.
“Get out.”
Victor laughed.
“Still giving orders.”
I looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Nobody answered.
And that scared me more than anything.
Victor finally looked at me.
“Daniel always had a weakness.”
I tightened my grip on Mia’s hand.
“What?”
“His heart.”
He smiled.
“And you.”
I felt anger rise.
“Leave.”
Victor walked toward the door.
But before leaving, he stopped.
“Ask Lorenzo about the night Daniel disappeared.”
Then he looked at Mia.
“And ask yourself why a child who never met him knows a song from his past.”
The door closed.
The silence afterward was unbearable.
“Mister Lorenzo?”
Mia looked confused.
“Who was that man?”
Lorenzo stared at the door.
Then whispered:
“Someone who destroyed my family.”
Later that evening, Lorenzo finally told me the truth.
Years ago, before the accident, before the wealth, before the power...
There was another Moretti family.
A family with secrets.
Daniel was the youngest brother.
The kindest one.
The one who never wanted the family business.
“He wanted a normal life,” Lorenzo said.
“And then he met me?”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“No.”
He paused.
“He met someone before you.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Lorenzo reached for an old photograph beside the bed.
A young woman.
My hands shook.
Because I recognized her.
I had seen her before.
In old boxes Daniel left behind.
The woman in the picture was my mother.
I stepped back.
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice softened.
“Your mother knew Daniel before you were born.”
My mind exploded with questions.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying your family and mine have been connected for decades.”
I looked at Mia.
The little girl who had somehow awakened a man everyone thought was lost.
The little girl who sang a song nobody understood.
Then Lorenzo said the words that changed everything.
“Clara…”
He looked terrified.
“Your daughter may be the last person alive who knows what really happened the night Daniel disappeared.”
That night, I found something hidden inside Mia’s stuffed rabbit.
A small piece of paper.
Folded many times.
I had never seen it before.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
There were only six words written inside.
Words that made my entire body go cold.
“Protect her from the Morettis.”
I looked at Mia sleeping beside me.
And suddenly I understood.
The forbidden door was never the biggest secret in the house.
The biggest secret...
May you like
was my daughter.
TO BE CONTINUED...
