Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO NEVER LEFT MARAVILLA
“Find him!”
Giovanni’s voice shook the entire house.
The bodyguards rushed through every room.
The windows.
The doors.
The basement.
Nothing.
Marco had disappeared.
Like a ghost.
Giovanni stood in the empty hallway.
His brother had been beside him for twenty-five years.
And now he wondered…
How much of that time was a lie?
Adrian approached.
“You need to understand something.”
Giovanni looked at him.
“I’m tired of understanding.”
Adrian nodded.
“Fair enough.”
He pointed toward the office.
“Marco didn’t run because he was guilty.”
“Then why?”
“Because he was scared.”
“Of who?”
Adrian answered immediately.
“Victor.”
The name returned.
Giovanni felt a cold wave move through him.
“The man who was Clarissa’s father?”
Adrian nodded.
“Victor Valenti.”
Giovanni stared.
“But you said he was dead.”
Adrian looked at the floor.
“That’s what Elena believed.”
A phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone turned.
It was the old phone from Elena.
The same phone that started everything.
A message appeared.
NO MORE HIDING.
COME TO MARAVILLA.
ALONE.
Giovanni stared.
The message included a picture.
A picture of Marco.
Alive.
Bound to a chair.
Blood on his face.
Clarissa gasped.
“They have him.”
Giovanni grabbed his coat.
“I’m going.”
Adrian blocked the door.
“No.”
Giovanni looked at him.
“Move.”
“You go alone, you die.”
“My brother is there.”
“And your wife was there too.”
The words stopped him.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Maravilla is not a place you visit.”
“It’s a place that chooses who leaves.”
Giovanni looked at him.
“You’ve been there.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Adrian looked away.
“I escaped.”
A pause.
“But Elena didn’t.”
Giovanni froze.
“What do you mean?”
Adrian looked at him.
“She never escaped Maravilla.”
“What?”
“She carried Maravilla with her.”
The sentence made no sense.
Until Adrian opened the suitcase again.
Hidden under the lining was something nobody noticed.
A small key.
With a symbol engraved on it.
The same symbol on the property papers.
The same symbol on the Valenti family records.
Giovanni picked it up.
“What does this open?”
Adrian looked terrified.
“The vault.”
“Which vault?”
Adrian whispered:
“The one under the house on Maravilla.”
Giovanni stared.
“The house I supposedly owned.”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“And inside that vault…”
Adrian looked toward the phone.
“Is the proof Elena died protecting.”
Suddenly, another message appeared.
This time, from Marco’s phone.
A video.
They opened it.
Marco was sitting in a dark room.
His face was injured.
But he was alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Giovanni…”
His voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Then he whispered:
“The person you trust the most…”
A shadow moved behind him.
Marco’s eyes widened.
“No…”
The video ended.
The final frame showed a person standing behind Marco.
A person Giovanni recognized.
A person who had been crying beside him at Elena’s funeral.
May you like
A person he never suspected.
Clarissa.
