Chapter 13 - THE PHOTO THAT BROKE EVERYTHING
Giovanni stared at the photograph.
His fingers went numb.
The baby.
Elena.
Adrian.
And him.
He looked younger.
Twenty-five years younger.
But there was no mistake.
That was his face.
“That’s impossible…”
Nobody answered.
Sofia watched him carefully.
“You really don’t remember.”
Giovanni looked up.
“Remember what?”
“The summer before you met Elena.”
His breathing stopped.
A memory appeared.
A business trip.
A small island.
A stranger who helped him after his boat broke down.
A woman with frightened eyes.
A baby crying in the background.
He had forgotten.
Or maybe…
Someone made him forget.
“I was there,” he whispered.
Sofia nodded.
“Yes.”
Adrian looked confused.
“You knew him?”
Sofia smiled.
“Giovanni wasn’t just a visitor on Maravilla.”
She pointed at the picture.
“He was the reason Elena trusted him.”
Giovanni shook his head.
“No. I never went there.”
Sofia stepped closer.
“Your father took you there when you were young.”
The words hit harder.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
Sofia continued.
“The Valenti family controlled the island. Your father worked with them.”
Giovanni felt sick.
“My father was a criminal?”
Sofia didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
The truth was already there.
Adrian looked at Giovanni.
“Your wife spent twenty-five years trying to protect you from your own past.”
Giovanni closed his eyes.
All those years.
All those secrets.
Elena wasn’t hiding from him.
She was hiding something for him.
Then Clarissa spoke.
“Dad…”
Everyone looked at her.
She was holding another document.
“I found this inside the envelope.”
Giovanni took it.
It was a medical record.
His name was written at the top.
But the date was impossible.
Twenty-five years ago.
The record showed something he never knew.
A surgery.
A procedure.
A memory treatment.
Giovanni looked at Adrian.
“What did they do to me?”
Adrian’s face became serious.
“They erased the part of your life connected to Maravilla.”
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
The old phone.
Elena’s phone.
A final message appeared.
May you like
COME HOME, GIOVANNI.
MARAVILLA IS WAITING.
