Chapter 3 - THE MAN FROM ELENA’S PAST
Nobody spoke.
The name hung in the air.
Adrian.
Giovanni searched his memory.
Nothing.
No face.
No voice.
No connection.
“You’re lying,” Giovanni said.
Adrian smiled slightly.
“Your wife said you would say that.”
Giovanni’s eyes narrowed.
“My wife knew you?”
“She knew me better than anyone.”
The words made Giovanni’s blood run cold.
Clarissa stepped forward.
“Dad, listen to him.”
Giovanni looked at his daughter.
“You knew about him?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed something inside him.
“How long?”
Clarissa started crying.
“Three weeks.”
Giovanni stared.
“You knew someone from my wife’s past contacted you for three weeks?”
“We were trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?”
His voice exploded.
“You let me bury my wife while carrying a secret?”
Adrian interrupted.
“Your children weren’t protecting you.”
Everyone looked at him.
“They were protecting Elena’s last request.”
Giovanni turned.
“What request?”
Adrian reached into his coat.
He pulled out an envelope.
With Elena’s handwriting.
Giovanni recognized it instantly.
His hands trembled.
“No…”
He grabbed it.
The letter was addressed to him.
But it had never been delivered.
“Why didn’t I get this?”
Adrian looked away.
“Because Elena knew you would destroy yourself trying to find answers.”
Giovanni opened the letter.
Only one sentence was written.
If you are reading this, it means I failed to keep my promise.
His heart broke.
He continued reading.
Giovanni,
There is something I never told you.
Before I met you…
I had another family.
The letter fell from his hand.
Another family.
The room went silent.
“You’re saying my wife had another family?”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
Giovanni looked at the coffin.
Twenty-five years of marriage.
Twenty-five years.
And there was still a part of Elena he never knew.
“Who are you?”
Adrian looked at him.
“I’m her son.”
The world stopped.
Clarissa covered her mouth.
Emilio stepped back.
Giovanni felt like the floor disappeared beneath him.
“No.”
Adrian’s eyes filled with pain.
“I was sixteen when Elena left Maravilla.”
Giovanni shook his head.
“She never had another child.”
“That’s what she wanted everyone to believe.”
Adrian walked closer.
“Your wife wasn’t running away from Maravilla.”
He looked at the coffin.
“She was running away from me.”
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
Everyone looked up.
The funeral hall went dark.
A loud crash came from the back door.
Someone had broken in.
May you like
When the lights came back…
The suitcase was gone.
