Chapter 6 - Mason Ward Was Alive
I stopped breathing.
Luca's expression changed.
Julian stared at Elias.
“Mason is alive?”
Elias nodded.
“Somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because someone is coming for him.”
Luca lowered his weapon slightly.
“Who?”
“Gabriel.”
“Who is Gabriel?”
Elias looked at him.
“Your father's oldest enemy.”
“My father never mentioned him.”
“He couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel was inside the family.”
The words landed like thunder.
I looked at Elias.
“Who?”
He pointed toward Julian.
Julian stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Elias smiled.
“Not him.”
He pointed at me.
“Her.”
My blood froze.
“What?”
“Mason was protecting you because you were never merely his wife.”
I shook my head.
“I don't understand.”
“You were the daughter of the woman who hid the first ledger.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“My mother died when I was fifteen.”
“She wasn't your biological mother.”
Everything stopped.
Luca looked at me.
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother was Elaine Ward.”
Elias nodded.
“Your real mother's name was Clara Mela.”
Julian's face changed.
“What?”
Elias looked at him.
“Your sister.”
Julian stumbled backward.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That is impossible.”
“Your father had another child.”
Julian looked at me.
I stared back.
I had no idea.
Elias continued.
“Clara's daughter was hidden after she discovered what the family was doing.”
I whispered,
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why was I raised by Elaine?”
“Because she protected you.”
“And Mason?”
“Protected both of you.”
I felt sick.
Everything about my life had just been rewritten.
My mother.
My father.
Mason.
Luca's family.
The paper.
The hawk.
The star.
All connected.
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because the people who knew died.”
“Except you.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“Why are you helping me?”
“I'm not.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Then what do you want?”
Elias smiled.
“To see whether you finally become the man your father wanted you to be.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“I am not my father.”
“No.”
Elias looked at Mia.
“That's why I believe you might survive this.”
A sound came from outside.
Engines.
Several.
Luca's men rushed toward the windows.
“Movement,” someone shouted.
Luca looked at Julian.
“Who?”
“Too many.”
Gunfire erupted.
The monastery windows shattered.
Luca pushed me and Mia behind the stone wall.
Julian grabbed a weapon.
Elias disappeared again.
“Where is he going?”
“Probably saving himself,” Julian said.
Another explosion shook the building.
Mia clung to Luca.
He whispered to her.
“Close your eyes.”
She did.
He covered her ears.
I watched him.
The feared mafia boss.
The man everyone believed was incapable of tenderness.
He was shielding my daughter with his own body.
Something inside me changed.
Maybe I had been wrong about him too.
The fight lasted minutes.
When it ended, half the monastery was burning.
Elias was gone.
Several attackers were dead.
One was captured.
Luca dragged him into the basement.
The man refused to speak.
Until Mia began crying upstairs.
The captured man heard her.
He looked terrified.
“That's her.”
Luca froze.
“Who?”
“The little girl.”
“Why?”
“Because she knows the code.”
Luca grabbed his collar.
“What code?”
“The old one.”
“The one written by Mason Ward.”
I looked at Julian.
Julian stared back.
“What code?”
The man smiled.
“The code that opens the Valente vault.”
I felt cold.
“What vault?”
Luca had no answer.
The man continued.
“Your family has a vault beneath the original estate.”
“What is inside?”
“The proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“Everything.”
Luca let him go.
We returned to New York.
The original Costa-Valente estate was abandoned.
Luca had never been there.
Not since childhood.
We went anyway.
Beneath the old house, we found the vault.
Mia held Teddy.
I held her hand.
Luca inserted the hawk ring into a hidden lock.
The door opened.
Inside were thousands of documents.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Recordings.
And one small box.
My name was written on it.
Tessa Ward.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Mason's handwriting.
My hands shook.
Tessa,
If you're reading this, then I'm sorry.
I failed to come home.
But I didn't die.
I had to disappear because the person inside the Valente family was closer than I imagined.
Protect Mia.
Protect the bear.
And whatever happens, never trust the man with the silver smile.
I looked at Luca.
“Silver smile?”
He went still.
“Who?”
Julian answered.
“Victor.”
“But Victor is dead.”
Luca looked at him.
“Maybe he isn't.”
I turned the letter over.
May you like
There was one final sentence.
He is sleeping under your roof.
