Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Had Betrayed Me First
I hadn't spoken to my mother in eleven years.
Not properly.
After my father died, she left.
She built a new life.
I built mine.
We occasionally exchanged formal messages.
Birthdays.
Holidays.
Nothing more.
But now her name was appearing everywhere.
The contract.
Victor.
Harland.
I needed answers.
I found her at a private residence outside the city.
She opened the door herself.
When she saw me, her face changed.
“Luca.”
“Mom.”
She looked at my security team.
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
She stepped aside.
We entered.
The house smelled exactly like my childhood home.
Lavender.
Coffee.
Old wooden furniture.
For a moment, I was eight again.
Then I saw the photograph on the mantel.
My mother.
My father.
Me.
Before everything changed.
“You were involved with Harland.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
I stared at her.
She laughed bitterly.
“You became powerful.”
“I became powerful because of you.”
She flinched.
“You don't know what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
She sat.
I remained standing.
“Your father was killed because he refused to cooperate with men who wanted control of the family business.”
I froze.
“My father died in an accident.”
“No.”
My mother looked at me.
“It wasn't an accident.”
The room became silent.
“Who?”
“Victor Hale's father.”
I felt numb.
“He ordered it.”
My mother continued.
“I knew.”
“You knew?”
“I was threatened.”
“By whom?”
“Victor.”
I stared at her.
“You worked with the man who killed Dad?”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You were eight.”
I said nothing.
“I thought if I cooperated, they would leave you alone.”
“But they didn't.”
“No.”
She looked down.
“I became part of the machine that destroyed our family.”
I turned away.
“What does Harland have to do with it?”
“He worked for Victor's father.”
“And Victor?”
“He inherited everything.”
I looked at her.
“Why target Maria?”
“Because Victor wants you discredited.”
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because your father's old company is worth billions now.”
I laughed.
“So this is about money.”
“It always was.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“It was about power.”
She didn't answer.
Then she said,
“Victor has something else.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
“Of what?”
“Your father.”
My heart stopped.
“What recording?”
“He recorded a meeting before he died.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
She looked at me.
“I gave it to Victor.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to protect you.”
“You gave the evidence of Dad's murder to the man who killed him?”
“I didn't know who he would become.”
I turned toward the door.
“Where is it now?”
My mother whispered,
“Under the old hotel.”
I stopped.
The hotel where she had once worked.
The same hotel where my mother had scrubbed uniforms.
The same place where I had waited for her as a child.
I understood.
May you like
My entire life had begun there.
And apparently, the truth had been buried there too.
