Chapter 2 - THE WEDDING ENDS
The wedding ended without vows.
Victor did not announce it.
He simply removed the ring from his pocket and placed it on a silver tray.
Then he told security:
“Clear the house.”
Nobody argued.
Within forty minutes, the Santoro estate changed from a wedding venue back into a fortress.
Florists packed equipment.
Musicians left.
Guests were escorted toward waiting cars.
Adriana remained upstairs under security observation.
Not imprisoned.
But not permitted near Lily.
Victor found his daughter in the nursery.
Rosa Martinez, Lily’s sixty-year-old nanny, sat in a rocking chair with the baby against her shoulder.
Victor entered.
Rosa looked up.
“She’s fine.”
Victor exhaled.
“Doctor?”
“Checked her.”
“No injury?”
“None.”
He touched Lily’s tiny hand.
Her fingers closed around one of his.
Three months earlier, Victor had believed he understood fear.
Then Lily was born.
Now every threat had a face.
Rosa studied him.
“What did Adriana say?”
Victor looked at her.
Rosa had worked for the Santoro family since Victor was twenty-one.
She knew when not to ask questions.
Tonight she asked anyway.
“She says I have a son.”
Rosa went completely still.
Victor noticed.
That was all he needed.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Rosa.”
Her eyes lowered.
Victor’s chest tightened.
“Seventeen years ago.”
Rosa stood slowly and placed Lily in the crib.
“Victor…”
“Elena.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
There it was.
He had not spoken Elena Rossi’s name aloud in years.
Victor stepped closer.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“What do you know?”
Rosa looked toward Lily.
“Your father told everyone Elena miscarried.”
Victor remembered.
Elena disappeared after an argument with his father, Angelo.
A week later Angelo told Victor she had lost the pregnancy.
Victor had not even known for certain she was pregnant.
He spent months searching.
Then a letter arrived.
Elena supposedly wrote that she wanted a life away from the Santoros.
Victor eventually believed it.
Or forced himself to.
“You’re telling me she didn’t miscarry.”
“I’m telling you your father lied about many things.”
Victor almost laughed.
That was not news.
“What did you see?”
Rosa swallowed.
“One night, Elena came here.”
“When?”
“About seven months after she disappeared.”
Victor’s pulse changed.
“She came to this house?”
“Yes.”
“To see me?”
“I think so.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Your father stopped her at the gate.”
Victor felt anger rise.
“Were you there?”
“I saw from the kitchen entrance.”
“What happened?”
“Angelo spoke to her.”
“Then?”
“She was crying.”
Rosa’s voice shook.
“She was holding a baby.”
Victor turned away.
For several seconds, he could not speak.
“A boy?”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rosa began crying.
“Because your father threatened my family.”
Victor looked back.
“He said my husband would lose his job. My sons would lose their school scholarships. We would be gone by morning.”
Victor knew Angelo could have done all of it.
Rosa continued.
“I was afraid.”
Victor’s anger shifted.
Not gone.
But redirected.
“Did Elena leave?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever see her again?”
“No.”
Victor sat in the chair beside Lily’s crib.
Seventeen years stolen by one dead man’s decision.
Or maybe more.
He still had only a story.
Not proof.
His security chief Anthony entered.
“Boss.”
Victor looked up.
“We searched Adriana’s suite.”
“And?”
“Her phone is wiped.”
“Laptop?”
“Encrypted.”
“Papers?”
Anthony held up a black leather folder.
“One thing.”
Inside was a draft legal agreement.
MARITAL SUCCESSION AND FAMILY ASSET CONSOLIDATION.
Victor read the first pages.
If he married Adriana, she would become co-trustee over certain legitimate Santoro family holdings if Victor died or became incapacitated.
That alone was not unusual.
The final paragraph was.
The co-trustee authority would extend over “all current and subsequently acknowledged minor descendants.”
Victor stared.
Minor descendants.
Plural.
The document had been drafted four months earlier.
Before Lily was born.
Before Adriana ever mentioned another child.
She had known.
For months.
Anthony pointed toward the signature page.
“Look.”
Adriana’s attorney had listed two internal reference names.
L.S.
And L.S.-2.
Victor felt cold.
Lily Santoro.
And another L.S.
He thought of Elena Rossi.
If she had named a son after her own father?
Luca.
Luca Santoro.
Victor looked at Anthony.
“Find every seventeen-year-old boy connected to Elena Rossi.”
Anthony nodded.
Victor added:
“And find Adriana’s private investigator.”
“How do you know she has one?”
Victor held up the folder.
“Women planning weddings don’t write succession clauses for secret children by themselves.”
Before Anthony left, Victor’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Victor answered.
Silence.
Then a young male voice:
“Is this Victor Santoro?”
Victor stood.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then:
“My name is Luca Rossi.”
Victor stopped breathing.
May you like
The boy continued.
“And I think Adriana is lying to both of us.”
