Chapter 6 - The Secret of Elena Russo
The single word—Daddy—seemed to physically strike Victor Moretti across the chest.
He staggered back half a step, his heavy dress shoes scraping harshly against the concrete floor. His mind raced frantically through seven years of buried pain, court proceedings, secret searches, and private investigators who had told him that Elena Russo had vanished off the face of the earth after their catastrophic split in Geneva.
Victor stared down at Noah, his dark eyes wide with an emotion that bordered on absolute terror.
"Who..." Victor’s voice trembled, a harsh, jagged rasp. He spun around sharply to face Olivia, his hands reaching out toward her before stopping mid-air. "Who told him that?!"
Olivia raised her head, looking straight into Victor’s desperate, panicked eyes. She didn't flinch. She pulled the straps of her heavy backpack tighter against her shoulders.
"Who told him to call me that?!" Victor demanded again, his voice echoing loudly off the damp brick walls. "Answer me, Olivia! Who put that thought in his head?!"
Before Olivia could speak a single word, small six-year-old Noah took another step forward, his soft voice cutting through Victor’s thunderous demand.
Noah pointed his small, sticky hand back toward the faded picture of the dark-haired woman on the wall.
"Mommy did," Noah whispered innocently.
Victor turned sharply back toward the photograph. His breath hit his throat in a ragged, suffocating gasp.
"She..." Victor’s voice failed him completely. For the first time in his powerful, untouchable life, genuine, unadulterated fear washed over his features. "Elena... Elena is alive?"
Olivia stepped forward, standing right beside Noah, taking the small boy’s cold hand in hers.
"She was alive, Mr. Moretti," Olivia said quietly, her voice trembling with an ancient, heavy burden. "Until six months ago."
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Victor’s head snapped back to Olivia, his eyes wide, bloodshot, and filled with a horrifying, rising realization. "What are you saying...?"
"Elena Russo died in a public hospital in South Chicago six months ago," Olivia whispered, tears streaming down her pale face. "She spent seven years running from you, hiding these children in the dark because she was terrified you would take them away. And before she died... she made me promise to protect them from the Moretti family."
