Chapter 8 - The Shadow of a Secret
Matteo DeLuca reached out his hand. For a terrifying second, Elina thought he was going to grab her, but instead, his large, calloused fingers gently brushed against the stray lock of brown hair hanging near her cheek, pushing it behind her ear.
His touch was cold, yet his fingers trembled slightly.
"Isabella had a sister," Matteo said suddenly, his dark eyes burning with an intense, horrifying realization.
Elina froze, her breath catching in her throat. "What?"
"A twin," Matteo whispered, the words falling like lead weights onto the polished floor. "Separated at birth twenty-four years ago when their parents' empire fell apart in the syndicate wars. Isabella was kept by the family. The other girl... was hidden away in the foster system to keep her alive."
Elina felt the world tilting beneath her feet. Her knees trembled, and she had to lean slightly against the edge of the nearby mahogany bar to keep from collapsing while holding the heavy infant.
"No..." Elina breathed, her head shaking in denial. "No, that's impossible. My foster mother told me I was abandoned at a hospital..."
"Your name is Elina," Matteo said, his voice hardening as the pieces of a dark puzzle began to fit together in his mind. "Elina Valdez. That was the surname of the family physician who smuggled the second child out of the city twenty-four years ago."
Elina stared at him, her heart hammering wildly against her ribcage. The simple, quiet life she had built—a life of double shifts, simple routines, and hiding from the harsh reality of the world—was crumbling around her in a matter of minutes, inside a high-end restaurant under the glare of golden chandeliers.
Matteo stepped closer, his shadow completely enveloping her. The fear that had briefly appeared on his face was now replaced by a fierce, possessive resolve.
"My wife didn't die of natural complications during childbirth," Matteo murmured, his gravelly voice dropping so low that only Elina could hear it over the quiet restaurant jazz. "She was murdered. Poisoned in that private clinic by someone inside my own organization. Someone who wanted to eradicate her bloodline and take control of my empire."
Elina looked at him, her eyes wide with sheer terror. "Why... why are you telling me this?"
"Because," Matteo said, his eyes shifting from her face down to Baby Leo, who was now fast asleep against her neck, holding her white apron in his tiny fist. "They thought they destroyed her bloodline. They thought they left me with a motherless child who would never know peace."
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He looked back up, his dark eyes locking onto Elina’s with an absolute, terrifying certainty.
"They didn't know you existed," Matteo whispered. "And now that you are standing in my restaurant, looking like her ghost, holding her son... you are in as much danger as he is."
