Chapter 4 - SERENA'S LIE
Serena was gone.
By the time I reached the waiting room, she'd disappeared.
Her phone was off.
Her apartment was empty.
Her car was gone.
I stood outside her building with Mateo.
“This isn't normal.”
“No,” Mateo said.
“Find her.”
We searched every property she owned.
Nothing.
Then Mateo found something.
A storage unit.
Serena had rented it six months earlier under another name.
We opened it.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Documents.
Bank statements.
And dozens of pictures of me.
I stared at them.
Some were from restaurants.
Some from business meetings.
Some from my house.
One photograph showed Clara and me at our wedding.
Another showed Serena watching us from across the street.
I felt sick.
“Why was she photographing us?”
Mateo opened another box.
Inside were copies of my father's financial records.
“Boss.”
I looked.
The documents showed payments to a private security company.
The same company had protected my father before his death.
Then I saw something worse.
The company's current owner was Daniel Valente.
My brother.
I sat down.
Everything was connected.
My father.
Daniel.
Serena.
Clara.
The crash.
But why?
A photograph fell from one of the boxes.
I picked it up.
It showed Serena standing beside a man.
I recognized him.
Lorenzo Moretti.
The photograph was dated eight months earlier.
I felt rage explode through me.
Serena had been working with my enemy.
But then I noticed something.
Her face didn't look confident.
She looked afraid.
I flipped the photograph over.
There was handwriting.
She doesn't know the whole truth.
I looked at Mateo.
“Someone wants me to hate Serena.”
“Maybe.”
“Or someone wants me to underestimate her.”
We returned to the hospital.
Clara was asleep.
I sat beside her bed.
Then a nurse entered.
“Mr. Valente?”
“Yes?”
“This was found in your wife's personal belongings.”
She handed me a small key.
“Where did you find it?”
“Inside her shoe.”
I stared at it.
There was a number engraved on the metal.
Mateo immediately understood.
“Locker.”
We searched the hospital storage system.
Locker 314 belonged to Clara.
Inside was a small black notebook.
I opened it.
Every page contained dates.
Names.
Payments.
Meetings.
Then I found Serena's name.
Next to it was one sentence:
She is not the enemy. She is being used.
I turned the page.
Daniel.
He knows what happened to Dominic's father.
Another page.
Moretti.
He is not responsible for the crash.
Then one final name.
My mother.
She knows why Daniel disappeared.
I closed the notebook.
My entire family had been built on lies.
And Clara had known.
For months.
Maybe years.
I returned to her room.
She was awake.
“You knew.”
She looked at me.
“I tried to tell you.”
“You should have.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She looked toward the window.
“Your mother.”
I sat beside her.
“What did she do?”
Clara whispered:
“She paid someone to kill Daniel.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Because he was the rightful heir.”
I stared at her.
“To what?”
“The family empire.”
I laughed bitterly.
“I built this empire.”
“No.”
Clara looked at me.
“You inherited it.”
The words hit harder than anything I'd heard.
“My father didn't build the organization?”
“He took it from Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel was his first son.”
I stared.
“And I was?”
“His second.”
Silence.
Clara took my hand.
“You were never supposed to know.”
I looked at her.
“Why did you stay with me?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because I loved you.”
“And now?”
She looked at me.
“I still do.”
That broke me.
I leaned forward and pressed my forehead against her hand.
“I don't deserve you.”
“No.”
Her fingers moved weakly through my hair.
“You don't.”
I laughed through tears.
“But you still love me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because love isn't a reward for being perfect.”
I closed my eyes.
She whispered:
“But forgiveness isn't automatic.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
Outside the room, footsteps approached.
Mateo entered.
His face was pale.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Daniel.”
I stood.
“Where?”
May you like
Mateo looked at Clara.
“Here.”
