Chương 5
“I never opened it.”
Her eyes moved toward him.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
The honesty surprised her.
Matteo Varric admitting fear felt impossible.
But now she understood something.
The strongest people were often the ones carrying the heaviest pain.
He opened the box.
Inside were several letters.
All written by Elena.
Liana noticed his hands tighten slightly.
“She wrote these during the last months before Nico was born.”
Matteo picked up the first letter.
“She told me she was worried.”
“About what?”
He looked down.
“About people around us.”
Liana listened carefully.
“She believed someone close to me was hiding something.”
The words reminded her of the recording.
“You never found out who?”
Matteo shook his head.
“No.”
He had searched.
He had questioned people.
He had used every resource available to him.
But Elena had taken the truth with her.
Until now.
Matteo handed her one of the letters.
“I want you to read this.”
Liana hesitated.
“This is private.”
“It was meant to be found.”
She slowly opened the letter.
The handwriting was delicate.
The first lines were addressed to Matteo.
My love, if something happens to me, please do not let fear decide Nico’s future.
Liana’s breathing slowed.
She continued reading.
Elena wrote about trust.
About secrets.
About a person who would eventually appear when Nico needed them most.
Someone with a heart that could understand his pain.
Liana looked up.
“Why does this sound like she knew me?”
Matteo had no answer.
That was the part that disturbed him most.
Elena had written about a stranger who did not exist in their lives yet.
Unless she had known more than she ever told him.
A sudden sound came from the hallway.
Both of them turned.
One of the security officers entered quickly.
“Sir, we found something in the old hospital records.”
Matteo immediately stood.
“What?”
“The woman whose name was removed.”
The officer placed a file on the desk.
“We recovered the original copy.”
Matteo opened it.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
Liana watched his face.
She knew before he spoke that the name mattered.
“Who was she?”
Matteo slowly turned the paper around.
The name was written clearly.
Liana stared at it.
Her entire body went still.
Because the name was not unfamiliar.
It belonged to someone connected to her own life.
Someone she thought was gone forever.
Matteo looked at her reaction.
“You know this name.”
Liana could barely speak.
“My mother.”
The room became silent.
Matteo looked confused.
“Your mother was at the hospital the night Nico was born?”
Liana shook her head slowly.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with emotion.
“She died before I ever knew this.”
The discovery created a silence neither of them knew how to break.
For years, Liana had believed her mother’s life ended with unanswered questions.
Now a missing piece had appeared inside Matteo’s family mystery.
A connection between two women.
A connection between two children.
Matteo carefully placed the document down.
“Tell me everything you know about your mother.”
Liana looked away.
“She was kind.”
Her voice became quieter.
“She worked many jobs because she wanted me to have a better life.”
“Did she ever mention Elena?”
Liana searched her memory.
At first, nothing came.
Then something surfaced.
An old conversation.
A name she had heard once when she was younger.
“I remember a photograph.”
Matteo leaned forward.
“What photograph?”
“My mother kept it hidden.”
Liana closed her eyes.
“I never understood why.”
She looked at him.
“It showed her with another woman.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Was the other woman Elena?”
“I do not know.”
For the first time, Matteo looked uncertain.
Not because he lacked power.
Because he realized the truth had been hidden by people who were no longer alive to explain it.
He immediately ordered his team to search Liana’s old records.
But before they could leave, Nico began crying from the nursery.
The sound made both of them stop.
It was the same cry that had haunted the mansion for weeks.
Except now Matteo noticed something different.
Liana reacted before anyone else.
She moved toward the door.
Matteo followed.
When they entered the nursery, Nico was awake in his crib.
His small face was frightened.
The room felt colder than before.
Liana approached him slowly.
“It is okay.”
Her voice was gentle.
She lifted him carefully.
The crying stopped almost immediately.
Matteo watched.
But this time, he noticed something else.
The nursery camera light was blinking.
The same camera they believed was secure.
The same camera that had recorded the hidden figure.
Matteo walked toward the monitor.
The screen flickered.
A new video file appeared.
A recording created only moments ago.
Neither of them had touched the system.
Matteo opened it.
The footage showed the nursery from above.
It showed Nico waking up.
It showed Liana entering.
Then the camera angle changed.
A second camera appeared.
One they did not know existed.
It was hidden behind the wall.
Matteo stared at the screen.
Someone had been watching them discover the truth.
And then, before the video ended, a message appeared.
Only four words.
Matteo read them silently.
His expression changed completely.
Liana looked at him.
“What does it say?”
He turned the monitor toward her.
The message was simple.
“Liana was the key.”
The message remained on the screen for several seconds, glowing in the dark nursery like a warning that refused to disappear.
“Liana was the key.”
Matteo read the words again.
Then again.
Each time, the meaning became heavier.
He looked at Liana, who was still holding Nico in her arms.
Her expression was not one of guilt.
It was confusion.
Fear.
And something close to heartbreak.
“Why would someone write that?” she whispered.
Matteo did not answer immediately.
Because deep down, he already understood one possibility.
Someone had not discovered Liana by accident.
Someone had been waiting for her to enter his life.
May you like
The thought disturbed him more than any enemy ever had.
He stepped closer to the monitor.
