Chapter 6: The Secret My Parents Left Behind

Why would they? They never once cared about where I came from.

I drove for hours until the city disappeared behind me and the roads narrowed into a winding path surrounded by trees.

By the time I reached the valley, the sun was already sinking behind the mountains.

The old house looked exactly as I remembered it—small, weathered, and surrounded by wildflowers my mother used to love.

For the first time in years, I felt like I could finally breathe.

I carried my bags inside, locked the door, and let myself collapse onto the old sofa.

No Luca.

No Fiona.

No Maria.

No one telling me what I was supposed to do.

I thought I had finally escaped.

But the next morning, while cleaning the bedroom, I found something that made my entire body go cold.

A wooden box was hidden beneath the loose floorboard beside my mother's old bed.

I recognized it immediately.

It had belonged to my father.

My hands trembled as I opened it.

Inside were several old photographs, property documents, and a sealed envelope with my name written across it.

Catrina.

My heart pounded.

My parents had been dead for almost ten years. Why had they left something for me that I had never known existed?

I tore open the envelope.

The letter inside was written by my mother.

My dearest Catrina,

If you're reading this, then something has happened that made you come back to this house.

There is something about your marriage and the Moretti family that I never had the courage to tell you.

I stopped breathing.

The Morettis.

My mother had known them.

Not just known them.

She had been afraid of them.

I continued reading.

Your father discovered years ago that the Moretti family was involved in something far more dangerous than ordinary crime. He found evidence that could destroy their entire empire.

Before he could expose them, he disappeared.

I always believed the Morettis were responsible.

My fingers tightened around the paper.

Then I reached the final paragraph.

There is one person inside the Moretti family who knows the truth. I never discovered who it was. But if you ever find yourself trapped among them, remember this: trust no one who tells you that Maria is only a maid.

The letter slipped from my fingers.

Maria.

I remembered the first time Luca introduced her.

She's our maid.

But my mother had just told me that Maria was hiding something.

Suddenly, everything felt different.

Dora's attachment to Maria.

Fiona's strange trust in her.

The way Luca always defended her.

The way Maria seemed to belong inside the Moretti family more than I ever had.

None of it was random.

I quickly searched through the photographs in the box.

Then I found one that made my blood run cold.

It showed my father standing beside a much younger Fiona.

And beside them was a little girl.

Maria.

But that wasn't the shocking part.

Written on the back of the photograph were four words.

The Moretti heir's secret daughter.

I stared at the photograph in disbelief.

Maria wasn't the maid's daughter.

She was connected to the Moretti family by blood.

But if that was true, why had they hidden it?

And why had my mother warned me about her?

Before I could think any further, my phone suddenly rang.

It was an unknown number.

I almost ignored it.

Then a message appeared.

You shouldn't have gone back to that house.

My stomach dropped.

Another message followed.

Luca knows where you are.

I rushed to the window.

The valley was empty.

No cars.

No people.

Nothing but the trees moving in the cold evening wind.

Then I saw headlights appear in the distance.

A black SUV slowly turned onto the road leading toward my house.

I knew that car.

It was Luca's.

My first instinct was to run.

But then I looked down at the photograph in my hand.

For years, I had been running from the Morettis.

This time, I wasn't going to run.

If Luca had come all this way to find me, then I was finally going to demand the truth.