Chapter 14 - Elena’s Secret
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Hours later, the mansion was entirely quiet. The caterers had been sent home, the guards were on high alert patrolling the perimeter, and Celeste had been locked in a guest room on the east wing by the security team.
Matteo was back in his master bedroom. But this time, all the lights were on.
He was sitting at his heavy mahogany desk, sorting through the financial ledgers Lorenzo had neglected. The empire was bleeding money, but it was fixable.
Elena walked in, carrying a fresh pot of black coffee and a small plate of food he hadn't asked for. She set it quietly on the desk next to the ledgers.
“You didn't eat dinner,” Elena said simply.
Matteo looked up from the numbers, his dark eyes studying her intensely. He had been so focused on reclaiming his throne that he hadn't stopped to truly evaluate the woman who had pushed him back onto it.
“Why did you do it?” Matteo asked, leaning back in his chair. “You could have just kept your head down, collected your paycheck, and let Lorenzo take over. Why risk your life to antagonize me into fighting back?”
Elena poured the coffee, her face unbothered by his intense scrutiny.
“I despise cowards,” she answered plainly.
“There’s more to it than that,” Matteo pushed, his mafia instincts flaring. He could spot a liar from a mile away, and he could spot a person with a hidden past even faster. “You didn't flinch when I pulled the gun. You didn't flinch when you saw the men downstairs. You aren't just a maid, Elena. Who are you?”
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Elena paused. She set the coffee pot down and finally looked him dead in the eye.
“My father was a capo in the Moretti family,” Elena said, her voice turning cold and hard. “He was betrayed by his own underboss when he got sick. They dragged him out of his bed and shot him. I watched them do it when I was twelve years old.”
