Chapter 10
Elena’s final recording was the longest.
She talked about Marcella differently than I expected.
Not as a monster.
As a sister she once loved.
“She was kind to me when I first joined the family,” Elena said. “She taught me which dinners to survive quietly and which people deserved to be challenged.”
Marcella looked away.
Elena continued.
“Then Nico became boss.”
Everything changed after that.
Marcella had spent most of her life believing she would become the family’s permanent internal matriarch while whichever Bellandi man held the title managed external power.
My marriage disrupted that.
Not because I ordered it.
Because I started going home before midnight.
Asking Elena’s opinion.
Refusing traditions she found cruel.
Thinking about what kind of family Vivia would inherit.
Marcella did not lose a position officially.
She lost the future she had assumed belonged to her.
“She thinks I took Nico,” Elena said.
I looked at Marcella.
“She didn’t understand he was never hers to give away.”
My sister started crying silently.
Elena’s voice softened.
“If something happens to me, Nico will hate himself for not believing me sooner.”
My chest tightened.
“He’ll think love should have made him know.”
I closed my eyes.
“He’s wrong.”
The same mercy I did not deserve.
Again.
“People who trust family can be deceived by family. That does not make trust a crime.”
Rafe lowered his head.
Elena continued.
“But after he learns the truth, he’ll want to turn trust into suspicion. Don’t.”
I almost laughed through the pain.
She knew me too well.
“Make the family earn trust better. Don’t teach Vivia that everyone is a possible enemy.”
Then Elena lifted the childhood dress.
“I’m hiding the drive here because Vivia is stubborn.”
Vivia looked up.
I almost smiled.
“She will fight anyone who tries to take something she thinks is hers.”
Even Marcella made a small broken sound.
Elena smiled at the camera.
“And Nico will eventually ask why.”
The recording ended.
I looked down at my daughter.
She had carried her mother’s plan exactly as Elena predicted.
Not because she understood the USB.
May you like
Because she loved the dress.
Marcella hated that object because every time Vivia wore it, Elena was still making choices inside our family.
