Chapter 9
The post-office box had been closed eleven months earlier.
But payment records led to a woman using Elena’s maiden name.
Elena Rossi.
The investigator found a current rental application tied to the same name.
Carmel Valley.
Cassandro did not go there.
Every instinct told him to.
He stayed in New York—no, California—at the estate and let the investigator make first contact.
Twenty-four hours later, Cassandro received the call he had imagined hundreds of times.
“She’s alive.”
He sat down.
No one around him spoke.
“Did you see her?”
“Yes.”
“Is it Elena?”
“Yes.”
Cassandro closed his eyes.
Fourteen months of grief changed shape without disappearing.
“Does she know about Audrey?”
“Yes.”
“Does she want to see her?”
The investigator paused.
“She wants to know whether it's safe.”
Cassandro opened his eyes.
Safe.
Again.
He asked the question quietly.
“Safe from whom?”
“She believes from you.”
Cassandro said nothing.
Elena agreed to communicate through attorneys first.
No surprise visit.
No confrontation.
No bringing Audrey north immediately.
Cassandro accepted every condition.
That surprised his own lawyer.
Elena’s first written statement arrived two days later.
She admitted leaving voluntarily.
She admitted planning a temporary separation.
She admitted being afraid of Cassandro’s anger and family power.
Then came something he did not expect.
After leaving Los Angeles, Elena received messages from Cassandro.
Threatening messages.
If you take Audrey, I’ll make sure you never see her again.
If you embarrass me, there won't be anywhere you can hide.
You belong to this family whether you like it or not.
Cassandro stared at the screenshots.
The language sounded like him.
That was the worst part.
May you like
He had never sent them.
But Elena had every reason to believe he might.
