CHAPTER 4 — THE HIDDEN ROOM
The underground archive smelled of dust and old paper.
Leandro moved slowly through the darkness.
Daphne followed.
Estelle stayed behind with two guards.
At the end of the corridor, they found the door open.
Inside, shelves had been overturned.
Files were burning.
Leandro rushed forward.
He pulled several boxes away from the flames.
Then he saw something carved into the wall.
A child's name.
ELENA ROSSI.
Estelle stared.
"Who is Elena?"
Leandro's face hardened.
"I don't know."
A voice came from behind them.
"I do."
Maribel stood in the doorway.
She was holding a gun.
Daphne immediately raised hers.
Leandro stepped between them.
"Put it down."
Maribel ignored him.
"Elena was your sister."
Leandro froze.
"My sister died before I was born."
"No."
Maribel's voice cracked.
"She survived."
Estelle whispered, "Where is she?"
Maribel looked at her.
"She was the other child."
The room became silent.
Twenty-three years ago, two babies.
One Rossi.
One ordinary.
One disappeared.
One was declared dead.
Maribel had switched them.
But why?
Maribel lowered the gun.
"Because your father wanted to destroy the family."
Leandro stared.
"What did he do?"
"He planned to leave the Rossi organization."
Maribel's eyes filled with tears.
"He wanted to expose the council."
"Expose them for what?"
"For everything."
Murder.
Money laundering.
Political corruption.
Blackmail.
The Rossi empire was not merely criminal.
It had been built on a network of secrets powerful enough to destroy half the people sitting in that ballroom.
Maribel had believed she was protecting the family.
But she had sacrificed two innocent children to do it.
Estelle looked at her.
"You stole my identity."
Maribel shook her head.
"I saved your life."
"Then why did you spend years trying to destroy me?"
May you like
Maribel couldn't answer.
Because that was the question she had spent twenty-three years avoiding.
