Chapter 19 - BEFORE VICTOR AND ELENA EVER MET
Rachel put us on speakerphone.
“Harper?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother never stole from Elena.”
My shoulders loosened.
“What did she do?”
“She moved the money somewhere safe.”
“From who?”
“Elena’s stepfather.”
Anthony went still.
“Elena had a stepfather?”
“Yes.”
Neither Elena nor Anthony had known the full story for years.
“What was his name?” Victor asked.
“Marcus Bell.”
Victor’s face changed.
“I know that name.”
“How?”
“He was my father’s business partner.”
The room went silent.
Marcus Bell had pressured Elena’s mother to invest Reed family money into a company tied to Carlo Rossi.
Marjorie helped move the assets into independent management before that could happen.
“Did Elena know?”
“Only shortly before she died.”
“That’s what the second notebook was about.”
“Yes.”
“What did she discover?”
Rachel paused.
“That her relationship with Victor may not have been the first time the Rossi and Reed families were brought together deliberately.”
Victor went still.
“What are you saying?”
“Carlo Rossi knew exactly who Elena was before you met her.”
Silence.
“Did Elena believe I knew?”
“No.”
That mattered.
“What did she think happened?”
“That Carlo encouraged circumstances for you to meet.”
“Why?”
“The Reed trust.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“He thought marriage would restore financial access.”
“Potentially.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
Because Marjorie had already removed those assets from structures Carlo could influence.
Victor sat down.
Then asked the smallest question in the room.
“Did Elena love me?”
Rachel answered immediately.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the final page of her notebook is about you.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Rachel read:
If Victor ever learns how we met, I need him to know one thing before anything else.
Then:
His father may have opened the door. I was the one who chose to walk through it.
Victor bowed his head.
His shoulders shook once.
The circumstances might have been manipulated.
But Elena’s love had been hers.
Her choice.
Then Rachel said:
“There’s one more page.”
Of course.
“It’s dated the morning Elena died.”
Victor raised his head.
“What does it say?”
“It’s about Finn.”
My heartbeat changed.
Not parentage.
Not custody.
Something hidden in the Reed family records.
May you like
Something Elena intended to tell Victor that night.
And Finn’s birth was the key to opening it.
