Chapter 10: The Woman Behind the Message

The message remained on Elena’s phone.

Your mother is alive. But if you want to see her, you must come alone.

Beneath it was an address.

And one final warning.

Do not trust Damian Romano.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Lena stared at the screen, her thoughts racing. Their mother—the woman she had spent nineteen years believing was nothing more than a name on a birth certificate—might still be alive.

But the message had been sent to Elena.

Not her.

“Who sent it?” Damian asked.

Elena shook her head. “An unknown number.”

“Show me.”

She pulled the phone closer to her chest. “Why?”

“Because whoever sent that message knows something about your mother. They also know enough about this family to understand that sending you alone could put you in danger.”

Elena’s eyes narrowed. “And you think I should trust you?”

Damian’s jaw tightened.

“No,” he replied. “I think you should trust your instincts. But I also think you should question anyone who suddenly claims to know where your mother is.”

Lena looked at him.

“Especially you?”

His gaze shifted to hers.

“Especially me.”

The answer surprised her.

She had expected another excuse. Another carefully constructed explanation. Instead, Damian stood before her, acknowledging the very suspicion that had been planted in her mind.

It didn’t make her trust him.

But it made her listen.

“Elena,” Lena said softly, “do you think it’s really her?”

Elena looked down at the message.

“I don’t know.” Her voice trembled. “I’ve spent my entire life believing she was gone. I barely remember her face. And now someone is telling me she’s alive.”

She swallowed.

“What if it’s true?”

Lena reached for her hand.

“Then we’ll find out.”

Elena squeezed her fingers.

For the first time since discovering they were twins, Lena felt something stronger than confusion connecting them.

Hope.

Damian glanced at the address.

“Where is it?”

Elena hesitated before showing him.

His expression changed almost instantly.

Lena noticed.

“What?”

Damian studied the location again, his eyes darkening.

“You know that place,” Lena said.

“I know the area.”

“Damian.”

He looked at her.

“Don’t start lying to me again.”

His expression hardened, but he eventually exhaled.

“It’s an old property outside the city. My father used to own several buildings in that district.”

“Your father?” Elena asked.

“Gabriel Romano.”

Lena remembered Vincent’s words from the garden.

Your father’s death was a mystery. I helped your family accept it.

She watched Damian carefully.

“Was that where your father disappeared?”

Damian’s eyes flickered.

“My father didn’t disappear.”

“Then what happened to him?”

For a moment, he looked like a man fighting a memory he had spent years trying to bury.

“He died.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Lena replied. “But Vincent made it sound like there was something more.”

Damian’s voice dropped.

“Vincent has spent years twisting the truth. Don’t let him turn you against me.”

Lena folded her arms.

“You’re asking me not to trust Vincent while refusing to tell me what happened to your father.”

“I’m asking you to understand that some truths can destroy more than they reveal.”

“And some secrets destroy people slowly.”

Their eyes locked.

Elena stepped between them before the argument could grow.

“Enough. We have a message claiming our mother is alive. I don’t care whose family secrets are involved. I want answers.”

Damian nodded once.

“Then we’ll get them.”

“No,” Elena said firmly. “The message said I should come alone.”

“And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t.”

Elena lifted her chin.

“You don’t get to decide what I do.”

Damian’s expression remained calm, but Lena could see the tension in his shoulders.

“Fine. You decide. But if you go to that address without knowing who sent the message, you’re walking into something you don’t understand.”

Lena turned toward Elena.

“We’re not going alone.”

Elena looked at her twin.

“But the message—”

“Could be a trap,” Lena finished. “Or it could be the only chance we have to find our mother. Either way, we shouldn’t make the decision blindly.”

Elena looked back at Damian.

“Can you find out who sent it?”

“I can try.”

“Without reading my private messages?”

Damian gave her a brief, humorless smile.

“I’ll try to manage.”

Elena didn’t smile back.

“Then do it.”

Damian took out his phone and stepped toward the window. He made a brief call, speaking in a low voice.

Lena watched him.

She hated how much she wanted to believe him.

She hated even more that, despite everything he had hidden from her, part of her still felt safer when he was near.

That feeling was dangerous.

And she knew it.

Twenty minutes later, Damian returned.

“I couldn’t identify the sender,” he said. “The number appears to be temporary.”

Elena’s face fell.

“But I did confirm something about the address.”

“What?” Lena asked.

“The property belonged to my father. It was transferred out of the family records years ago.”

“Transferred to whom?”

Damian paused.

“Richard Carter.”

The name struck Lena like a sudden blow.

Her adoptive father.

The man whose signature appeared on the altered birth certificate.

The man whose photograph had been found beside Isabella Romano and Vincent.

Lena’s mouth went dry.

“Richard owned that property?”

“According to the records, yes.”

Elena stared at her.

“Your father knew our mother?”

Lena shook her head slowly.

“I don’t know.”

But the words sounded weak even to her.

The photograph. The altered certificate. The message claiming Isabella was alive. And now an old property connected to both families.

Too many pieces were beginning to fit.

Yet the picture they formed was still incomplete.

“Maybe Richard took me there,” Lena whispered. “Maybe that’s where he met Isabella.”

Damian watched her closely.

“Lena, don’t jump to conclusions.”

She turned sharply.

“Then give me something else to conclude.”

He had no answer.

For once, Damian Romano—the man who always seemed to have a plan—stood silent.

Elena picked up the phone again.

“I’m going.”

Lena looked at her.

“Elena—”

“I’m going to that address. Whether you come with me or not.”

Her voice was steady now.

“I’ve spent my entire life wondering why I was born into a family that never felt complete. If our mother is alive, I deserve to know why she left us.”

Lena felt the ache behind those words.

She understood it.

Because she had spent years wondering why her adoptive father sometimes looked at her as though he were afraid of what she might become.

“Then I’m coming with you,” Lena said.

Damian’s gaze sharpened.

“Both of you are staying here until we know more.”

Lena stepped closer.

“You don’t own us, Damian.”

His eyes met hers.

“I never said I did.”

“Then stop acting like it.”

For a moment, neither moved.

The tension between them was no longer simply anger.

There was something else beneath it—something neither of them was willing to name.

Damian lowered his voice.

“If something happens to you, Lena—”

“What?”

He stopped.

The words he had been about to say seemed to disappear behind his guarded expression.

“Nothing.”

Lena’s heart gave an unexpected little twist.

“Then don’t pretend you care.”

She regretted the words almost immediately.

Damian’s face changed.

Not with anger.

With something quieter.

Something wounded.

“I don’t pretend,” he said.

Then he turned away.

Later that evening, Lena stood alone in the bedroom Damian had assigned her.

The old photograph lay on the table beside the altered birth certificate.

She picked up the picture of Isabella holding the twins.

Her mother looked young.

Beautiful.

And strangely familiar.

Lena traced the edge of the photograph with her finger.

“Why did you leave us?” she whispered.

Her phone vibrated.

A message from an unknown number appeared.

Lena Carter. I know you’re with Elena.

Her breath caught.

Another message followed.

Your sister has been told the truth. But you haven’t.

Lena’s fingers tightened around the phone.

What truth?

The reply arrived almost immediately.

You were never supposed to be adopted.

Her blood turned cold.

A final message appeared.

Richard Carter didn’t save you, Lena. He stole you.

Lena stared at the screen.

Then she heard a knock at the door.

“Lena?” Damian’s voice.

She couldn’t speak.

The door opened slightly.

“Lena, I need to tell you something about Richard Carter.”

She slowly turned toward him.

Her phone was still glowing in her hand.

Damian’s eyes dropped to the screen.

And for the first time since she had met him, the Mafia CEO looked genuinely afraid.