INICIAR SESIÓNAlessandra’s POV
“Alessandra… Damian isn't Daniel's only son.”Mama's confession hung between us like a death sentence.I stared at her, waiting for her to take back her words. Waiting for her to tell me that the blood staining Damian's shirt had made me delirious, that Richard Blackwood had lied, and that the man I loved wasn't connected to me by a truth neither of us could survive.But Mama only cried.“Tell me you're mistaken,” I whispered.Alessandra’s POV“Damian, look at me!”He didn't respond.He remained on his knees in front of the monitor, staring at Elias Monteverde's photograph as though the dead boy might suddenly open his eyes and tell him everything was a lie.The countdown continued.00:09:41.Nine minutes and forty-one seconds.That was all the time Adrian had given us.I grabbed Damian's face between my trembling hands.“Damian! Please!”His eyes finally met mine.There was no coldness in them now. No arrogance. No carefully constructed mask of control.Only horror.“I killed him,” he whispered.“You were a child.”“I pulled the trigger, Alessandra!”His voice cracked so violently that Aurelia flinched.“I remember the sound. I remember the blood. I remember Richard telling me I had done what was necessary to protect our family.” He shook his head. “And
Alessandra’s POV“Alessandra… Damian isn't Daniel's only son.”Mama's confession hung between us like a death sentence.I stared at her, waiting for her to take back her words. Waiting for her to tell me that the blood staining Damian's shirt had made me delirious, that Richard Blackwood had lied, and that the man I loved wasn't connected to me by a truth neither of us could survive.But Mama only cried.“Tell me you're mistaken,” I whispered.She shook her head.My chest tightened.“Then who is he, Mama? Who is Daniel's other son?”Her gaze shifted toward Damian.He was sitting against the chapel's stone pillar, his injured shoulder wrapped in a bloodstained cloth. His face had become frighteningly pale, but his eyes remained fixed on us.“Please,” he said hoarsely. “Tell us everything.”Mama pressed a trembling hand against her mouth.“I wanted to protect you.”
ALESSANDRA’S POV“Let's find out which daughter deserves to live.”Richard Blackwood's words echoed inside the abandoned chapel.For several seconds, nobody moved.I stared at the man standing beside my mother, the man Damian had called his father, the man who might have been responsible for every tragedy my family had endured.He looked perfectly composed.His expensive black suit was immaculate. His silver hair was neatly combed, and his expression carried the same cold authority I had seen in Damian whenever he was determined to control a situation.But there was nothing familiar about the cruelty in his eyes.“Let her go,” I demanded.Richard smiled.“You sound exactly like your father.”“Which one?” I spat.His smile disappeared.Good.For once, I wanted him to feel even a fraction of the pain he had inflicted on us.Behind him, Mama struggled a
ALESSANDRA’S POV“WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!”My scream echoed through the hospital room as I rushed toward the empty bed.The sheets were still warm.The window stood wide open, curtains fluttering in the cold night breeze. The monitor continued beeping as if nothing had happened, while the black rose rested on the pillow like a cruel joke.My mother had been here seconds ago.Now she was gone.“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, no, no…”Aurelia grabbed my shoulders before my knees could give way.“Alessandra, look at me.”I couldn't.All I could see was the empty bed.My mother had spent her entire life protecting me. She had sacrificed everything to raise me, hiding secrets she believed would destroy our family. And now, after finally discovering the truth about my sister, someone had taken her.Someone wanted us to suffer.Someone knew exactly where to st
Alessandra’s POV“Damian?”I turned toward the doorway, expecting to find him beside me.But he was gone.A strange uneasiness crawled beneath my skin as I looked down the hospital corridor. A nurse hurried past, pushing a trolley, while another spoke quietly to a doctor.Then I saw him.Damian stood near the end of the hallway, facing a woman in a nurse's uniform.Something about the way he stared at her made my stomach tighten.“Damian?” I called again.He didn't move.The woman touched the side of her face, then whispered something I couldn't hear.Damian stepped backward.For the first time since I'd known him, he looked genuinely terrified.I walked toward them.“What's going on?”The woman immediately turned away.“Wait!” I called.She stopped.When she looked at me, the world seemed to fall silent.She had
Alessandra’s POV“Why does that girl look like me?”My voice trembled as I stared at the photograph in my hands.The little girl standing between my mother and Damian’s father had my eyes, my nose, and the same tiny birthmark beneath her left ear.It was me.But that was impossible.The photograph was dated three years before I was born.“Damian,” I whispered, lifting my gaze toward him. “Tell me this is some kind of joke.”He stared at the picture, his face drained of color.“I can't.”“Then explain it!” My voice cracked. “How can I be in a photograph taken before I was born?”Nobody answered.Not Damian. Not Isabelle. Not even Richard Blackwood, who had spent the entire evening acting as though he knew every secret in the world.I turned toward him.“You know something.”Richard's fingers tightened around his cane.“Put that photograph dow







