Chapter 3 - The Shadow of the Past
Sofía’s head snapped up, her heart pounding frantically against her ribs. "You took it? Who are you? How did you know my family twenty years ago?"
Matteo walked over to a crystal decanter, poured himself two fingers of dark scotch, and swallowed it in a single gulp. He leaned against his desk, staring into the flickering flames of the fireplace.
"Twenty years ago, I wasn't the head of the Vance syndicate," Matteo said softly, his voice heavy with years of buried guilt. "I was a nineteen-year-old street soldier working for the Moretti family—the mobsters who controlled the west side back then."
Sofía stepped back, her eyes wide with mounting terror. "The Moretti family... they burned our neighborhood down."
"Yes," Matteo confessed, looking directly into her eyes. "Old man Moretti wanted your block for a commercial port expansion. Your mother, Rosa, was the head of the neighborhood union. She refused to sell her home. She fought them in court, in the papers, and on the streets."
"So Moretti ordered his men to set the fire," Sofía whispered, the traumatic memories of smoke, screaming, and blazing heat flooding her mind. "I was four years old... I remember the fire..."
"I was one of the men sent to burn the house," Matteo admitted, his voice cracking slightly. "I was young, stupid, and desperate to prove my loyalty to the bosses. But when I stepped into the living room with a gas canister, I saw that photo sitting on the mantle. I saw two innocent little girls."
Matteo took a deep breath, his hands trembling slightly—a rare show of vulnerability from a man known for his cold ruthlessness.
"I tried to stop the torch," Matteo continued. "I fought with the other soldier, but the fire had already caught the curtains. The house went up in seconds. I managed to grab that photo off the mantle before the room exploded. Your mother got Elena out through the front door... but in the smoke and chaos, you were separated."
"My mother died of smoke inhalation three days later in the hospital," Sofía choked out, tears streaming down her pale, dirty cheeks. "And Elena... Elena was taken away by state social workers. I was left behind in the alleyways... forgotten."
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"You weren't forgotten," Matteo said firmly. "I spent ten years searching for both of you to make amends for what I did that night. When I finally found Elena in an orphanage twelve years ago, I swore I would protect her for the rest of my life. I married her. I built an empire so no one could ever hurt her again."
Matteo leaned forward, his eyes burning with intense determination. "And Elena never stopped looking for you, Sofía. She kept a bed made in our home every single day, waiting for her little sister to come home."
