The Mafia Ceo's Hidden Heir

usting li

ke a whip, and Elena Hart froze halfway through the

ter's face - flushed, furious, tears already glistening at the ed

oria,

, trembling. "Don't you dare pre

folded, his jaw tighten. Beside him, Margaret hovered with a handkerchief pressed to her mouth, a

ame out smaller than she

r. He didn't ev

see the mascara smudged beneath her eyes. "On his phone. Messages from you, Elena.

lid in a conversation that made no sense. "I never sent him

flinched. "I have proof. I have screenshots. Do you want me to show ev

held her ground. "Show everyone, because I promi

st for a heartbeat, something

towards Richard instead of Elena, angling

something wounded and small. "Look what she wrot

eyes narrowing, his jaw working silently

f, but Victoria angled it away, tucking the phone protec

a demanded. "If it's

n figure out how to explain it away? I th

frustration. "Nobody's shown me a single thing except your

all pretence of fragility momentarily forgotten. "I came here in tears bec

outh before she could stop them. "You've never b

went utte

egging him to say something, anything, to stop

ce wasn't confusing. It was guilt. But not the g

Tell them the truth. Tell the

"Elena, I saw the

ed to tilt be

ble," she whisp

al, the voice he used when a decision had already been made

to soften whenever she walked through the door as a child - turn cold and dis

st listen to me

his expression shifted, gentler, protective. "Victoria has been h

ing through her. "Dad, I would never do something lik

"But I raised two daughters in this house, and on

desperately to her mother, silently pleading for support, but Margaret only lower

pered. "You belie

but no words came. The s

cision, careful not to smudge her makeup a

, and something inside Elena finally under

misunderstanding that could be untang

d lie, built brick by brick until it ha

at Victoria now, seeing past the tears to th

'd heard the accusation. "After everything I've done, after everything I've

wist anything. I'm t

ted at her before. "The truth is that you have spent your entire life resenting your siste

o let them fall. Not yet. "I have spent years being the daughter who apologised first, who stepped back first,

suffering," Richard snapped. "Not tonight. No

Look at how carefully she's crying. Ask yourself why she waited until the whole family was gathered

ered across Richard's face - the smalles

ubled instantly, her shoulders shaking as s

Twisting everything, making me sound calcu

oubt had briefly surfaced now buried beneath his ne

es, and for a moment Elena genuinely be

that she could see the fury trembling in his jaw, and s

t o

linked.

ut of this ho

can't be

not have a daughter under my roof who destroys another person's happiness o

inally spilling over despite every effort to hold them back. "Ple

id ge

ling hand on his arm. "Richard, please, perhaps we should dis

r off, not unkindly, but firmly enough to e

fusal to meet her eyes, at her mother's silent devastation, at her father's unmovable fury - and und

and didn't stop walking until the house had disappeared behind her, swallowed by darkness a

ressed her back against the cold brick wall of a shuttered shop, closed her eyes, and tried to steady the violent trem

efore it came to a stop only a few feet away, its engine idling low in the darkness, and E