Chapter 10: The Secret Buried With His Father
Chapter 10: The Secret Buried With His Father
The screen went black.
The voice disappeared.
But the words remained.
THE ROSSI FAMILY SECRET DIDN’T START WITH ISABELLA.
IT STARTED WITH YOU.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The mansion was completely silent.
Even Lily, who was standing near the staircase, seemed to understand that something terrible had happened.
Leo stared at the dark screen.
His face showed nothing.
But Beatrice saw it.
The smallest crack.
The moment when a man who had spent his entire life controlling everything realized there was something he never knew.
“Daddy?”
Lily’s small voice broke through the silence.
Leo immediately turned.
The cold expression vanished.
He walked toward her and knelt.
“I’m here, princess.”
“Are we okay?”
That question hurt more than anything.
Because Lily had already lost her mother.
She had already lived through fear.
And Leo had promised himself she would never feel unsafe again.
“Yes.”
He forced a small smile.
“We’re okay.”
But everyone in the room knew the truth.
They weren’t.
Not anymore.
After Lily was taken back upstairs, Leo returned to his office.
The entire Rossi inner circle gathered.
No one spoke.
Everyone was waiting for him.
Because when Leo Rossi was silent…
People became afraid.
Finally, Mateo broke the silence.
“The voice mentioned your father.”
Leo looked at the old family portrait hanging on the wall.
His father.
Marco Rossi.
A man everyone remembered as a powerful businessman.
A respected leader.
A man who built the foundation of the Rossi empire.
But also a man Leo had spent his life trying to understand.
“My father died before I knew the truth about him.”
Mateo looked at him.
“What truth?”
Leo was quiet.
“When I was younger, I believed he was a hero.”
A pause.
“Then I learned he had enemies.”
Beatrice listened carefully.
“And you think those enemies are connected to Isabella?”
Leo nodded.
“Maybe.”
Mateo placed several documents on the desk.
“These came from the archive room.”
Leo looked down.
Old financial records.
Company reports.
Private correspondence.
“Most of this was hidden.”
“By who?”
Mateo looked at him.
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Leo opened one of the folders.
Inside was a letter from twenty-five years earlier.
The handwriting was his father’s.
He began reading.
If you are reading this, then the truth has finally escaped the walls I built around it.
I spent my life protecting this family.
But protection sometimes becomes another form of destruction.
The people closest to me were never the ones I feared.
The ones I feared were the people who believed they deserved what I created.
Leo stopped.
His expression changed.
Beatrice noticed.
“What is it?”
He handed her the letter.
At the bottom was a name.
A name she recognized.
Her face went pale.
“No…”
Leo looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed.
“This name.”
Mateo stepped closer.
“Who is it?”
Beatrice whispered:
“The person who destroyed my career.”
The name was:
Daniel Cross.
Seven years earlier, Daniel Cross was the executive director of the emergency response program where Beatrice worked.
The man who accused her of negligence.
The man who destroyed her reputation.
The man who forced her to disappear.
Leo stared at the paper.
“How is he connected to my father?”
Beatrice shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
But she did know one thing.
Daniel Cross was not just a random enemy.
He had been part of something much bigger.
The next morning, Leo and Mateo visited the old Rossi Foundation headquarters.
The building had been abandoned after the bombing.
Nobody went there anymore.
Too many memories.
Too many ghosts.
But now they needed answers.
Beatrice came with them.
Leo noticed she looked uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to do this.”
She looked at him.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because this started with me.”
Leo shook his head.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“This started before you.”
Beatrice looked away.
For once, she didn’t argue.
Inside the old building, everything was covered in dust.
The walls still carried the marks of the explosion.
The place where Isabella died.
The place where Leo lost everything.
Beatrice stopped walking.
Her breathing changed.
Leo noticed.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
But she wasn’t.
“This is where I found her.”
Leo froze.
“You were here?”
“Yes.”
She looked around.
“After the explosion.”
Her voice became quieter.
“I was one of the first responders.”
Leo had never known that.
Nobody had told him.
Nobody had survived to tell him.
“What did you see?”
Beatrice closed her eyes.
“I saw Isabella.”
A pause.
“She was alive.”
Leo turned sharply.
“What?”
“She was injured.”
Her voice trembled.
“But alive.”
The world seemed to stop.
“Beatrice…”
“She grabbed my hand.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“She gave me the envelope.”
Leo stepped closer.
“What did she say?”
Beatrice looked at him.
“She said…”
Her voice broke.
“She said, ‘Don’t let him find out yet.’”
Leo stared.
“Don’t let who find out?”
Beatrice looked toward the damaged hallway.
“I never knew.”
Suddenly, a noise echoed from another room.
Mateo immediately pulled his weapon.
“Someone’s here.”
They moved carefully.
Slowly.
The old building creaked around them.
Then they found it.
A hidden room behind a damaged wall.
Inside were dozens of files.
Photographs.
Records.
Names.
All connected to the Rossi family.
And in the center of the room was a single photograph.
Leo picked it up.
His hands froze.
Because it showed three people.
His father.
Antonio Rossi.
And…
A woman Leo had never seen before.
A woman holding a baby.
The baby had a name written underneath.
Leonardo Rossi.
But the date on the photograph made no sense.
Because it was taken one year after Leo was born.
Mateo looked confused.
“Leo…”
Beatrice stared at the image.
“Who is she?”
Leo didn’t answer.
Because he recognized the woman.
Not from memory.
From stories.
A woman his father said died before Leo was born.
A woman whose existence had been erased.
His mother.
Then another document fell from the photograph.
Leo picked it up.
Only one sentence was written.
YOUR FATHER DID NOT DIE HIDING A SECRET.
HE DIED PROTECTING ONE.
At that exact moment, Leo’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A familiar voice spoke.
A voice he never expected to hear again.
“Leo.”
He froze.
Because the voice belonged to someone who had been dead for twenty years.
“Dad?”
Silence.
May you like
Then:
“You finally found the truth.”
