Chapter 3 - The Night Elena Died

Cassandra stared at her father.

“You covered up a death?”

Victor did not answer her.

Leonardo did.

“He covered up my aunt’s murder.”

Victor shook his head.

“It was not planned.”

Leonardo stepped closer.

“Explain.”

Maria began trembling.

Mrs. Miller touched her arm.

Leonardo noticed.

His voice softened slightly.

“Mother.”

The word stopped everyone.

Maria looked at him.

He had said it without meaning to.

Her eyes filled.

Leonardo repeated:

“Mother, what happened?”

Maria took a breath.

“Your father, Antonio, was in love with Elena.”

Leonardo glanced at the portrait through the open ballroom doors.

Maria continued.

“Elena wanted to leave him.”

“Why?”

“Because she discovered what he was building.”

Leonardo frowned.

“What was he building?”

“A network.”

Victor answered this time.

“Judges.”

“Police.”

“Dock officials.”

“Bankers.”

“Politicians.”

Leonardo looked at him.

“My father’s organization.”

Victor nodded.

“It was smaller then.”

Maria looked at Leonardo.

“Elena found records.”

“Payments?”

“Names.”

“Accounts.”

“Blackmail.”

Leonardo’s face hardened.

“And she planned to expose him?”

“She planned to disappear.”

Maria shook her head.

“She only wanted to survive.”

Mrs. Miller spoke quietly.

“Elena came to me the night she died.”

Leonardo looked at her.

“What did she say?”

“She asked me to pack two bags.”

“For herself?”

Mrs. Miller looked at Maria.

“For both sisters.”

Leonardo turned back to his mother.

“You were leaving too?”

Maria nodded.

“I was pregnant.”

Leonardo’s eyes narrowed.

“With me?”

“Yes.”

Antonio had known the child was his.

But Maria had never been his wife.

Elena had.

The room seemed to tilt around Leonardo.

He looked at the portrait.

“So my father married Elena.”

“Yes.”

“And had a child with Maria.”

Maria lowered her eyes.

“Yes.”

Cassandra whispered:

“My God.”

Leonardo ignored her.

“What happened that night?”

Maria closed her eyes.

“Elena told Antonio she had the records.”

“He struck her.”

Victor looked down.

Maria continued.

“She ran toward the study door.”

“Antonio grabbed her.”

“She fell against the marble edge of the fireplace.”

Leonardo stopped moving.

“Was she alive?”

Maria looked at Victor.

Victor answered.

“For a few minutes.”

Leonardo’s stare locked onto him.

“You could have called an ambulance.”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t.”

Victor’s jaw tightened.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Antonio said if Elena lived, all of us would go to prison.”

Leonardo’s voice became flat.

“So you let her die.”

Victor looked older suddenly.

“Yes.”

Cassandra stepped back from her father.

Leonardo asked:

“What happened next?”

Maria said:

“Antonio looked at me.”

“And because Elena and I were twins…”

She stopped.

Leonardo understood first.

“He saw a solution.”

Maria nodded.

“He told me Elena could continue living.”

Cassandra whispered:

“Through you.”

Maria looked at her.

“Yes.”

Leonardo’s hands curled into fists.

“My father made you become her.”

“He said if I refused, you would never be born.”

Leonardo stared.

“He threatened his unborn son?”

“He threatened everyone.”

Mrs. Miller added:

“Antonio controlled the death certificate.”

“The police report.”

“The doctor.”

“The burial.”

Leonardo looked toward the portrait.

“So whose body was buried?”

Maria answered:

“Elena’s.”

“Under what name?”

She looked at him.

“Maria.”

Silence.

Leonardo closed his eyes.

The world had reversed itself.

The woman buried as Maria was Elena.

The woman living as Elena was Maria.

His mother had survived by pretending to be her dead twin.

For six years.

Then disappeared.

Leonardo opened his eyes.

“What changed when I was six?”

Maria’s face became frightened.

“I found Elena’s records.”

Leonardo looked sharply at her.

“The ones she planned to use?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Inside the portrait frame.”

Everyone turned toward the ballroom.

Toward the portrait above the fireplace.

Maria whispered:

“Elena hid them behind her own face.”

Leonardo stared.

Victor suddenly looked alarmed.

Too alarmed.

Leonardo saw it.

“So they are still there?”

Victor said:

“No.”

Maria looked at him.

“How would you know?”

Victor froze.

Leonardo turned.

“Victor.”

No answer.

Leonardo walked back into the ballroom.

Guests moved aside.

He approached the fireplace.

Reached for the portrait.

Victor shouted:

“Leonardo, don’t.”

Leonardo stopped.

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Then looked over his shoulder.

“Now I definitely will.”