Chapter 4 - The Twin ConspiracyI lowered my weapon slowly, the metal feeling suddenly heavy in my hand.
"Elena," I breathed out, the name feeling foreign on my tongue after a decade of silence. "They told me you died. They told everyone you burned to death in the nursery fire."
Elena pulled her shawl tighter around her frail shoulders, standing up on shaking legs. She staggered forward, her bare feet touching the cold stone floor, stopping just inches away from the baby sleeping in my arms. Her trembling fingers hovered over the infant's face, gently brushing a stray lock of dark hair from his forehead.
"It wasn't a fire... to save us," she wept softly, hot tears cutting tracks through the grime on her cheeks. "It was a fire... to destroy the evidence."
"Explain to me right now," I demanded, keeping my voice low and steady, though my blood was boiling with a fury that could burn the entire estate to ash. "What happened twelve years ago?"
Elena sank back onto the edge of the iron cot, gesturing for Sophia and me to come closer. The little girl bravely stepped forward, clutching my coat sleeve.
"Twelve years ago, Valentina was pregnant at the same time I was," Elena began, her voice gaining strength as the painful memories flooded back. "We were both due within days of each other. But Valentina’s child... was born with a severe congenital heart defect. The family doctors knew the child wouldn't survive the winter. And more importantly, the Rossi empire required a healthy, undisputed heir—your direct bloodline."
My jaw tightened. "Go on."
"Valentina panicked," Elena continued, looking directly into my eyes. "She knew that if your son survived and mine didn't, or vice versa, her position as the primary matriarch would be threatened. So she conspired with Matteo. Matteo had his own ambitions—he wanted total control over the offshore accounts and the European shipping lanes. They drugged me during labor. When I woke up, they told me both babies had died."
"Both?" I repeated, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I thought there was only one baby found tonight."
Elena shook her head slowly, a chilling smile touching her pale lips. "No, Lorenzo. I gave birth to twin boys. Identical twins. Valentina took one to present as her own miracle child—the one you thought was your legitimate heir—and she planned to sell or abandon the second one to keep her secret safe forever. But I fought back. I scratched Matteo’s face that night. That's why he locked me away in this hellhole."
I stared at her, the pieces of the puzzle violently snapping together in my mind.
"The hospital bracelet..." I muttered. "Sophia found it by the trash shed. It had Valentina's name on it."
"Because Valentina swapped the crib tags in the maternity ward twelve years ago," Elena said firmly. "She put her own name on both files to ensure that no matter what happened, she controlled the documentation of both children."
I turned my head toward the doorway, listening to the rain lashing against the trees outside.
If Matteo and Valentina had orchestrated this grand deception for over a decade... why abandon the second twin tonight? Why leave him in the trash shed where Sophia could find him?
"They didn't abandon him by accident," I realized aloud. "Someone wanted me to find him tonight."
Elena’s eyes widened in sudden, absolute terror. "No... Lorenzo, you don't understand. If they wanted you to find him, it wasn't out of mercy."
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Before I could ask what she meant, a sudden, blinding flash of light illuminated the lake house windows, followed immediately by a deafening explosion that shook the ground beneath our feet.
BOOM!
