THE HIDDEN HEIRESS
960 Words
The Mafia King’s Forbidden Wife
Chapter Seventeen: The Hidden Heiress
The room was silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence.
The kind that came after a storm.
Everyone was processing the same impossible truth.
Elena Rossi was not just the daughter of a powerful businessman.
She was not just a woman caught between two rival families.
She was something much more dangerous.
A hidden heir.
And everyone who had fought for power was fighting over something that belonged to her.
---
“The Rossi empire was your mother’s.”
Matteo’s words continued to echo in Elena’s mind.
She looked at him.
“You’re saying my father stole everything from her?”
Matteo nodded.
“Yes.”
Her fingers tightened around the necklace.
“But why would my mother let that happen?”
A sad expression crossed Matteo’s face.
“Because your mother didn’t care about wealth.”
“Then what did she care about?”
He looked at Elena.
“You.”
The answer was simple.
But it hurt.
Because Elena realized something.
Her mother had spent her entire life protecting her.
Even from the truth.
---
Adrian remained quiet.
Too quiet.
Elena noticed.
“You knew.”
His eyes lifted.
“Elena…”
“You knew about this.”
A long silence.
Then:
“Some of it.”
Her heart sank.
“Some of it?”
“I knew your mother left something behind.”
“And you knew it was connected to me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Adrian looked away.
“Because I promised her.”
Elena laughed softly, but there was no happiness in it.
“Everyone keeps using my mother’s promise as a reason to hide things from me.”
She stepped closer.
“When does my choice matter?”
Adrian had no answer.
Because she was right.
---
For years, Adrian believed protection meant keeping people away from danger.
But Elena was teaching him something different.
Sometimes hiding the truth hurt more than the danger itself.
“I was wrong.”
The words surprised everyone.
Especially Elena.
Adrian De Luca rarely admitted mistakes.
“I thought if I carried the burden alone, you would be safe.”
He looked at her.
“But I forgot you weren’t a child anymore.”
Elena stared at him.
“You’re actually apologizing?”
A faint smile touched his face.
“Don’t get used to it.”
Despite everything, a small laugh escaped her.
And for a moment…
The tension disappeared.
---
That moment didn’t last.
Luciano entered the room holding a folder.
“We have a problem.”
Adrian immediately became serious.
“What happened?”
Luciano placed the folder on the table.
“Victor Moretti knows.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Knows what?”
“That you are the true heir.”
The room went cold.
“How?”
Luciano looked at Adrian.
“Because someone told him.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Luciano hesitated.
Then placed a photograph on the table.
Everyone looked at it.
Elena felt her stomach drop.
The picture showed a person entering Victor Moretti’s building.
Someone familiar.
Someone she never expected.
Isabella Moretti.
---
“No.”
Adrian stared at the picture.
His face became unreadable.
Luciano watched him carefully.
“Adrian.”
But Adrian said nothing.
Elena noticed.
This wasn’t just anger.
This was pain.
“You trusted her.”
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“Yes.”
“And she betrayed you.”
He didn’t answer.
Because once again, someone he loved had chosen power over loyalty.
---
That evening, Elena found Adrian alone.
He was standing by the window.
“You’re blaming yourself.”
He didn’t turn.
“She was my mistake.”
“No.”
Elena walked closer.
“She made her own choices.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
His voice became softer.
“I trusted her when nobody else trusted me.”
A pause.
“She was there when I lost my brother.”
Elena understood.
Isabella wasn’t just a woman from his past.
She was connected to his deepest wounds.
“You loved her.”
Adrian didn’t answer.
But his silence was enough.
Elena looked away.
She didn’t know why the answer bothered her.
She had no right to feel hurt.
Their marriage started as a contract.
Yet somehow…
It no longer felt like one.
---
Later that night, Elena received a message.
Not from an unknown number.
From her father.
Come alone. I need to tell you the truth before it’s too late.
She stared at the screen.
Her father.
The man she no longer knew how to trust.
Before she could decide, another message arrived.
Adrian is hiding the biggest secret of all.
Elena looked toward Adrian’s room.
Her heart battled with her mind.
Could she trust him?
Or was she repeating the same mistake everyone else had made?
---
Meanwhile, across the city…
A man stood inside a dark office.
Victor Moretti.
He looked at a picture of Elena.
“The heir has awakened.”
Beside him stood Isabella.
“What happens now?”
Victor smiled.
“Now?”
He placed the picture down.
“Now we take back what was always meant to be ours.”
Isabella hesitated.
“And Adrian?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Adrian De Luca has one weakness.”
He looked at Elena’s picture.
“And we finally know her name.”
---
Elena had spent her whole life believing she was powerless.
But she was wrong.
She was the reason powerful men were going to war.
And soon…
She would have to decide whether she wanted to run from her destiny.
Or become the woman everyone feared.
To be continued…
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD