Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
Elena made it as far as the kitchen before her legs gave out.
She sat down hard on a wooden stool near the back counter, pressed both hands over her mouth, and refused to let herself make a sound.
She would not cry.
Not here.
Not where someone might see.
The service door opened behind her.
She didn't look up.
"Elena."
It was Dante.
She stood immediately, smoothing her uniform with both hands.
"Mr.
Moretti.
I apologize — I'll return to the floor right now."
"Sit down."
"Sir, I'm fine."
"I said sit down."
She sat.
He pulled a stool from beneath the counter and placed it directly across from her.
He didn't lean against the wall.
He didn't cross his arms.
He simply sat and looked at her with an expression she had never seen on him before.
Not cold.
Not calculating.
Something that looked almost like guilt.
"She had no right to speak to you that way."
Elena stared at her hands.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
The words landed too softly to defend against.
She looked up.
"Why?"
He didn't answer immediately.
And in that silence, his phone buzzed once on the counter between them.
Elena glanced down without meaning to.
The name on the screen made her go completely still.
It wasn't Vanessa.
It was her own mother's name.
Catherine Carter.
Dante reached over and turned the phone face-down before she could read another word.
But she had already seen the message preview.
*She knows.
You have to tell Elena the truth before—*
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💬 What does Dante know about Elena's mother — and why has he been hiding it?
The truth changes everything.
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