CHAPTER 2: THE LETTER ELENA NEVER SENT
CHAPTER 2: THE LETTER ELENA NEVER SENT
The room fell into complete silence.
Luca Moretti stared at the little girl.
"Elena Carter..."
He whispered the name as though it belonged to another lifetime.
His hand trembled above the photograph.
"How... how did your mother die?"
The little girl lowered her eyes.
"She got very sick."
"She tried to work anyway."
"She said hospitals cost too much."
Her voice cracked.
"Three days ago... she didn't wake up."
No one in the office moved.
The men who had spent years fearing Luca had never seen him look helpless.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Sophia."
She hesitated.
"My mommy said my last name was Carter."
Luca closed his eyes.
Twenty years earlier, he had begged Elena to leave the dangerous life surrounding him.
She had refused to let her future—or her child's future—be shaped by violence.
She disappeared without another word.
He had believed she no longer wanted him in her life.
Sophia reached into the pocket of her oversized T-shirt.
"There was something else."
She placed a sealed envelope on the desk.
Across the front, written in faded blue ink, were four words.
For Luca... if possible.
His fingers shook as he opened it.
"Luca,"
"If this letter reaches you, it means I ran out of time."
"I never left because I stopped loving you."
"I left because I wanted our daughter to grow up far away from fear."
"If she finds you one day, don't teach her how to survive your world."
"Teach her she never has to enter it."
May you like
A tear landed on the page.
The first anyone in that room had ever seen him shed.
