Chapter 1: The Secret of the Golden Medallion
The room became a battlefield of silence.
Matteo DeLuca stared at the small gold medallion hanging around Camryn’s neck.
He knew every scratch on it.
Every mark.
Every memory.
Because he had placed it around his wife’s neck on their wedding night.
“Everyone out,” Matteo said.
His voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
The guards outside immediately moved.
Camryn looked up in fear as armed men appeared near the doorway.
“What is happening?” she asked.
Matteo ignored everyone except her.
“Where did you get that?”
His eyes locked onto the medallion.
Camryn slowly touched it.
“This?”
She swallowed.
“My mother gave it to me.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Your mother?”
Camryn nodded.
“She told me never to lose it.”
The air left Matteo’s lungs.
Because that answer was impossible.
His wife, Elena DeLuca, had died two years ago.
The same night their car exploded.
The same night Matteo lost the woman he loved.
The same night Leo stopped speaking.
“No,” Matteo whispered.
Camryn looked confused.
“My mother was named Elena Jenkins.”
The world stopped.
Matteo stepped closer.
“Elena?”
Camryn nodded.
“She raised me.”
Matteo’s face became unreadable.
Because the woman he buried…
The woman he mourned…
Had a secret.
A daughter.
A daughter he never knew existed.
Leo suddenly tightened his arms around Camryn.
“Mommy,” he whispered again.
Matteo looked down at his son.
For two years, Leo had refused every therapist.
Every doctor.
Every person who tried to reach him.
But one stranger had done what nobody else could.
And now Matteo had to ask the question that terrified him.
“Camryn…”
His voice cracked.
“Who was your father?”
Camryn went silent.
She looked away.
That silence told him everything.
“Tell me.”
Her fingers tightened around the medallion.
“My mother never wanted me to find out.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“Why?”
Camryn looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Because she said the DeLuca family destroyed everything.”
Matteo froze.
The DeLuca family.
Not him.
His family.
Someone had hidden Elena’s past.
Someone had caused the explosion.
And someone wanted the truth buried forever.
Then Matteo’s phone rang.
His most trusted guard spoke urgently.
“Boss… we found something.”
“What?”
“The explosion report was altered.”
A pause.
“Someone inside the DeLuca organization changed the evidence.”
Matteo’s eyes darkened.
May you like
Because the only person who knew everything about that night…
Was someone close enough to betray him.
