Chapter 2: The Call She Thought Was Impossible
The phone kept ringing.
Raffaello stared at the screen as if the device itself had become a weapon.
Elena noticed the name.
Her blood ran cold.
“No,” she whispered.
Raffaello looked at her.
“You recognize it?””
She shook her head too quickly.
“No.””
The lie barely left her lips before the phone rang again.
Sofia pressed herself against Elena’s side.
“Mommy, why are you scared?””
“I’m not scared, sweetheart.””
Raffaello answered the call.
“Hello?””
For several seconds, he said nothing.
The kitchen staff stood frozen around them.
Then his face changed.
“What do you mean you found him?””
Elena's eyes widened.
Raffaello turned away from everyone.
“Where?””
A pause.
“Is he conscious?””
Another pause.
“Do not let him leave. I’m coming.””
He ended the call.
Elena stared at him.
“Who was that?””
Raffaello slipped the phone into his pocket.
“Someone who has information about what happened to us.””
“That doesn’t answer me.””
“I know.””
“Raffaello, who called you?””
He looked directly into her eyes.
“Your brother.””
Everything inside Elena stopped.
Her lips parted.
She couldn't speak.
Sofia looked between them.
“Mommy?””
Elena barely heard her.
“My brother is dead.””
Raffaello's face tightened.
“I know what you were told.””
“I saw the coffin.””
“You saw a closed coffin.””
Her breathing became uneven.
“No.””
“Elena—”
“No.””
She backed away.
“You can't say that.””
“I can because I've spent the last eleven months trying to find the truth.””
She shook her head violently.
“My brother, Matteo, died in that crash.””
“That is what everyone told you.””
“He was buried.””
“You were shown a body you were never allowed to identify.””
Elena looked at him as if he were a stranger.
“Why?””
Raffaello had no immediate answer.
The silence stretched.
Then the blonde woman spoke.
“This is insane.””
Raffaello turned toward her.
“Leave.””
She blinked.
“What?””
“You heard me.””
“I’m not going anywhere until you explain why—”
“Get out.””
His voice was so quiet that everyone moved.
The blonde woman's expression hardened.
“You can't treat me like this.””
“I just did.””
She looked at Elena with open hatred.
“This woman has been lying to everyone from the beginning.””
Raffaello stepped between them.
“You have ten seconds to walk out on your own.””
The woman scoffed.
“And what happens at eleven?””
Raffaello looked at the security guard standing by the service entrance.
“At eleven, you are escorted out.””
The blonde woman finally turned.
Her heels clicked sharply across the tile.
But before she disappeared through the door, she stopped.
“You think you know your wife,” she said.
“You don't.””
Raffaello's eyes narrowed.
“What is that supposed to mean?””
She smiled faintly.
“Ask her where she was the night your plane went down.””
Elena went still.
The door slammed behind the woman.
Raffaello looked at Elena.
“What did she mean?””
“I don't know.””
“Elena.””
“I said I don't know.””
The manager cleared his throat nervously.
“Sir, perhaps this conversation should happen somewhere more private.””
Raffaello turned to him.
“Get out.””
“Sir—”
“Every employee. Out.””
The manager hurried everyone toward the rear exit.
Within minutes, the kitchen emptied.
The machines kept humming.
Water continued dripping from the faucet.
But the silence between husband and wife was louder than all of it.
Sofia tugged on Elena's sleeve.
“Mommy, can we go home?””
Elena looked down at her.
“Yes.””
Raffaello stepped closer.
“I’ll take you.””
“No.””
“Elena.””
“You don't get to appear out of nowhere, destroy everything I've built, and then decide you're taking us home.””
His expression flickered.
“I didn't destroy anything.””
“You disappeared.””
“I was forced to disappear.””
“You let me believe you were dead.””
“I didn't.””
“You let everyone tell me you abandoned us.””
“I was unconscious.””
She stared at him.
“What?””
Raffaello rubbed a hand across his face.
“My plane went down over the Adriatic.””
Elena's voice became a whisper.
“I know.””
“I survived.””
She said nothing.
“I was pulled from the wreckage.””
Her fingers tightened around Sofia's shoulder.
“I remember waking up in a hospital.””
“When?””
“Almost three months later.””
Elena's eyes filled with disbelief.
“Three months?””
“Yes.””
“Then why didn't you call me?””
“Because I couldn't.””
“Phones exist.””
“I wasn't allowed to make calls.””
“By whom?””
Raffaello looked away.
“That part is complicated.””
She laughed bitterly.
“Of course it is.””
He looked back at her.
“I woke up with no wallet, no identification, and no memory of where I'd been taken.””
“And you expect me to believe that?””
“I don't expect anything.””
His voice cracked slightly.
“I only want you to hear me.””
Elena looked at Sofia.
Her daughter had grown quieter.
She was tired.
Confused.
And still holding the pink backpack.
Elena lowered herself and kissed Sofia's forehead.
“Go sit in the dining room for a minute, baby.””
“But—”
“Please.””
Sofia nodded reluctantly.
She walked through the swinging doors.
Raffaello watched until she disappeared.
Then he turned back.
“There were people looking for me.””
“Who?””
“I don't know their names.””
“Convenient.””
“I know how this sounds.””
“It sounds like a story.””
“I spent eleven months trying to get back to you.””
“Then why did you stay away?””
“I didn't choose to.””
“Stop saying that.””
He went silent.
Elena wiped at her eyes.
“You know what happened after you disappeared?””
“I found out pieces.””
“No. You don't know.””
She pointed at her uniform.
“I sold my jewelry.””
Raffaello's face changed.
“I emptied our savings.””
“Elena…”
“I moved apartments twice.””
“I know.””
“You don't know.””
Her voice broke.
“Sofia asked me every night when her daddy was coming home.””
He swallowed.
“I’m sorry.””
“She stopped asking after six months.””
That landed harder than anything else.
Raffaello looked down.
His hands curled into fists.
“I should have been there.””
“Yes.””
“I should have protected you.””
“Yes.””
“I know.””
“No, you don't.””
Elena stepped closer.
“You don't know what it feels like to wake up every morning and wonder whether your child will remember her father.””
Raffaello's eyes glistened.
“I remembered every moment of you.””
She froze.
“What?””
“Even when I couldn't remember my own name.””
He reached into his coat pocket.
“I had this.””
He pulled out a small silver pendant.
Elena recognized it instantly.
Her hand flew to her throat.
“That…”
“You gave it to me on our first anniversary.””
She stared.
“You lost it years ago.””
“I thought I had.””
He turned it over.
On the back were two tiny engraved words.
*Find Elena.*
She couldn't breathe.
“I don't remember engraving that.””
“I did.””
“When?””
“Before the crash.””
Elena slowly reached toward it.
Her fingers touched the pendant.
Raffaello let her take it.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Elena noticed something.
A thin dark mark ran across the back.
Not a scratch.
Letters.
Tiny letters she had never seen before.
“What is this?””
Raffaello's expression changed.
“I was hoping you wouldn't notice yet.””
She looked up.
“What does it say?””
Before he could answer, headlights swept across the kitchen windows.
A black SUV had stopped outside.
Raffaello immediately moved in front of Elena.
“Stay behind me.””
“Why?””
He pulled out his phone.
“Because whoever is outside shouldn't know you're here with me.””
The kitchen door opened.
A man in a dark coat entered.
Raffaello's posture tightened.
The stranger said one sentence.
“Mr. Vitale, we found Matteo.””
Elena's knees nearly gave out.
The man continued.
“But he's not the only one who survived that night.””
Raffaello's face went pale.
Elena stared at him.
“Who else survived?””
The stranger looked directly at her.
May you like
Then he answered.
“Your mother.””
