“Adrian and my wife loved each other before I married her. I knew Elena was not mine. I raised her anyway. She was my daughter in every way that mattered.”

Elena was crying silently.

Then Alessandro said the impossible.

“Adrian also had another child.”

Dominic felt dread spread through him.

“A daughter born eleven months before Elena.”

Elena whispered, “Vivienne.”

But Alessandro shook his head on the recording.

“No one must confuse that child with Vivienne Laurent. Vivienne’s mother fabricated our affair to extort money from me for years.”

Elena sat upright.

Dominic stared at the screen.

If Vivienne was not Elena’s half sister…

Then her entire story had been a lie.

Alessandro lifted a photograph.

A woman holding a baby.

“The older daughter was hidden for her protection.”

He turned the photograph toward the camera.

Elena gasped.

Dominic felt every hair on his arms rise.

The woman holding the baby was young.

But unmistakable.

Rosa.

Their housekeeper.

The woman who had worked in Elena’s childhood home.

The woman who had later come to Dominic’s estate.

The woman Aria trusted more than anyone.

Elena whispered:

“No.”

The tape continued.

“The child’s name is Rosalia Keller.”

Dominic looked toward the hallway.

Rosa’s full name.

Rosalia.

Footsteps sounded outside the room.

Rosa appeared in the doorway holding Aria’s sweater.

She saw the television.

Saw Alessandro’s frozen image.

Saw the photograph.

And stopped.

Elena stood.

“Rosa?”

Rosa closed her eyes.

Tears rolled down her face.

Elena whispered:

“You’re my sister?”

Rosa nodded.

Once.

Dominic could hardly process it.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because Adrian made me promise.”

“Why?”

Rosa looked toward Aria.

“Because Vivienne was never trying to prove she was Elena’s sister.”

Silence fell.

“She was trying to make everyone believe she was.”

Dominic felt cold.

Rosa continued.

“Because if Elena disappeared and Vivienne convinced the courts she was Alessandro’s secret daughter, she could claim standing over the Moretti trust.”

Elena stared at her.

“And you?”

“I was the one person who could prove she was lying.”

Dominic remembered every moment.

Rosa caring for Aria.

Rosa remaining near Elena’s belongings.

Rosa appearing in the garden seconds after Aria was hurt.

“You knew Vivienne was dangerous.”

“I suspected.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I had no proof.”

Her voice broke.

“And because the last person who tried to prove it was Adrian.”

Elena whispered, “Where is he?”

Rosa looked at her sister.

Then smiled sadly.

“Alive.”

Elena covered her mouth.

Rosa continued.

“He has been living under another name for twenty years because Vivienne’s mother tried to kill him when he discovered she had forged Alessandro’s financial records.”