Chapter 6: The Secret My Mother Buried
My mother’s words didn’t make sense.
Not at first.
They hung in the air like a sentence spoken in a language I didn’t understand.
“I was hoping you would never find out.””
I stared at her.
The woman who packed my lunches when I was a child.
The woman who sat beside hospital beds after every injury.
The woman who stood outside arenas holding signs with my name.
The woman who was the only person who believed me when the whole world called me a liar.
She knew something.
And she had hidden it from me.
My first instinct wasn’t anger.
It was fear.
Because if my mother had spent eleven years protecting a secret…
That secret had to be bigger than I imagined.
“Mom.””
My voice sounded different.
Even to me.
She looked down.
“Elias…”
“No.””
I shook my head.
“Don’t say my name like that.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t want this.””
“Want what?””
I pointed at the screen.
At the message.
*ASK YOUR MOTHER, ELIAS.*
“Someone breaks into this mansion, leaves evidence, calls me, and somehow they know you’re connected?””
My voice rose.
“Tell me what you know.””
The room was silent.
Gabriel moved slightly closer.
But I raised my hand.
Not because I wanted him away.
Because this was between me and her.
My mother took a breath.
Then she sat down.
Suddenly, she looked older.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Like she had been carrying a weight for years and finally couldn’t hold it anymore.
“Your father wasn’t just a mechanic.””
I frowned.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“He owned part of a company before everything changed.””
I laughed quietly.
A broken sound.
“My father fixed cars in a small garage.””
“Yes.””
She nodded.
“He wanted people to believe that.””
I stared.
“Why?””
“Because he was hiding.””
The word hit me.
Hiding.
Everyone had been hiding.
Adrian.
Daniel.
Gabriel.
Now my father.
My mother.
Everyone except me.
“What was he hiding from?””
She looked at Gabriel.
Then back at me.
“The Moretti family.””
The room became colder.
I looked at Gabriel.
He didn’t look surprised.
That made it worse.
“You knew?””
Gabriel’s expression tightened.
“I suspected.””
I laughed again.
“Everyone suspects things.””
I looked around the room.
“Everyone knows pieces of my life except me.””
Gabriel didn’t argue.
Because he knew I was right.
My mother continued.
“Your father worked with Adrian Moretti years ago.””
“Doing what?””
She hesitated.
“Financial records.””
I stared.
“My father was an accountant?””
“Not exactly.””
She looked at her hands.
“He discovered Adrian was moving money through illegal businesses.””
My stomach tightened.
The words connected.
The scandal.
The promotion company.
The fake evidence.
The missing pieces.
My father found something.
And Adrian needed him silent.
“But why me?”” I asked.
My mother looked away.
That was the moment I knew.
There was another secret.
“There’s more.””
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.””
The answer was barely a whisper.
I felt my heartbeat in my ears.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“Your father wasn’t just investigating Adrian.””
A pause.
“He was working with someone inside the Moretti family.””
I looked at Gabriel.
“Who?””
My mother didn’t answer.
Gabriel did.
“Me.””
Everything stopped.
I stared at him.
“You?””
Gabriel nodded.
“Your father contacted me.””
“When?””
“Before the fight.””
My mind struggled to process it.
“My father knew you?””
“Yes.””
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
Gabriel looked away.
That was the first time I saw something close to shame on his face.
“Because I failed him.””
My mother looked at Gabriel.
“You tried.””
“But I failed.””
His voice became quieter.
“Your father gave me information that could expose Adrian.””
I stepped closer.
“What information?””
Gabriel looked at me.
“He found proof that Adrian was manipulating fights, contracts, and financial deals across multiple companies.””
I remembered.
The night before my championship fight.
My father had called me.
He sounded nervous.
I had asked him what was wrong.
He told me:
“Elias, whatever happens tomorrow, remember who you are.””
At the time, I thought he was just being emotional.
Now…
I wasn’t sure.
“What happened after that?””
My mother answered.
“Your father disappeared.””
My chest tightened.
“He died.””
She nodded.
“Yes.””
“But you said disappeared.””
She looked down.
“Because I never believed it was an accident.””
Silence.
My father’s death had always been explained.
A car crash.
A rainy road.
Bad timing.
I had accepted it because I was young.
Because grief was easier when you had something simple to blame.
But now nothing was simple.
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
My mother’s eyes filled.
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of Adrian?””
“Yes.””
The answer came instantly.
She didn’t even pretend.
“I watched what happened to you.””
She wiped her face.
“Your career was destroyed. Your friends left. People who loved you turned against you.””
Her voice shook.
“I thought if I told you the truth, you would go after him.””
She looked at me.
“And he would take you too.””
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to say I could have handled it.
That I deserved the truth.
But a small part of me understood.
She was my mother.
She wasn’t trying to control my life.
She was trying to keep me alive.
Then Gabriel’s phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
“Who is it?””
He didn’t answer.
That scared me.
Slowly, he pressed the button.
“Hello?””
A voice came through.
A man.
Older.
Calm.
Adrian.
“Still protecting him, Gabriel?””
Everyone froze.
Gabriel stepped away.
“How did you get this number?””
“You always ask the wrong questions.””
Adrian sounded almost amused.
“The question is why you never told Elias the truth.””
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t get to talk about truth.””
“Really?””
A pause.
“Then tell him about the night his father died.””
My blood went cold.
I looked at Gabriel.
He looked away.
That was enough.
“You know something.””
Gabriel didn’t respond.
Adrian laughed softly.
“Of course he does.””
I grabbed the phone from Gabriel.
“Adrian.””
Silence.
Then:
“Elias Ward.””
Hearing my name from him felt wrong.
“What happened to my father?””
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said:
“Your father made one mistake.””
“What?””
“He trusted Gabriel.””
I looked at Gabriel.
“No.””
Adrian continued.
“He thought Gabriel was different from the rest of us.””
The phone shook slightly in my hand.
“You’re lying.””
“Am I?””
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“Ask him why he wasn’t there when your father died.””
I turned.
Gabriel looked like he had been punched.
My anger shifted.
Not because I believed Adrian.
Because I saw something.
A memory.
A regret.
Something Gabriel had been hiding.
“Gabriel.””
He said nothing.
“Tell me.””
The room waited.
Finally, Gabriel whispered:
“I was there.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
Gabriel looked at me.
“I was there the night your father died.””
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
My mother covered her mouth.
Because even she didn’t know.
I stepped back.
“You were there?””
“Yes.””
“And you never told me?””
“I tried.””
“When?””
“After the funeral.””
I stared at him.
“What stopped you?””
Gabriel’s eyes lowered.
“Your father’s final words.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
“What did he say?””
Gabriel looked at me.
And the answer broke something inside me.
“He told me not to let you learn the truth.””
I felt numb.
“My father told you to hide this from me?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Gabriel swallowed.
“Because he believed the person who killed him was someone you trusted.””
The room went silent.
I thought about the photograph.
The message.
The secrets.
Then Gabriel said the words that made my blood run cold.
“Elias…”
“Your father wasn’t afraid of Adrian Moretti.””
A pause.
“He was afraid of someone much closer to you.””
I stared at him.
“Who?””
Gabriel looked toward my mother.
Then toward the dark screen.
And before he could answer, every light in the mansion went out.
A second later, a single phone notification appeared on my screen.
Unknown number.
One message.
*YOU’RE FINALLY ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.*
Below it was a photograph.
A recent photograph.
Taken tonight.
Inside Gabriel Moretti’s mansion.
It showed me.
My mother.
Gabriel.
And behind us…
Someone standing in the shadows.
Watching.
May you like
The message beneath it contained only one sentence.
*YOUR FATHER WASN’T THE ONLY ONE WHO HAD A SECRET.*
