Chapter 65 - WHAT ELENA NEVER TOLD

Matteo stayed in Seattle for three days.
Lorenzo showed him everything he had preserved from Elena.
Letters.
Photographs.
Old recordings.
Her handwritten recipes.
A small collection of family Christmas cards.
Matteo listened quietly.
Then he found something unexpected.
A recording.
Elena's voice filled the room.
“If my son ever hears this, I want him to know one thing.”
She paused.
“I never stopped loving him.”
Matteo covered his face.
“I thought she gave me away.”
Lorenzo sat beside him.
“She thought she had lost you.”
“Why didn't she come?”
“She spent years looking.”
Matteo looked at him.
“Did she love you more?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“She loved us differently because she thought she had to survive the loss.”
Matteo cried.
“I wasted so much time.”
Lorenzo put an arm around him.
“You didn't waste it.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because you're here now.”
That was the first time Matteo allowed himself to lean against his brother.
Not as a stranger.
May you like
As family.
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