Chapter 8 - Why Elena Entered the Study
I asked Elena that night.
“Why were you really in Viola’s study?”
She didn’t lie.
That mattered.
“I was looking for something.”
“What?”
“Your father’s medical file.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
She sat beside Luca’s crib.
“Because Viola told me Anthony had dementia before he changed the trust.”
My stomach tightened.
“She said that?”
“Six months ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I asked Henry indirectly. He said your father had been mentally competent.”
“So you started investigating.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena looked at Luca.
“Because Viola kept saying Luca’s inheritance was a mistake made by a dying man.”
I sat down.
“And you thought she was preparing to challenge it.”
“Yes.”
That was why Elena searched the study.
Not for money.
For proof my father knew exactly what he was doing.
She found his final neurological evaluation.
No dementia.
No incompetence.
He was medically lucid when he signed the trust amendments.
Elena had photographed the report before Viola caught her.
“Why didn’t you show me?”
“Because I was scared you’d confront her before I understood everything.”
That hurt.
But I understood it.
My loyalty to my mother had blinded me before.
Elena knew that.
Then she showed me the photographs.
The medical report was clear.
And beneath it was another page.
A note from my father’s physician.
Mr. Russo has repeatedly expressed concern that his wife is attempting to pressure him regarding estate decisions.
My mother had tried to create the appearance that my father was incompetent.
But his doctor had documented the opposite.
Henry sent the records to investigators.
That closed another escape route for Viola.
Then something unexpected happened.
Carlo called me.
“I want to talk.”
“Through your lawyer.”
“No. Brother to brother.”
“You stopped being my brother when you used Luca.”
Silence.
Then he said:
“Mom told me Elena stole the trust.”
“What?”
“She said Elena was trying to take the company through Luca.”
“And you believed her enough to threaten a baby?”
Carlo said nothing.
I felt no sympathy.
But I finally saw the machine.
Viola fed each person a different story.
Carlo believed Elena was stealing control.
Elena believed Viola was preparing to erase Luca’s rights.
I believed our family was merely difficult.
Viola survived by making everyone distrust everyone else.
Then Carlo whispered:
“There’s something else Dad left.”
My pulse jumped.
“What?”
May you like
“A recording.”
👉 Viola had spent years controlling the family through different versions of the truth—but Anthony Russo had apparently left behind his own voice.
