That morning, the mansion was drowned in a strange silence.
Rihanna sat in the garden with Matteo, watching him play, but her heart was heavy with a feeling she couldn't understand… a sense that something was about to happen.
Inside, Leonardo was discussing the anonymous messages with his men. Suddenly, the echo of footsteps rang on the marble at the main entrance.
The door opened, and a woman with long brown hair and familiar features, as if she had stepped out of the past, appeared. A calm smile curved her lips as she spoke in a confident voice:
— "Surprised to see me back… Leonardo?"
Shock froze his expression. His voice trembled as he muttered:
— "Elena…?"
Rihanna, who had heard the commotion, approached with hesitant steps, Matteo by her side. The boy's wide eyes stared at the strange woman.
Elena bent down toward him with a warm smile, stretching her hands out as she spoke in a falsely affectionate tone:
— "Matteo… my little one."
But the child hid behind Rihanna's legs, staring in confusion. He didn't know this woman, nor did he feel any bond with her.
Rihanna felt her heart tighten, and her gaze turned toward Elena, filled with both astonishment and a subtle fear.
Leonardo remained silent, everything he had believed collapsing in a single moment. The woman he had buried in his memory, the one he had been told was dead, now stood alive before him.
Elena lifted her eyes to him, holding a strange mystery within them:
— "I never died, Leonardo… everything that happened was beyond my control. I had to disappear."
His voice trembled with anger as he replied:
— "We will hold accountable everyone who toyed with me and my son… but you will tell me the whole truth."
In that instant, Rihanna realized that this woman's return was no innocent reunion… but the beginning of a dark storm that would engulf everyone in the mansion.