Chapter 13 - ELENA’S FINAL CHOICE
Elena had known my name before I entered the estate.
She found me through prenatal medical records stolen by Camilla’s network.
But she did not select me for the same reason.
Her private investigator had documented women Camilla was targeting.
Elena intended to warn us.
She sent money anonymously to two mothers.
She tried to contact me through a social worker.
Derek intercepted the message.
Elena added my name to Leo’s trust because she believed I might become a witness against Camilla.
Her letter explained.
Maya Carter may never enter our lives.
I hope she does not.
If she does, it means Camilla has already hurt her.
Do not mistake her grief for weakness.
A woman who survives what they are planning may be the only person in the house who understands what Leo needs.
I read the letter beside Lily’s grave.
Snow covered the cemetery.
Lorenzo remained in custody.
Leo lived with Dr. Reed under temporary court supervision.
I had been offered guardianship.
I did not know whether I could accept.
Caring for Leo felt natural.
That frightened me.
I worried people would think I had replaced Lily.
I worried I might secretly be trying to.
Dr. Reed sat beside me on the cemetery bench.
“You are allowed to love a living child.”
“That does not abandon the dead one.”
“What if I only want him because I lost her?”
“Then ask yourself whether you see Leo.”
“Or only the baby you imagined.”
I thought about his stubborn refusal to accept a bottle unless it was warm enough.
The small line between his eyebrows when he woke.
The way his right hand opened before the left.
Those were Leo’s details.
Not Lily’s.
“I see him,” I said.
“Then begin there.”
Dr. Vale survived and faced federal charges.
Before trial, he offered to reveal the locations of illegally adopted children.
Prosecutors accepted cooperation but refused immunity.
The surviving mothers formed a group.
Ana Delgado testified first.
Bianca testified about the bottle system.
I testified about Derek, the nursery, and Lily’s hospital records.
Enzo denied everything.
Then Derek’s phone messages were played.
His voice described the payment.
Enzo’s voice answered.
Make the fall look personal.
Men like Derek are always angry enough to be believable.
The jury watched Enzo hear himself reduce my daughter to strategy.
He showed no remorse.
Lorenzo testified against his brother.
The courtroom expected a mafia boss defending his empire.
Instead, he admitted crimes.
Weapons shipments.
Bribery.
Extortion.
He did not minimize them.
Enzo’s attorney asked whether he was sacrificing his family to reduce his sentence.
“Yes,” Lorenzo said.
“I am also telling the truth.”
“Which reason should the jury believe?”
“Both.”
Enzo was convicted of conspiracy, attempted murder, child abuse, medical fraud, and ordering the attack that killed Lily.
Vale received thirty-five years.
Enzo received life.
Camilla died before trial.
Her recorded confession inside the clinic was played for the jury.
Derek’s death prevented his prosecution.
I still visited his unmarked grave once.
Not to forgive him.
To tell him he had failed.
I survived.
Leo survived.
The truth survived.
Lorenzo pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges.
He received twelve years because his cooperation dismantled multiple violent networks.
Before sentencing, he turned toward me.
“I am not asking you to wait.”
“I won’t.”
A faint smile touched his face.
“Good.”
May you like
Then he looked at Leo in my arms.
“I am asking you to tell him I chose him before it was too late.”
