The door slowly opened, almost as if it were waiting for me to step inside before finally revealing another piece of the puzzle I had been trying to understand since my arrival. Giulia entered without showing any emotion on her face and then stepped aside, allowing me to discover the room for myself. As soon as I walked in, I was surprised by how bright it was, the sunlight pouring through the windows and covering the room in a warm glow, while everything around me was perfectly clean and carefully arranged, almost as if the room had never truly been abandoned.
I slowly walked further inside, my eyes wandering around the elegant room until I noticed the large bed placed in the center, its sheets perfectly arranged, and something lying on top of it immediately caught my attention.
A key.
I stared at it for a few seconds, confused by the fact that there was a key inside a room that had been locked for so long.
Why would someone leave a key in a locked room?
Before I could ask, something else caught my attention.
The photographs covering the walls.
There were so many of them, some framed carefully while others seemed to have been placed there years ago, and almost every photograph showed the same two little boys. Judging by their appearance, the pictures had been taken long before I was even born.
I slowly approached one of them, studying their faces before turning toward Giulia.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"That's your father and Ricardo," she answered immediately, walking toward me.
My eyes widened.
"Seriously?"
"Yes. They were very good friends."
I looked at her, still trying to imagine my father as a child, standing beside the man I had always known simply as my father's brother.
"And now?"
Giulia's expression became slightly more serious.
"They haven't seen each other since the problems. Richard was supposed to help your father. They even wanted to start a project together."
I turned my attention back toward the photographs, moving slowly from one to another. There they were, two young boys laughing on a swing, standing together in a park, sitting inside their home, and even posing for pictures during family gatherings. Looking at them, it was difficult to imagine that the two families could ever have become enemies.
"Ricardo and Richard knew your mother and her best friend too," Giulia continued. "I was part of that group as well. We were the best trio of girls."
A small smile appeared on her face, and for the first time since entering the room, I could see something warm in her expression.
"We were extremely close, and your mother was in love with Ricardo. It was a long relationship. She once told me that she wanted to marry him, and honestly, I wasn't upset about it. I was happy that she was going to become my sister-in-law."
She sat down slowly on the edge of the bed, her eyes wandering over the photographs as if she were remembering a life that had disappeared a long time ago.
"Your mother, Isabella, would always come to my house just to see my brother, your father. I started noticing the little things between them, the way they looked at each other, the way they spoke when they thought nobody was watching. And then there was the other girl... Cindy. Cindy Carter."
My attention immediately returned to her.
"She was in love with my brother's best friend, Richard. I never really understood why both of them were so attached to those boys, but that was simply how things were."
I listened carefully, barely moving as I looked at an old photograph of my parents on their wedding day. Seeing them smiling together made something tighten inside my chest. I had seen photographs of my mother before, but somehow, seeing her here, surrounded by the people who had once been part of her life, made everything feel much more real.
Giulia's voice became quieter.
"The reason everything fell apart was because your mother died three years after you were born."
I froze.
"Your father believes that the Carters killed her."
My eyes slowly widened.
"Cindy didn't want Kael, and there were many rumors about her jealousy. Others believed there was another reason, something much deeper, but your father never told us everything. Your mother was murdered, Liora. And your father became convinced that someone from the Carter family was responsible."
I felt my fingers tighten around the edge of the photograph.
"Your father tried to investigate it, and the police did as well, but eventually the case had to be abandoned because too much time had passed and there wasn't enough evidence. After that, your father never forgave them. He hated the Carters for taking away the woman he loved."
I looked at Giulia, waiting for her to continue.
"And Richard?"
She sighed.
"Richard always seemed to know something. He acted as though he was keeping a secret, but he never dared to say anything. Your father saw his silence as a betrayal. To him, Richard knew who was responsible and chose to protect them."
The room suddenly felt much colder despite the sunlight still shining through the windows.
"So... that's what caused the conflict?" I whispered.
Giulia nodded.
"That is where everything truly began."
I stared at the photographs again, seeing them differently now. The smiling faces, the childhood memories, the wedding pictures... everything suddenly felt like pieces of a life that had been destroyed by something I still didn't completely understand.
"There was nothing after that?" I asked quietly. "No attempt to fix things?"
Giulia looked away.
"No."
Her voice had become colder.
"I tried to speak with Cindy. She had been our friend, just like I told you. The three of us were extremely close. But she ignored me and eventually left without saying anything. She took Kael with her, and Richard went with them."
She stood up and slowly looked around the room, her eyes eventually stopping on the window.
"This room..." she said.
I followed her gaze.
"This is your father's bedroom."
I looked at her in surprise.
"He doesn't sleep here anymore?"
Giulia walked toward the window and opened it, allowing the fresh air to enter the room. She rested her arms against the windowsill and looked outside at the peaceful landscape, where the horses were grazing in the distance as if nothing in the world had ever gone wrong.
"He hates this room after what happened. We keep it closed because your father doesn't want to see it anymore."
I walked closer to her, still unable to understand.
"But why lock it?"
She let out a quiet sigh.
"Because the children aren't allowed to come here. They aren't supposed to know too much about this problem."
I frowned.
"But they should know. Hiding this story isn't going to make it disappear."
Giulia's eyes moved toward the Carter mansion in the distance.
"I don't care anymore."
She straightened herself and closed the window.
"Now, please. Let's go back to the living room."
I looked at her for a moment, understanding from the tone of her voice that she didn't want to continue the conversation. There were still so many things I wanted to ask, so many pieces that didn't seem to fit together, but I knew that pushing her further would only make her shut herself away completely.
So I followed her out.
Two hours later, I returned to my room and lit a few candles, letting their soft glow replace the fading sunlight. I sent a few messages to Sophie and Uncle David, telling them a little about how things were going without mentioning everything I had just learned, because somehow, even writing the truth felt dangerous.
Once I was done, I placed my phone beside me and lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling above me.
Only then did I realize how beautiful the room actually was.
The delicate paintings covering the ceiling, the detailed architecture, the small decorations around the walls... I had barely paid attention to any of it since arriving.
My eyes slowly moved toward the window.
Outside, the last traces of sunlight were disappearing behind the trees, leaving the Carter mansion barely visible in the distance.
I let out a quiet sigh and closed my eyes, trying to push Giulia's words out of my mind.
But one thought refused to disappear.
If my mother had truly been murdered by someone from the Carter family...
Then why did Kael seem to know nothing about it?