Chapter 3 - The Photograph That Changed Everything
Luca read the message twice.
His fingers tightened around the photograph until its edges bent.
For several seconds, the ballroom seemed to disappear.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
Vincent glanced toward the security officers.
“It was on your desk. The office was locked when we found it.”
Luna stepped closer.
“May I see it?”
Luca hesitated.
Then he handed her the photograph.
The woman was young, perhaps twenty-five. She had dark hair, olive skin, and the same distinctive eyes Luna saw every morning in the mirror.
The baby wore a small white blanket.
On the back, beneath the accusation, someone had written a date.
October 14, 2001.
Luna's birthday was October 14, 2001.
Her fingers began trembling.
“That's impossible.”
Luca looked at her.
“Do you recognize her?”
“No.”
But she was lying.
Not because she recognized the woman.
Because she recognized the necklace.
A tiny silver rosary hung around the woman's neck. It was identical to the one Luna had inherited from her grandmother.
She had been told it belonged to her grandmother's mother.
“Luna?”
She looked up.
“I need to call my grandmother.”
Luca nodded.
“Take her somewhere private. Vincent, stay with us.”
But before they could leave, Don Salvatore approached.
He had seen the photograph.
And unlike Luca, he looked less surprised than terrified.
“Give me that,” he ordered.
Luca held it away.
“Do you know this woman?”
Salvatore's expression hardened.
“This is not the place.”
“Then where?”
“My study.”
Luca turned toward Luna.
“Come with me.”
The three of them entered the study, followed by Vincent.
Salvatore closed the door.
For a moment, the old Don looked at the photograph without speaking.
Then he sat down.
“That woman was named Elena Reyes.”
Luna felt her knees weaken.
“Reyes?”
Salvatore nodded.
“She worked for our family before you were born.”
“Worked for you?”
“She was not a maid. She was a nurse. She cared for my wife during her final pregnancy.”
Luca stared at his father.
“You told me Mother died from complications after childbirth.”
“She did.”
“Then why is this woman connected to her death?”
Salvatore looked at Luna.
“Because Elena disappeared the night your mother died.”
Silence.
Luna gripped the back of a chair.
“My grandmother never mentioned an Elena.”
“Your grandmother raised you?”
“Yes.”
“Rosa Reyes?”
Luna nodded.
Salvatore closed his eyes.
“I thought she had taken you away.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Taken her away from what?”
His father didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and removed a leather folder.
Inside were old hospital records, photographs, and several handwritten letters.
He placed one on the desk.
“Your mother was named Isabella Moretti. She was pregnant when she died. The doctors told us the baby had not survived.”
Luca went still.
“But you said I was her only child.”
“You were.”
“Then who is Luna?”
Salvatore looked directly at the young woman.
“I don't know.”
Luna shook her head.
“My grandmother told me my parents died in an accident. She said she raised me because my mother was her daughter.”
“Perhaps she believed that,” Salvatore replied.
“Or perhaps she lied.”
Luna's eyes filled.
She had grown up believing that her grandmother had sacrificed everything to raise her.
Now a stranger's photograph threatened to turn her entire childhood into a lie.
Luca reached for her hand.
“Whatever this means, we're going to find out.”
Salvatore looked at his son.
“There's something you need to understand. If Elena was involved, the situation is more dangerous than you realize.”
“Why?”
“Because the night Isabella died, three men entered the hospital. Two were found dead the following morning. The third disappeared.”
Vincent shifted uneasily.
“Don?”
Salvatore nodded.
“The third man was Rafael Reyes.”
Luna stopped breathing.
“That's my father's name.”
No one spoke.
She backed away from the desk.
“My grandmother said he died before I was born.”
Salvatore looked at her with something resembling pity.
“Then perhaps your grandmother never told you the truth.”
Luca moved closer.
“Father, who was Rafael?”
Salvatore stared at the photograph.
“He was my closest friend.”
“Was?”
“He betrayed me.”
A knock interrupted them.
Vincent opened the door.
Sophia stood outside, pale and trembling.
“I'm sorry, sir. I know I'm not supposed to interrupt, but someone just called the kitchen.”
“Who?”
Sophia looked at Luna.
“Her grandmother.”
Luna grabbed the phone.
“Abuela?”
A woman's frightened voice came through the speaker.
“Lunita, listen to me carefully. You need to leave that house immediately.”
“What's happening?”
“Don't trust the Morettis.”
Luna stared at Luca.
“Why?”
Her grandmother began crying.
“Because your father didn't die in an accident. And because the man you are standing beside has been searching for your bloodline for twenty-five years.”
The call suddenly crackled.
Then a man's voice replaced Rosa's.
“Good evening, Miss Reyes.”
Luna recognized it immediately.
Dmitri Kosoff.
“Tell Mr. Moretti I said hello.”
A gunshot exploded through the phone.
The line went dead.
Luna screamed.
Luca caught her before she fell.
“Vincent!”
The enforcer rushed forward.
“Find out where that call came from. Now!”
Luca held Luna against his chest.
“Listen to me. I'll get your grandmother.”
But Luna was already shaking her head.
“No.”
She looked at him with terrified eyes.
“Your family knows something. My grandmother knows something. And somebody is killing people because of it.”
Then she looked at the photograph again.
The woman holding the baby.
The silver rosary.
The date.
She whispered the question that neither man in the room wanted to answer.
“Luca, what if I'm not the daughter of the woman who raised me?”
Before he could respond, Vincent returned.
“Boss, we've got a problem.”
Luca looked up.
“Speak.”
Vincent swallowed.
“The security team found the housekeeper's phone in the west garden.”
“Whose phone?”
“Maria's.”
He paused.
“She's missing.”
And on the screen of her abandoned phone was a photograph taken only minutes earlier.
May you like
Maria standing beside Dmitri Kosoff.
Both of them smiling.
