Chapter 8 - THE SECRET BENEATH THE NURSERY
The attack changed everything.
Lorenzo moved Sophia and Elena to a secure residence outside the city. He doubled the security detail and ordered Victor to restrict access to the property.
He also called Detective Hayes.
For the first time, he gave her information that could implicate members of his own family.
Hayes listened carefully.
"You understand that if these recordings are authentic, this investigation is much bigger than a kidnapping."
"I understand."
"And if Isabella is alive, we need to find her before whoever is hunting her does."
Lorenzo looked through the glass wall toward the nursery.
"Find her."
Hayes paused.
"There's one more thing. Our lab has finished examining the shawl."
"What did they find?"
"Traces of blood. The sample is too small for a complete conclusion, but preliminary testing suggests it belongs to a woman."
"Isabella?"
"We're running a comparison."
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
"Call me when you know."
***
At the secure residence, Elena had begun to notice how Sophia reacted to certain sounds.
A particular melody made the baby calm.
A particular phrase made her cry.
The phrase was simple.
"You're safe now."
Whenever Elena said it, Sophia seemed to relax.
When Vivian had said it during a brief visit to the estate before the attack, Sophia had begun screaming.
Elena mentioned the pattern to Dr. Bennett.
"Babies can respond to familiar voices and rhythms," he explained. "But we shouldn't draw conclusions from a few observations."
Elena agreed.
Still, something about Vivian frightened her.
That evening, she discovered a small envelope beneath the nursery door.
Inside was a photograph of Isabella holding Sophia in a hospital room.
On the back, someone had written:
ASK LORENZO WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT HIS WIFE DIED.
Elena took the photograph to Lorenzo.
He stared at it for a long time.
"I've never seen this picture."
"Who sent it?"
"I don't know."
"Could Isabella have sent it?"
He turned the photograph over.
The handwriting looked familiar.
Then he noticed the date stamped in the corner.
It was taken two weeks after Isabella's supposed death.
Lorenzo immediately called Victor.
"Find out where this photograph was developed."
Victor examined it.
"There's a watermark on the back. It came from a private clinic in Manhattan."
"The same clinic?"
"Yes."
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
"Then we're going there."
***
The clinic had closed six months earlier.
Its records had been transferred to a storage facility in New Jersey, but the building itself remained intact.
Lorenzo and Elena entered with Detective Hayes and two officers.
The reception area was dusty and abandoned.
Hayes found the records office.
Several files were missing.
Others had been burned.
Then Elena noticed a photograph on the wall behind the reception desk.
It showed the clinic staff at a charity event.
One woman stood near the center.
She had dark hair, a gentle smile, and one hand resting against her stomach.
Elena recognized her from the photograph in Lorenzo's office.
Isabella.
But the woman beside her was equally familiar.
Vivian.
Hayes removed the frame from the wall.
A folded note had been taped behind it.
Lorenzo opened it.
The message contained only a date and an address.
The address belonged to a small house in Westchester County.
They drove there before dawn.
The house stood behind a line of trees, its windows covered by curtains. A car was parked in the driveway.
Lorenzo approached the front door.
It opened before he knocked.
An elderly woman stood inside.
She looked at him with fear.
"You're too late," she whispered.
"Where is Isabella?"
The woman glanced at Elena.
Then she stepped aside.
Inside, the house was almost empty.
A child's blanket lay on the sofa. A half-finished cup of tea sat on the kitchen counter. On the wall hung a calendar marked with dates.
The most recent date was yesterday.
Hayes searched the rooms.
"No one here."
Lorenzo found a locked door at the end of the hallway.
The elderly woman began crying.
"She told me not to let you in."
Lorenzo turned toward her.
"Who?"
"Isabella."
He broke the lock.
Inside was a small bedroom containing a crib, a wardrobe, and a stack of medical records.
On the crib lay a handwritten letter.
Lorenzo recognized the handwriting immediately.
He unfolded it with trembling hands.
Lorenzo,
If you're reading this, then someone has finally told you the truth. I wanted to come home. I wanted Sophia to know her father. But there are things you don't understand about the people closest to you.
I made a terrible mistake by trusting Vivian. I thought she wanted to protect our family. Instead, she wanted control of everything we built.
There is a child you don't know about. A child whose existence could destroy her plans.
Do not trust the birth records.
Do not trust the woman who says she has always been loyal.
And whatever you do, do not let Vivian near Sophia.
The letter ended without a signature.
Lorenzo lowered it.
"Where is she?"
The elderly woman wiped her eyes.
"She left last night."
"With whom?"
The woman looked toward Elena.
"She said she was going to find the woman who saved her daughter."
Elena felt her heart pound.
"Me?"
The woman nodded.
"She said your name. Elena Vance."
Lorenzo turned toward Elena.
For the first time, he seemed to understand that her appearance in the dumpster story might not have been an accident.
Then Detective Hayes emerged from the next room carrying a file.
"Mr. Moretti, you need to see this."
Inside were two birth certificates.
One belonged to Sophia.
The other belonged to a child named Gabriel Cross.
The date of birth was the same.
The mother was listed as Isabella Moretti.
The father was listed as Adrian Moretti.
Lorenzo stared at the document.
His brother was Sophia's uncle.
But according to this record, Adrian was also the father of Isabella's second child.
May you like
And the child had disappeared the same night Sophia was kidnapped.
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