Chapter 6 - The Best Friend Who Lied
Alessandro wanted Liam arrested.
I wanted Alessandro sedated.
“You are not putting my best friend in handcuffs.”
“He leaked your medical information.”
“We don’t know that.”
“The data came from his IP address.”
“That proves someone used his Wi-Fi.”
“Elizabeth.”
“Alessandro.”
Marco stood between us with the exhausted expression of a divorced parent supervising two unreasonable children.
Finally, Liam arrived voluntarily.
He took one look at Alessandro.
“You look taller on television.”
Alessandro’s jaw flexed.
“You look guiltier in person.”
“Wonderful. We’re bonding.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Liam placed a laptop on the table.
“I didn’t leak anything.”
Alessandro folded his arms.
“Convince me.”
Liam opened a folder.
Inside were hundreds of scanned documents.
My father’s documents.
I stared at him.
“You had these?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Four years.”
My voice became very quiet.
“You lied to me.”
Liam looked ashamed.
“Your father made me promise.”
“My father?”
“The week before he died.”
Everything inside me shifted.
Liam explained.
Jonathan Bellamy had realized someone was watching the family.
He gave eighteen-year-old Liam a hard drive and one instruction.
If anything happened, protect Elizabeth.
Never give her the files until the danger returned.
“Why you?”
“Because nobody important notices the teenage kid next door.”
I sat down.
Alessandro said nothing.
That was somehow kinder.
Liam opened one file.
A ledger.
Vitali Holdings.
De Luca Construction.
Dozens of shell corporations.
And a recurring codename.
ORPHEUS.
“What is Orpheus?” I asked.
Alessandro’s face hardened.
“I don’t know.”
Liam looked at him.
“That’s either true or you’re extremely good.”
“At what?”
“Lying.”
Alessandro almost smiled.
“I’m extremely good.”
The ledger showed millions moving through charities, development projects, and political foundations.
But one detail stood out.
Transactions continued after Alessandro’s father died.
Meaning Vittorio Vitali could not have been the only person responsible.
Matteo had lied.
Or someone else had inherited the operation.
Then Marco found something worse.
The photograph threatening me had been printed on paper used exclusively inside Vitali Tower.
The enemy wasn’t circling Alessandro’s empire.
The enemy was inside it.
That evening, Alessandro doubled security.
I hated it.
I also slept better.
Pregnancy made my emotions ridiculous.
I cried because the kitchen had no strawberry yogurt.
Twenty minutes later, twelve varieties arrived.
I stared at Alessandro.
“You sent someone across Chicago for yogurt?”
“No.”
“Then how—”
“I sent three people.”
“You’re insane.”
“You were crying.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“I fail to see the distinction.”
I laughed despite myself.
Then I noticed a small cardboard box among the expensive groceries.
Inside was a cheap plastic porch light.
I looked at him.
“What is this?”
“You said at the hotel you missed having someone leave a porch light on.”
My chest tightened.
“There is no porch.”
“I’m aware.”
“So?”
He walked toward the hallway.
A minute later, the little light appeared outside my bedroom door.
Alessandro plugged it in.
Warm yellow light filled the corridor.
“There.”
I couldn’t speak.
He looked almost embarrassed.
“I can buy the building next door and construct a porch if necessary.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Then this is sufficient?”
I nodded.
That night, for the first time in years, I slept with a light waiting outside my door.
At 2:13 a.m., I woke to shouting.
Alessandro was in his office.
Marco stood beside him.
Liam was staring at the computer.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
“Tell me.”
Liam turned the screen.
An old security photograph showed my parents entering a private clinic in 2001.
Sofia Vitali was with them.
She was visibly pregnant.
Alessandro stared at the photograph as though it had stabbed him.
“My mother wasn’t pregnant.”
The timestamp was three months before her death.
Liam opened another document.
A hospital birth record.
The mother’s name had been removed.
The infant was female.
Born prematurely.
Transferred privately.
No destination listed.
I looked at Alessandro.
“You had a sister?”
His face had gone white.
“I was told the baby died.”
Before anyone could speak, the penthouse security alarm screamed.
Marco drew his weapon.
Alessandro immediately pulled me behind him.
A message appeared across every smart screen in the apartment.
May you like
Four words.
THE BABY DIDN’T DIE.
