Chapter 6 - The Little Girl Who Remembered Everything
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Elena slowly lowered herself onto a nearby chair.
“She's alive.”
Her voice was barely audible.
Luca knelt in front of her.
“We're getting her back.”
“She thinks I abandoned her.”
“She's five. She doesn't understand what happened.”
Elena shook her head.
“She waited for me.”
Luca looked away.
He knew the feeling.
He had spent six years visiting a grave that contained no body, mourning a woman who had been kept alive somewhere beyond his reach.
Now he was discovering that his daughter had spent her childhood believing she wasn't wanted.
Michael examined the locked door.
“There's another exit.”
“Where?”
“Behind the cabinets.”
Dominic and Luca pushed the filing units aside.
A narrow passage appeared.
The group entered just as smoke began filling the underground room.
They emerged through an old maintenance tunnel behind the chapel.
Outside, several black SUVs were parked near the trees.
Michael recognized one.
“Father's men.”
Luca drew his weapon.
“Then let's finish this.”
But Michael stopped him.
“Not like that.”
Luca turned.
“You've spent six years protecting him. Don't tell me how to handle this.”
“I wasn't protecting him. I was protecting you.”
“Then prove it.”
Michael handed him a second flash drive.
“Everything is here. Bank transfers, medical records, police payments, and the original recording of the night Elena disappeared.”
Luca took it.
“Where's the recording?”
“On the drive.”
Dominic checked the road.
“We have company.”
Three armed men emerged from behind the trees.
Luca's security team moved forward.
A brief exchange of gunfire followed.
When the shooting stopped, one of the men lay injured near the chapel entrance.
Michael approached him.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed through bloodied teeth.
“Your father.”
Michael grabbed his collar.
“Where is the child?”
The man smiled.
“Ask the bride.”
Everyone turned toward Vanessa.
She stood near the SUV, her hands trembling.
“I don't know what he means.”
Michael looked at her.
“Tell them.”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“Antonio showed me Sofia because he wanted me to understand that the child was the only thing keeping Luca obedient.”
Elena stepped toward her.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He told me Sofia had a medical condition. He said she needed a special treatment that only his private clinic could provide.”
Luca frowned.
“What condition?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Nothing. He lied.”
Silence.
“He told me if I married you, Sofia would receive treatment. If I refused, he would let her die.”
Elena's expression changed.
“You knew he was using my daughter?”
“I knew he was using a child. I didn't know she was yours until the cathedral.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Why didn't you tell me at the rehearsal dinner?”
She lowered her head.
“Because I was afraid.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No. It's the truth.”
For a moment, Luca looked as if he might say something unforgivable.
Instead, he turned away.
“Dominic, find the clinic.”
Michael examined the flash drive.
“There's a hospital address in the files.”
They drove to a private medical center outside Chicago.
The building was registered under a company that had been dissolved three years earlier. Its security cameras were disabled, and the reception desk was empty.
Luca found a small room on the second floor.
Inside was a child's bed.
A pink blanket.
A stuffed rabbit.
And a drawing taped to the wall.
It showed a little girl holding hands with a woman and a man.
The woman wore a black dress.
The man had a dark suit.
Above them, in uneven handwriting, were three words.
MY REAL FAMILY.
Elena touched the paper.
Then she noticed a small name written at the bottom.
Sofia.
Beside it was another name.
EMMA.
Michael picked up a folder.
“There's another child here.”
Luca opened it.
The file contained a photograph of a little girl with blonde hair.
The same girl from the hospital picture Vanessa had shown them.
“Rachel's daughter,” Vanessa whispered.
She began crying.
“Emma is my niece.”
A nurse's voice came from the doorway.
“Please don't take those files.”
Luca turned.
An elderly woman stood there.
Her face was pale.
She looked at Elena.
Then she whispered:
“You came back.”
Elena stepped toward her.
“You know where my daughter is?”
The nurse nodded.
“I helped deliver her.”
“Then tell me where she is.”
The woman looked at Luca.
“Your father moved her yesterday.”
“Where?”
The nurse hesitated.
Then she opened a small drawer and removed a photograph.
It showed Sofia standing beside a man in a dark coat.
The man was not Antonio.
It was Daniel Russo.
Luca's biological father.
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
May you like
The child belongs with the man who knows the truth.
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