Chapter 6 - The Secret Behind the Second Birth Certificate
“No.”
The word escaped my mouth before I could think.
Vivienne watched me with a terrible little smile.
“Your sister's birth certificate is a lie.”
Sasha stood behind me.
“She's lying.”
I grabbed her hand.
“Of course she is.”
But Alessandro had already taken the photograph.
His eyes moved between the two babies.
“Where did you get this?”
“From my mother.”
“Isabella has been dead for twelve years.”
“Her things were never destroyed.”
Alessandro's expression darkened.
“Luca, take Vivienne out.”
Vivienne laughed.
“You can't bury this forever.”
Two guards escorted her from the mansion.
The moment the door closed, Sasha began crying.
I pulled her into my arms.
“Listen to me. Nothing changes. You're my sister. That's all that matters.”
“But what if—”
“Nothing.”
Alessandro stood near the fireplace.
“I want both of you to understand something. Until we have proof, nothing Vivienne said is a fact.”
“Then help us get proof,” I demanded.
He nodded.
“We'll start at St. Catherine's.”
At eight that evening, we entered the abandoned hospital through a side entrance.
Dust covered the reception desk. Broken windows allowed the winter wind to move through the corridors.
Luca carried a flashlight.
Alessandro held the brass key.
We found the old maternity ward on the second floor.
A faded sign hung above the entrance.
MATERNITY — PRIVATE RECORDS
The key opened a small office at the end of the hallway.
Inside were filing cabinets, medical charts, and a rusted safe.
Alessandro searched the cabinets while I examined the wall.
A small photograph was pinned behind an old calendar.
My mother stood beside a nurse.
The nurse was holding two newborns.
I recognized the second woman immediately.
Mrs. Bellamy.
I turned toward Alessandro.
“She was here.”
He looked at the photograph.
“Then she knows more than she's told us.”
We searched the safe.
Inside were two birth certificates, a hospital report, and a sealed envelope addressed to Vittorio Moretti.
Alessandro opened the envelope.
His face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed me the letter.
Vittorio,
The child you believe is dead is alive. Elena has taken her away because Isabella intends to use the child to control your inheritance. If you confront Isabella now, she will destroy every record.
I have hidden the truth where no one will think to look.
Trust no one wearing the sapphire.
The letter was signed:
M.B.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Who is M.B.?”
He stared at the signature.
“My father had a brother.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
Alessandro folded the letter.
“An accident.”
A loud crash echoed through the hallway.
Luca rushed toward the door.
“Get down!”
The office lights went out.
I heard footsteps.
Then a gunshot.
Sasha screamed.
Alessandro grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind the desk.
“Stay here.”
He moved toward the entrance.
Two men appeared in the hallway.
Luca tackled the first one.
The second raised a gun.
Alessandro fired once.
The man collapsed.
Everything happened so quickly that I barely understood what I'd witnessed.
Then Alessandro turned toward us.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
Sasha was trembling.
He crouched in front of her.
“Look at me. You're safe.”
She nodded.
A few minutes later, police sirens sounded outside.
Luca returned, blood running from a cut above his eye.
“We need to leave.”
Alessandro took the documents.
As we reached the exit, I noticed something beneath the desk.
A small metal box.
I opened it.
Inside was a hospital photograph of a woman holding a newborn.
On the back, someone had written:
My daughter, Nerissa. I hope you forgive me.
The handwriting was my mother's.
But the woman in the photograph wasn't Elena.
It was Vivienne's mother, Isabella.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Why would she write this?”
He examined the picture.
Then he turned it over again.
A second line had been written beneath the first.
May you like
Your real mother is still alive.
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