Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Came Back From the Dead
Vanessa learned her mother was alive on the same day she learned the man she loved had been deliberately placed in her path.
She didn't scream.
She didn't faint.
She simply asked one question.
"Where is she?"
Luca stood across from her in the library.
Emily sat beside Margaret.
Bellamy had been taken away for questioning after Marcus supplied investigators with the threats, suspicious communications, and evidence linking him to Nathaniel Voss.
But his final revelation had left the entire household shaken.
"We're trying to find her," Luca said.
Vanessa looked at the photograph.
The woman was in her late fifties, with silver hair pulled into a loose knot.
She wore a gray coat and carried a leather handbag.
Her face was lined with age.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
Vanessa's eyes.
Emily leaned forward.
"That's her?"
Margaret nodded slowly.
"I haven't seen Catherine in twenty-eight years."
Emily touched the photograph.
"She looks like us."
Vanessa turned toward her.
For the first time, she noticed the resemblance clearly.
The shape of their mouths.
The curve of their eyebrows.
The way both women tilted their heads when trying to understand something difficult.
Emily was younger-looking, with softer features and a quieter presence.
But the resemblance was there.
Vanessa's voice trembled.
"We really could be sisters."
Emily nodded.
"Maybe."
Neither woman knew what to do with that possibility.
Luca watched them.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
"Boss, we found Nathaniel's current address."
"Where?"
"A private residence in Greenwich."
"Is he there?"
"No. But we recovered something from a discarded phone linked to his office."
"What?"
"A message sent to Bellamy three days ago."
Luca listened.
Marcus read it aloud.
"The wedding must happen before Catherine reaches the girls. If she speaks to them first, the arrangement collapses."
Luca looked toward Vanessa.
"Find Catherine before Nathaniel does."
He ended the call.
Then he turned to Margaret.
"Where would Catherine go?"
Margaret shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Think."
The older woman closed her eyes.
"She used to talk about a little house near the water."
"Where?"
"Cold Spring. Along the Hudson."
Luca immediately called Marcus again.
"Search property records around Cold Spring. Anything connected to Catherine Vale, Elena Moretti, or their old associates."
Within an hour, Marcus had a lead.
A cottage registered to a woman named Caroline Wells.
The property had been purchased through a trust established eighteen years earlier.
The trustee was a deceased attorney who had once represented Elena.
Luca stared at the address.
"We're going."
Vanessa stood.
"I'm coming."
Emily rose beside her.
"So am I."
Margaret reached for her daughter's hand.
"Emily, please."
Emily looked at her.
"I've spent my whole life being protected from the truth. I don't want that anymore."
Margaret slowly released her hand.
Luca considered the risks.
Then nodded.
"Both of you. But you follow my instructions if something goes wrong."
They left shortly after sunset.
The drive north was quiet.
Vanessa sat beside Emily in the back seat.
For nearly an hour, neither spoke.
Then Emily asked, "Did you have a happy childhood?"
Vanessa looked out the window.
"I had a comfortable one."
"That's not what I asked."
Vanessa smiled sadly.
"No. It wasn't happy."
She explained that her adoptive parents had been wealthy but distant.
Her adoptive mother had died when she was fifteen.
Her adoptive father had rarely been home.
She had grown up surrounded by beautiful things and very little affection.
"What about you?" Vanessa asked.
Emily looked down.
"We didn't have much money. Mom worked constantly."
"Was she kind?"
Emily nodded.
"Always."
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"Then you got the better part."
Emily looked at her.
"I don't think either of us got what we deserved."
Vanessa reached across the seat.
After a moment, Emily took her hand.
The cottage stood at the end of a narrow gravel road.
It was small, white, and surrounded by bare trees.
A porch light glowed above the front door.
Luca approached with Marcus and two guards.
He knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
"Caroline Wells?"
Footsteps sounded inside.
Then the door opened.
The woman from the photograph stood before him.
She looked at Luca.
For a moment, her face seemed to collapse.
"Antonio?"
Luca went still.
"No."
She covered her mouth.
"Of course."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You're his son."
Vanessa stepped into the porch light.
The woman looked at her.
Her knees nearly gave way.
"Vannie?"
Vanessa froze.
Nobody had called her that in years.
Only one person had ever used that name.
A woman from her earliest memories.
A woman who used to sing while brushing her hair.
Vanessa whispered, "Mom?"
Catherine reached toward her.
Then stopped.
As though afraid the girl might disappear.
"My baby."
Vanessa crossed the porch.
They embraced.
Catherine began sobbing.
Emily stood a few feet away, unable to move.
Catherine looked over Vanessa's shoulder.
Her expression changed.
She slowly released Vanessa.
"Evelyn?"
Emily's lips trembled.
"My name is Emily."
Catherine covered her mouth.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Emily took one step forward.
Then another.
Catherine reached for her.
Emily let herself be held.
For several seconds, the three women stood together beneath the porch light.
Luca turned away.
He had come expecting answers.
Instead, he was witnessing a family reunion that should have happened decades earlier.
Then Catherine looked at him.
Her tears stopped.
"You shouldn't have brought them here."
Luca frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Nathaniel knows this address."
Marcus immediately touched his earpiece.
"Perimeter check."
Catherine grabbed Luca's sleeve.
"Listen carefully. Whatever Bellamy told you, Antonio didn't steal my daughters."
Luca stared at her.
"Then why were they separated?"
"Because I asked him to separate them."
Vanessa stepped back.
"What?"
Catherine looked at her daughters.
"I made a terrible choice. I thought it was the only way to keep you alive."
Luca's voice hardened.
"And did you order my father's murder?"
Catherine closed her eyes.
"No."
"Bellamy says you did."
"Bellamy has been lying for twenty-eight years."
She walked to a cabinet and removed an old cassette tape.
"Your father recorded a conversation shortly before he died."
Luca stared at it.
"With whom?"
Catherine's expression darkened.
"With the person who arranged Elena's death."
Outside, an engine started.
Marcus turned toward the window.
"Boss. Vehicle approaching."
Catherine gripped Luca's arm.
"Don't let Nathaniel take that tape."
Then a voice called from the darkness.
"Mother?"
Catherine went white.
Nathaniel Voss stood at the edge of the porch.
And beside him was a woman Luca had buried ten years earlier.
May you like
His mother.
Elena Moretti.
