Chapter 5 - THE PROMISE THAT DESTROYED A FAMILYLorenzo didn't let Isabella enter the safe house until David had searched her.
She didn't protest.
She simply stood in the foyer, watching Meline emerge from the living room.
For several seconds, the two women stared at each other.
Then Isabella crossed the room.
"You're alive," she whispered.
Meline nodded.
Isabella began crying.
"I'm sorry."
Meline didn't move.
Lorenzo looked between them.
"What is happening?"
Isabella sat down.
"Mateo told me Meline had died during childbirth. He said Nicholas was being raised by strangers because his mother hadn't survived."
Meline covered her mouth.
"He told me Isabella was dead."
"He lied to both of us," Isabella said.
Lorenzo felt the room closing around him.
"Start talking."
Isabella explained that the fire had been deliberately set.
She had discovered Mateo's financial crimes and threatened to expose him. He responded by locking her inside the country residence.
She survived by escaping through a service tunnel.
But the fire destroyed her lungs and left her with serious internal damage.
For years, she lived under false identities, moving between private clinics while Mateo searched for her.
Then she received an offer.
Mateo would pay for her treatment if she returned and stopped investigating him.
She accepted because she was desperate.
"He told me Nicholas could save my life," Isabella said.
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
"What exactly does he need?"
"A stem-cell transplant. His doctors believe Nicholas is a rare compatible match."
"Then why kidnap him?"
"Because I refused to let them do it without proper consent and independent medical supervision."
Meline looked down.
"That's when he threatened me."
Isabella reached for her hand.
"I know."
Lorenzo stared at his wife.
"What promise did you make?"
Meline's eyes filled.
"When Nicholas was six weeks old, Mateo brought him into my room. He told me he would take the baby somewhere I would never find him unless I signed a document."
"What document?"
"An agreement transferring custody to the Moretti family trust."
"Why would you sign that?"
"Because he put a gun against Nicholas's crib."
Her voice broke.
"I signed because I thought it was the only way to keep him alive."
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
He had spent three years believing he had failed to protect his wife.
Now he understood that she had been forced to make an impossible choice.
He sat beside her.
"You did what you had to do."
She shook her head.
"I gave him our son."
"You kept him alive."
"I let them raise him without me."
"You survived for him."
Meline began to cry.
Lorenzo pulled her into his arms.
This time, she didn't recoil.
She buried her face against his chest, and he held her as if the entire world might disappear if he loosened his grip.
For the first time in three years, they were together.
But their reunion lasted less than a minute.
David entered the room holding a tablet.
"Boss, we've got a serious problem."
He displayed a live security feed from the Croft estate.
A little boy stood beside a Christmas tree.
Nicholas.
A woman knelt in front of him, fastening his coat.
Lorenzo recognized her immediately.
It was Vanessa Croft, Richard's daughter.
She smiled at Nicholas and brushed his hair away from his forehead.
Then she said something that made Meline go completely still.
"Your real daddy is coming tonight, sweetheart."
Lorenzo leaned toward the screen.
"Turn up the audio."
Vanessa continued.
"He's going to take you somewhere special. But you have to be a good boy and forget about the woman who cleans your room."
Nicholas shook his head.
"I want Maddie."
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
"Maddie isn't coming back."
The boy began crying.
Then Richard Croft entered the frame.
He placed a hand on Vanessa's shoulder.
"Enough. The child has a job to do."
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
"What job?"
David enlarged the image.
A document lay on the table beside them.
It was a medical consent form.
Nicholas's name appeared at the top.
Below it was a date.
Tomorrow morning.
Lorenzo stood.
"Prepare the vehicles."
David hesitated.
"Boss, we don't know how many men Croft has inside."
Lorenzo checked his weapon.
"Then find out."
Isabella stepped forward.
"There's another problem."
Lorenzo turned.
She pointed at the medical form.
"Look at the hospital's name."
It was a private medical center in Boston.
One Lorenzo knew very well.
May you like
Because he owned it.
And the doctor listed as the surgeon was the same man who had signed the report declaring Lorenzo's father dead eleven years earlier.
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