Chapter 7 - THE LIE THAT ALMOST DESTROYED THEM
“VANESSA IS MY WHAT?”
Luca's voice filled the examination room.
Matteo flinched.
“Lower your voice.”
Luca stepped back.
“You're telling me the woman I've been living with is our sister?”
“I'm telling you that's what Sofia wanted us to believe.”
Luca stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Matteo struggled to sit upright.
“Three years ago, I found documents claiming Sofia had given birth to a daughter before she married Dad.”
“Vanessa?”
“That was the name on the file.”
Luca stared.
“Did you verify it?”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“The records were inconsistent. Birth dates didn't match. One certificate had been altered.”
“Then why would you tell me she's our sister?”
“Because Sofia used that claim to control Vanessa.”
Luca looked at him.
“Explain.”
Matteo took a painful breath.
“Vanessa grew up believing Sofia was her biological mother. She thought the Sterling family adopted her to hide an affair.”
“And you believe that was a lie?”
“I believe someone wanted Vanessa to feel indebted to Sofia.”
Luca sat down.
For the first time since opening the suitcase, he felt something other than anger.
Disgust.
Someone had manipulated an entire family with secrets about birth, death, and identity.
“Does Vanessa know the records might be false?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you tell her?”
“I tried. She wouldn't listen.”
Luca stared at the floor.
He remembered Vanessa telling him she had never felt loved by her parents.
He remembered her reluctance to discuss childhood.
Her sudden panic whenever he mentioned Antonio.
Had she been hiding guilt?
Or fear?
“Where's the original proof?” Luca asked.
“Eleanor Sterling kept the adoption papers.”
“Vanessa's mother?”
Matteo nodded.
“She may be the only person who knows what really happened.”
Luca stood.
“Then we're going to find her.”
Matteo caught his wrist.
“Luca.”
“What?”
“There's another reason Vanessa tried to take the suitcase.”
Luca waited.
“Margaret Ellis had been keeping something for Isabella.”
“The letters?”
“No.”
Matteo swallowed.
“A recording of Sofia.”
Luca frowned.
“From when?”
“Four months ago.”
Luca felt cold.
Four months ago.
His mother had supposedly been dead for nearly twenty years.
“You're saying she's alive.”
“I'm saying Isabella recorded a woman who claimed to be Sofia Moretti.”
“Where?”
“Room 214.”
Luca remembered the hidden safe.
The digital recorder had contained Antonio's voice.
But the flash drive might contain more.
He reached for his phone.
“Caleb, I need every audio and video file from the hospital drive examined.”
“Understood.”
“And find Eleanor Sterling.”
“Already working on it.”
Luca ended the call.
Matteo watched him.
“You still think you can fix this?”
Luca looked at his brother.
“No.”
The answer surprised them both.
“I don't think I can fix what happened.”
He paused.
“But I can stop it from happening again.”
At the Moretti estate, Vanessa sat alone in Antonio's old study.
The curtains were closed.
A single lamp illuminated the desk.
In front of her lay a photograph of herself at eleven years old.
Sofia Moretti stood beside her.
Vanessa touched the older woman's face.
“I did everything you asked,” she whispered.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered immediately.
“Hello?”
A woman's voice spoke.
“Did Luca find the recording?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Please stop calling me.”
“You haven't answered my question.”
“I don't know.”
“Then find out.”
Vanessa's voice shook.
“I won't hurt Isabella again.”
Silence.
Then the woman said:
“You're forgetting who gave you a family.”
Vanessa pressed a hand against her mouth.
“You lied to me.”
“Careful.”
“You told me Luca would never love me if he knew where I came from.”
“He wouldn't.”
“You told me Isabella was dangerous.”
“She is.”
Vanessa began crying.
“You made me believe she wanted to kill him.”
The woman's tone hardened.
“Isabella stole something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“The ledger.”
Vanessa looked toward the locked desk drawer.
“I don't have it.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because Luca is getting close.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“What do you want?”
“Bring me the maid.”
Vanessa froze.
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
“She's pregnant.”
“I know.”
“I won't do that.”
The woman's voice became dangerously calm.
“Then perhaps I should remind you what happened to your real mother.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
“My real mother?”
A quiet laugh came through the phone.
“You didn't actually believe Sofia Moretti gave birth to you, did you?”
Vanessa stared ahead.
For thirty years, she had believed she was Sofia's daughter.
Now the same woman was laughing at her.
“Who am I?” Vanessa whispered.
“You're someone who should have learned to obey.”
The call ended.
Vanessa sat motionless.
Then she opened the desk drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
A young woman stood outside a hospital holding a newborn baby.
On the back, someone had written:
Eleanor and Vanessa, December 1993.
Vanessa turned it over.
Eleanor Sterling.
Her adoptive mother.
The woman she had spent her entire life believing had never wanted her.
The woman in the photograph looked exhausted.
But happy.
And the baby in her arms wore a small bracelet.
Vanessa enlarged the image with her phone.
The bracelet contained two words.
VANESSA ELLIS.
Vanessa stared.
Ellis.
Margaret Ellis.
The nurse who had kept Isabella's belongings.
Her hands began trembling.
“Margaret?”
She remembered visiting Margaret the day before the engagement dinner.
The elderly nurse had looked at her with tears in her eyes.
You have her eyes, Margaret had whispered.
Vanessa had assumed the woman was confused.
Now she wasn't so sure.
She reached for her phone.
Before she could dial, the study door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
A thin scar above his chin.
Vanessa recognized him immediately.
“Dr. Keller?”
He closed the door.
“I'm sorry, Vanessa.”
She stood.
“What are you doing here?”
Keller looked toward the photograph.
“You found it.”
Vanessa backed away.
“Found what?”
“The one thing Sofia never wanted you to see.”
He took a step closer.
“Give me the photograph.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“Don't make this harder.”
She grabbed a heavy brass letter opener from the desk.
“Stay away from me.”
Keller stopped.
For a moment, his expression softened.
“Vanessa, I don't want to hurt you.”
“Then tell me who my mother is.”
Keller looked toward the window.
“She worked at St. Catherine's.”
Vanessa's heart pounded.
“Margaret?”
He nodded.
“Margaret Ellis gave birth to you. Eleanor Sterling was her sister. She raised you because Margaret was being threatened.”
Vanessa felt tears running down her face.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret witnessed something at the hospital.”
“What?”
Keller lowered his voice.
“The night Sofia Moretti disappeared.”
Vanessa gripped the letter opener.
“Is Sofia alive?”
Keller hesitated.
Then whispered:
“I saw her yesterday.”
Vanessa staggered backward.
Before she could ask where, the study window shattered.
Keller fell to the floor.
Vanessa screamed.
A second shot struck the wall behind her.
She dropped the letter opener and crawled beneath the desk.
Her phone vibrated.
A message appeared from the same unknown number.
May you like
YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME THE PHOTOGRAPH.
Continue to Chapter 8: Who ordered the attack—and why is Margaret Ellis the key to Vanessa's true identity?
