Chapter 4 - The Little Girl in the Photograph
Luca stared at the photograph until the screen went dark.
He called the number again.
It was disconnected.
“Dominic!”
His security chief appeared immediately.
“Trace that call. Find the child in this photograph. I want her location within the hour.”
“Yes, boss.”
Luca rushed upstairs.
Elena was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the hospital photograph Emily had found.
He showed her the image.
She went completely still.
“That girl…”
“Do you recognize her?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“She has my eyes.”
Luca sat beside her.
“I think she's ours.”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't understand. If she was born that night, she'd be three.”
“She's approximately three in the picture.”
Elena studied Vanessa's face beside the child.
“Why would Vanessa raise our daughter?”
Luca didn't answer.
Because he was beginning to understand that the woman he had almost married might have been living with his child while allowing him to believe his family was buried.
Dominic called fifteen minutes later.
“We found the girl.”
“Where?”
“Blackwood Children's Foundation. It's a private residential estate owned by the Rowan family.”
Luca stood.
“Get the cars.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“I'm coming.”
“Absolutely not.”
“She's my daughter.”
“You've barely recovered from your injuries.”
Elena looked at him with a determination he remembered from their marriage.
“I lost three years. I'm not losing another hour.”
Luca studied her face.
Then he nodded.
The convoy left the mansion shortly after midnight.
Blackwood Foundation was a large property surrounded by iron gates and tall oak trees. It appeared to be a charitable institution, but its security arrangements looked more like those of a private prison.
Luca's men approached the main building.
A caretaker opened the door.
“I'm looking for a little girl,” Luca said. “She was photographed with Vanessa Rowan.”
The caretaker immediately became nervous.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Luca placed the photograph on the reception desk.
The man's face changed.
“She's asleep.”
“Take us to her.”
The caretaker swallowed.
“Mr. Moretti, I can't.”
Luca leaned forward.
“I'm her father.”
A moment later, a small voice came from the hallway.
“Daddy?”
A little girl stood at the top of the staircase.
She wore pale blue pajamas and held a stuffed rabbit against her chest.
Elena stopped breathing.
The child's dark curls fell around her face. Her eyes were unmistakably familiar.
“Sweetheart,” Elena whispered.
The girl stared at her.
“Who are you?”
Elena slowly knelt.
“I'm someone who has missed you every day.”
The girl looked at Luca.
“Is she the lady from the pictures?”
Luca's heart tightened.
“What pictures?”
The girl held up a small drawing.
It showed a woman with long dark hair holding a baby.
Beneath it, a child had written:
MY REAL MOMMY.
Elena began to cry.
The girl slowly approached her.
“Are you Elena?”
Elena nodded.
The little girl touched her cheek.
“Vanessa said you were an angel.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“But angels don't come back.”
Luca knelt beside them.
“What's your name?”
“Isabella.”
He smiled through his tears.
“That's a beautiful name.”
Isabella looked at him carefully.
“Vanessa said you were my uncle.”
Luca's smile disappeared.
“I'm your father.”
The child stepped backward.
“No.”
“Isabella—”
“Vanessa said my daddy died because Mommy was bad.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Luca's expression turned murderous.
He reached for the caretaker.
“Who told her that?”
The man began trembling.
“I was instructed to repeat what Miss Rowan told us.”
“Where is Vanessa?”
The caretaker looked toward the entrance.
“She was here this afternoon.”
“Did she take anything?”
The man hesitated.
Then he pointed toward the nursery.
“She left a suitcase. She said someone would come to collect it.”
Inside the suitcase, Luca found a collection of medical documents, old photographs, and a small audio recorder.
Elena pressed play.
Vanessa's voice filled the room.
“Once Elena is declared dead, the baby becomes ours. Luca will never know the difference.”
A second voice answered.
Richard Rowan.
“And what if the child remembers her?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Then we'll make sure she remembers the wrong story.”
The recording ended.
Luca stared at the device.
But before he could speak, Isabella began crying.
“Please don't send me away.”
Elena wrapped her arms around her daughter.
“No one is sending you anywhere.”
Isabella clung to her.
May you like
Then she whispered something that made Elena's blood run cold.
“Vanessa told me I had a brother, too.”
