Chapter 3 - The Daughter Nobody Was Allowed to Remember
Luca drove back to the mansion like a man possessed.
He called his security chief three times.
No answer.
When he finally reached the estate, the front gates stood open.
Two guards were unconscious beside the entrance.
Luca rushed inside.
“Mother!”
Emily appeared at the top of the staircase.
“Mr. Moretti!”
“Where is she?”
“Her room. I locked the door.”
“Is she hurt?”
“No, but someone was here.”
Luca took the stairs two at a time.
Elena sat beside her bed, holding an old photograph.
Her hands trembled.
“Mother, are you all right?”
She nodded.
Then she looked at Emily.
“Tell him.”
Emily hesitated.
Luca turned.
“Tell me what?”
Emily slowly approached.
“I found something in the laundry room. Someone hid it inside your mother's old winter coat.”
She handed him a folded envelope.
Inside was a birth certificate.
The name of the child was Sofia Reed.
The mother was Vanessa Moretti.
The father was listed as unknown.
Luca looked at Elena.
“Was Vanessa pregnant with my father's child?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“No.”
“Then whose child was she carrying?”
“Gabriel's.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Luca looked at his mother in disbelief.
“You're telling me my brother had a child?”
Elena nodded.
“Gabriel was seventeen when Vanessa became pregnant. Your father discovered their relationship and locked him away.”
Luca looked at the birth certificate again.
“Why would Father do that?”
“Because Gabriel wanted to leave the family. He wanted a life without guns, threats, or blood.”
Elena's voice cracked.
“He loved that girl. And your father hated anything he couldn't control.”
Luca sat down.
“So Sofia is my niece.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Elena looked toward the window.
“I don't know.”
Emily stepped forward.
“I think I do.”
Both Morettis turned toward her.
Emily took a small photograph from her apron.
It showed a little girl with dark curls standing beside a playground.
On the back was written:
Sofia, age six. Please don't let them find her.
“Where did you get this?” Luca asked.
“Inside the envelope.”
“Who gave it to you?”
Emily shook her head.
“I found it in the coat.”
Luca studied the girl's face.
Something about her eyes seemed familiar.
Then he noticed the small scar above her left eyebrow.
The same scar from Gabriel's photograph.
***
Across town, Vanessa woke up in a dark room.
Her wrists were tied to a metal chair.
A man stood in front of her, wearing a gray suit.
“Where is the key?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't have it.”
The man slapped the table.
“Your father gave it to you.”
“My father is dead.”
“Your father was a liar.”
He placed a photograph in front of her.
It showed a little girl sleeping in a hospital bed.
Sofia.
Vanessa's breathing became uneven.
“Where is my daughter?”
The man smiled.
“That's what I want to know.”
Vanessa struggled against the restraints.
“Don't touch her.”
“Then tell me where Gabriel hid the original records.”
“I don't know.”
The man leaned closer.
“You've spent thirteen years pretending to be a respectable woman. You became engaged to Luca. You entered his house. You got close to his mother.”
He tapped the photograph.
“Yet you still haven't found what your father left behind.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“Someone your future husband should have killed a long time ago.”
He removed his glasses.
Vanessa's face drained of color.
“Uncle Richard?”
Richard Moretti was Luca's father's younger brother.
The man everyone believed had died in a car accident twelve years earlier.
He leaned back.
“Surprised?”
“You were at the funeral.”
“Someone was.”
He placed a small black box on the table.
“Your father-in-law left something inside the old chapel. I need it.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Richard sighed.
“Then perhaps Sofia needs a reminder.”
He pressed a button on his phone.
A video appeared.
A little girl was sitting in a room, drawing a house.
Vanessa began sobbing.
“Please.”
Richard watched her carefully.
“Tell me where the key is.”
Vanessa finally whispered:
“It's inside Luca's wedding ring.”
***
Back at the mansion, Luca examined his engagement ring.
It was an antique piece his father had left behind.
He had given it to Vanessa three months earlier.
Emily looked at him.
“Mr. Moretti, there's something wrong.”
“What?”
“The girl in that photograph.”
“What about her?”
Emily pointed at the scar.
“She's the same little girl I used to see in the mansion.”
Luca frowned.
“When?”
“Years ago. Before I started working here.”
Emily's voice trembled.
“She lived in the west wing. Your father told everyone she was a distant relative.”
Luca stood.
“There was a child in this house?”
Emily nodded.
“One night, she disappeared. Your mother cried for days.”
Elena began shaking.
“That's impossible.”
Emily looked at her.
“Mrs. Moretti, you held her every morning.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Then she whispered something that made Luca's blood run cold.
“Because Sofia wasn't Gabriel's only child.”
She looked at Luca.
“She was the little girl I raised as my own granddaughter.”
Luca stared at the photograph.
“Then whose daughter was she?”
May you like
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Yours.”
