Chapter 8 - The Wedding That Was Never Meant to Happen
Luca studied the documents Victoria had brought.
A passport.
A medical record.
Two birth certificates.
And a photograph of three women standing outside a private clinic.
One was Victoria.
One was Vanessa.
The third was a woman Luca recognized from the wedding.
The woman who had claimed to be Elena.
But there was something wrong with the photograph.
The woman in the middle had a different name.
Catherine Bellini.
Their older half-sister.
“Three sisters?” Luca asked.
Victoria nodded.
“Vanessa was adopted. Catherine was raised separately. I didn't know either of them until I was twenty.”
“Why did Catherine pretend to be Elena?”
“Because she was the one who arranged the clinic transfer. She knew every detail about Elena's appearance, her pregnancy, and her medical records.”
Luca looked at Marco.
“Where is the real Elena?”
Victoria handed him another photograph.
It showed an old farmhouse outside the city.
“Antonio keeps her there. He wants her to sign a statement saying the children were voluntarily surrendered.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust becomes inaccessible if the children are declared victims of a crime.”
Luca looked at the documents.
“So the entire family conspiracy is about money?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Not entirely.”
She pointed to a handwritten note.
“Your father has been using the trust to protect a network of people who paid him to make certain children disappear. The money is only part of it.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Then we'll expose all of them.”
They left before sunrise.
At the farmhouse, Marco found two guards at the entrance.
Luca ordered his men to surround the property.
He entered through the back.
A woman sat in a chair beside the fireplace.
Her hair was longer.
Her face was thinner.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
“Elena.”
She looked up.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then she ran into his arms.
Luca held her as though he could make up for two lost years by refusing to let go.
“I thought I lost you.”
“I thought you had forgotten me.”
“Never.”
She pulled away.
“Where are the children?”
“We're getting them.”
Elena looked at Victoria.
“You brought him here?”
Victoria nodded.
“I'm done helping Antonio.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“You helped him take my children.”
“I know.”
“You watched me beg.”
Victoria lowered her head.
“I know.”
Luca stepped between them.
“Not now. We have to move.”
But Elena caught his arm.
“There's something else.”
She handed him a folded letter.
It was addressed to Luca.
The handwriting belonged to his father.
Inside was a confession.
Antonio admitted that the accident that supposedly killed Elena had been arranged by him. But he had not intended to kill her.
He wanted to frighten her into surrendering the children.
The driver had lost control.
A stranger had died.
And Antonio had used the body to stage Elena's funeral.
Luca read the final paragraph.
If Elena ever returns, she must never be allowed to reach the children. She knows who truly ordered the transfer.
Luca looked up.
“Who?”
Elena took his hand.
“Your father didn't start this.”
“Then who did?”
She opened the letter's final page.
A name had been written beneath Antonio's signature.
ISABELLA MORETTI.
Luca stared.
His mother.
The woman who had pointed at Vanessa at the wedding.
The woman who had spent years pretending to be a victim.
The woman who had told him to stay away from the chapel.
Elena whispered:
“Your mother arranged the first hospital transfer. Antonio only took control afterward.”
Luca shook his head.
“Why would she do that?”
Elena looked toward the farmhouse door.
“Because she wanted the children separated before your father could change his will.”
A car engine started outside.
Marco rushed into the room.
“Boss! We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Your mother is on the property.”
Luca turned toward the window.
Isabella stood beside a black limousine.
She was holding Sofia's stuffed rabbit.
And she wasn't alone.
Daniel stood beside her.
The boy looked directly at Luca.
Then Isabella raised a gun.
May you like
“Come outside, son.”
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