Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO LOOKED LIKE A GHOST
Luca arrived at the hospital in less than twenty minutes.
He found Clara sitting upright in bed, one hand resting over her stomach. Her face was pale, but she smiled faintly when he entered.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I know you have bigger problems.”
“Don't apologize for being frightened.”
He pulled a chair beside her.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Clara took a breath.
“A woman came in wearing a gray coat. She said she was from hospital administration and needed to verify a record connected to your family. I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn't understand why.”
“Then what?”
“She asked whether you had found the second death certificate. When I said I didn't know what she meant, she told me to give you a message.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“She looked like Elena?”
Clara nodded.
“Not just similar. The same eyes. The same mouth. Even the little line beside her left eyebrow.”
Luca stared at the floor.
Elena had been dead for four years.
He had watched her coffin lowered into the ground. He had held Sophia against his chest during the funeral. He had visited the grave every anniversary, even when work demanded he stay away.
A resemblance could be explained.
A dead woman returning to a hospital could not.
“Did she tell you her name?”
“No. But she left this.”
Clara handed him a folded paper.
Inside was a hospital visitor badge bearing the name DR. EVELYN BROOKS.
The photograph had been removed.
On the back, someone had written an address.
A private medical archive on the outskirts of Chicago.
Luca called Marco.
“Find Dr. Brooks. I want her located and brought in for questioning.”
Marco's voice was strained.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The laboratory's director disappeared yesterday. Her office was emptied, her phone was destroyed, and her home has been abandoned.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Find her.”
He turned back to Clara.
“I need you to stay here until I know it's safe to move you.”
Clara shook her head.
“I'm not going anywhere without knowing what's happening.”
“You're seven months pregnant. Someone has already threatened your baby.”
“And someone has already threatened Sophia. I won't leave her alone with people who might hurt her.”
Luca looked at her for a long moment.
He knew she was right.
He also knew he had no right to ask her to be brave simply because he had failed to protect the people in his life.
“Then we'll bring Sophia here,” he said. “You'll stay together, and Marco will arrange security.”
Before he left, Clara caught his hand.
“Mr. Moretti?”
He turned.
“If Elena really is alive, don't let your anger make you forget what she might have survived.”
The words followed him into the corridor.
By evening, Marco had located the medical archive.
The building had been closed for years, but recent utility records showed that someone had been using a private room inside.
Luca went with Michael and a small security team.
The archive's front door was unlocked.
Inside, shelves of patient files stood beneath fluorescent lights. Most were covered in dust, but one desk had been recently used. A cup of coffee sat beside an open folder.
The folder contained photographs of the Moretti estate.
Clara entering the kitchen.
Sophia playing in the garden.
Vanessa leaving the library.
And Luca standing at Elena's grave.
Michael picked up a photograph.
“This isn't about the inheritance anymore.”
“No,” Luca said. “It's about controlling everyone who knows the truth.”
A sound came from the rear hallway.
Luca drew his weapon.
“Come out.”
A woman stepped into the light.
She wore a gray coat.
Her dark hair fell to her shoulders, and her green eyes were unmistakable.
Luca forgot how to breathe.
“Elena?”
The woman stared at him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then she whispered, “You shouldn't have come here.”
Luca took one step forward.
“Is it really you?”
Her face crumpled.
“Luca, please.”
He stopped.
The voice was Elena's.
Not similar.
Not close.
Hers.
Michael stood motionless behind him.
“Who is she?” he demanded.
The woman looked at Michael, and tears spilled down her cheeks.
“My son.”
Michael recoiled.
“No.”
She reached toward him.
“Michael—”
“Don't.”
He backed away, shaking his head.
“You don't get to call me that.”
The woman lowered her hand.
“I know.”
Luca stared at her, torn between disbelief and a hope so painful he could barely stand.
“Why did you let us bury you?”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know what Vittorio had told you. I was unconscious for days. When I woke up, I was told my children were dead.”
“Both of them?”
“Yes.”
“Who told you?”
“Dr. Brooks.”
Luca felt sick.
The woman continued.
“She said the hospital had lost the babies during an emergency transfer. She said Vittorio had arranged their burials privately. When I tried to leave, I was told I had suffered a traumatic brain injury and could never return to my previous life.”
“Who kept you there?”
She looked toward the dark hallway.
“Arthur Sterling.”
Luca's fingers tightened around his weapon.
“Where is he now?”
“Dead.”
“And Vittorio?”
“Dead.”
“Then who has been watching us?”
The woman looked at Michael.
“Someone who believes the children should never have been born.”
Michael's face hardened.
“Who?”
Before she could answer, a gunshot cracked through the archive.
The woman fell.
Luca caught her before she hit the floor.
“ELENA!”
Michael dropped beside them, pressing his hands against the wound.
Marco shouted for an ambulance.
The woman struggled to breathe.
Luca held her hand.
“Stay with me. You hear me? You don't get to disappear again.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“Luca…”
“I'm here.”
She forced the words out.
“Your daughter…”
“Sophia? She's safe.”
The woman shook her head.
“Not Sophia.”
Luca froze.
She gripped his wrist with surprising strength.
“The baby Clara is carrying.”
He stared at her.
“What about Clara's baby?”
Elena's eyes filled with terror.
“Vittorio knew about that child before Clara ever came to work for you.”
Her breathing grew shallow.
“And the person who arranged the freezer box…”
She coughed, struggling to finish.
“Is the person who knows why your first daughter was never supposed to come home.”
Her hand fell limp.
For one terrible second, Luca thought she was dead again.
Then the monitor began to beep.
As the paramedics rushed in, Michael picked up the folder that had fallen beside Elena.
Inside was a photograph of Clara, taken months before she had ever met the Moretti family.
On the back was a handwritten note:
May you like
THE LAST HEIR IS ALREADY INSIDE THE HOUSE.
END OF CHAPTER 9
