Chapter 3 - The Photograph Beneath the Floorboards
Luca watched the footage twice.
"Find him."
Marcus nodded.
"Already tracking his vehicle."
"Lock down the roads around the estate. Quietly. I don't want the police involved until I know what we're dealing with."
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't hurt Richard."
Luca looked at her.
"He's been hiding something from us for years."
"He was protecting someone."
"Who?"
Elena didn't answer.
Emily stood beside the bed, staring at the photograph. The woman in it had dark hair, a delicate face, and a small crescent-shaped birthmark beneath her left ear.
Something about her seemed familiar.
"Mrs. Moretti?"
Elena looked up.
"Yes?"
"May I see the photograph?"
Luca handed it to her.
Emily examined the woman more carefully.
"She looks like someone I saw in my mother's belongings."
"Who?"
"My mother kept a photograph in a small wooden box. I never knew who the woman was. She was standing beside a hospital bed, holding a baby."
Elena reached for her hand.
"Do you still have it?"
Emily nodded.
"It's at my apartment."
Luca turned to Marcus.
"Send someone to retrieve it."
Emily hesitated.
"Please don't send armed men into my apartment. My neighbors will panic."
For the first time that night, Luca seemed to remember that Emily wasn't part of his world.
"You're right. I'll take you myself."
Marcus frowned.
"Boss, that's not safe."
"Then come with us."
Twenty minutes later, Luca, Emily, and Marcus arrived at a modest apartment building in South Boston.
Emily unlocked her door.
The apartment was small but clean. A secondhand sofa sat beside a narrow kitchen, and a framed photograph of an older woman rested on the mantel.
Luca noticed it.
"Your mother?"
Emily nodded.
"She raised me alone."
He studied the picture.
"She must have been a good woman."
"She was."
Emily opened a wooden box from the bedroom closet.
Inside were several photographs, a faded hospital bracelet, and a sealed envelope.
Her hands stopped when she saw the handwriting.
It was her mother's.
For Emily, when the truth can no longer hurt you.
She opened it carefully.
The letter contained only a few paragraphs.
Margaret explained that she had once worked at the Moretti estate. She had been hired to care for Sofia Bell after a difficult childbirth. Sofia had given birth to a boy on October 3, but Alessandro had ordered the child removed from her room.
Margaret had helped Sofia escape.
The baby, however, had been taken away.
Margaret had never discovered where he went.
Emily's knees weakened.
"She knew."
Luca read the letter over her shoulder.
"Your mother helped my father's first wife escape."
"Yes."
"But why didn't she tell you?"
Emily swallowed.
"Maybe she was afraid."
Marcus turned the letter over.
"There's another page."
A small note had been tucked into the fold.
It contained an address and a name.
St. Agnes House — Room 17.
Luca immediately recognized the location.
It was an abandoned private nursing facility outside Boston. His father had owned the property through a holding company.
"Marcus, get the car."
On the way there, Emily finally asked the question troubling her.
"Mr. Moretti, if your father had another son, why didn't anyone know?"
Luca stared through the window.
"Because someone wanted him erased."
The facility stood behind a line of dead trees. Most of its windows were boarded up, but a light glowed on the second floor.
Marcus checked the perimeter.
"Someone's inside."
Luca drew his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
They entered through a side door. The building smelled of dust and disinfectant. A staircase creaked beneath their feet.
Room 17 was at the end of the corridor.
Luca opened it.
An elderly woman sat beside the window.
She turned at the sound.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she looked at Luca.
"Alessandro's boy."
Luca lowered his weapon.
"Are you Sofia Bell?"
The woman nodded.
Emily stepped forward.
"My mother was Margaret Carter."
Sofia's expression broke.
"Margaret's daughter?"
Emily nodded.
Sofia reached for her hand.
"She saved my life."
Luca approached.
"Where is my brother?"
Sofia looked at him with exhausted eyes.
"Your brother has been closer than you think."
"Where?"
She pointed toward a drawer.
Inside was a photograph of a young man standing beside Alessandro.
The man looked remarkably like Luca.
On the back was a name.
Adrian Moretti.
Luca stared.
"My father told me Adrian died as an infant."
Sofia shook her head.
"He didn't die."
"Then where is he?"
Before Sofia could answer, a gunshot shattered the window.
Marcus dragged Emily to the floor.
Luca shielded his mother.
May you like
And Sofia, trembling, whispered the one thing that made everything worse.
"He's the man your father appointed to kill you."
