Chapter 5 - The Woman Behind the GlassBy the time Aleandro reached Hannah's apartment, the front window had shattered and Emily was gone.
Two police cruisers blocked the street.
Hannah sat on the steps with a blanket around her shoulders.
Aleandro ran toward her.
“Where is she?”
Hannah stood.
“Don't touch me.”
“Hannah, please.”
“Your wife came here because she was afraid of you.”
The words struck harder than a fist.
Aleandro stopped.
“What happened?”
Hannah's eyes filled with tears.
“Someone threw a brick through the window. Emily panicked. Then she started having contractions.”
His face drained.
“Contractions?”
“We called an ambulance. She's at Northwestern Memorial.”
Aleandro was already turning.
Hannah caught his sleeve.
“One more thing.”
He looked back.
“She told me not to tell you where she was.”
Aleandro closed his eyes.
“I understand.”
“No,” Hannah said. “I don't think you do.”
She stepped closer.
“She spent two years loving you. Last night, you made her feel like a criminal in her own home.”
Aleandro said nothing.
“You don't get to fix that by arriving with bodyguards and expensive apologies.”
He nodded once.
Then he left.
At the hospital, Emily lay in a private examination room while a fetal monitor traced her daughter's heartbeat.
Her obstetrician, Dr. Rebecca Lane, studied the readings.
“The baby's heart rate is reassuring,” she said. “But you're having uterine contractions, and we need to make sure they don't progress.”
Emily stared at the ceiling.
“Is she going to be okay?”
“We're monitoring both of you closely. Stress isn't the only possible cause, so we're checking everything.”
Emily nodded.
Her hands were cold.
She had imagined pregnancy differently.
She had imagined Aleandro beside her, holding her hand.
Not because he owned the hospital wing.
Not because he could summon specialists with a phone call.
Simply because he loved her.
A nurse entered.
“Mrs. Bellini, your husband is here.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Tell him I'm not ready to see him.”
The nurse nodded.
Then hesitated.
“He asked whether you and the baby are safe.”
Emily swallowed.
“You can tell him we're being monitored.”
Outside, Aleandro stood against the wall, staring at a framed painting without seeing it.
When the nurse delivered Emily's message, he nodded.
“Thank you.”
He sat down.
For the first time in years, there was nothing his money could accomplish.
No threat he could make.
No door he could force open without becoming exactly the man Emily believed he was.
Hours passed.
Then Margaret Ellis appeared in the hallway.
She stopped when she saw him.
“Aleandro Bellini.”
He stood.
“Do I know you?”
“No. But I knew your father.”
His expression sharpened.
Margaret studied him.
“You have his eyes.”
Aleandro didn't respond.
“Unfortunately,” she added, “you also seem to have inherited his talent for hurting the people who love you.”
He accepted the insult.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who owes Emily's mother a debt.”
Margaret handed him a photograph.
It showed Vittorio Bellini beside Laura Bennett.
Aleandro stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“Laura gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
He looked up.
“Disappeared?”
Margaret's expression changed.
“Emily hasn't told you?”
“Told me what?”
Margaret lowered her voice.
“We have reason to believe her mother may have survived.”
Aleandro felt the floor shift beneath him.
“That isn't possible.”
“Someone sent us a photograph.”
“Show me.”
Margaret hesitated.
Then removed the picture from her purse.
Aleandro examined it carefully.
The hospital bed.
The woman's face.
The date.
And something in the background.
A small brass plaque beside the door.
He recognized the emblem.
A silver oak tree enclosed in a circle.
Northbridge Medical.
The same organization that had received the missing three million dollars.
Aleandro looked at Margaret.
“Where did this come from?”
“An envelope delivered this morning.”
He stared at the photograph.
“Northbridge isn't just a holding company.”
Margaret frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Aleandro's voice dropped.
“I think it's a medical facility.”
His phone vibrated.
A message from Nathan Price.
We identified the owner of Northbridge Medical Investments.
Aleandro opened the attachment.
His blood went cold.
The controlling shareholder was listed as:
May you like
Laura Bennett.
Emily's supposedly dead mother.
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