Chapter 3 - The Five-Year-Old Secret
Isabella opened her eyes at 4:12 the next morning.
Alessandro was sitting beside her bed.
Her gaze moved slowly around the room.
Then found him.
Every monitor seemed louder.
“Alessandro?”
He leaned forward.
“Yes.”
Fear crossed her face.
Not relief.
Fear.
“Where's Sofia?”
“Safe.”
“Bruno?”
“Safe.”
She tried to sit up.
Pain stopped her.
“Don't.”
“I need my daughter.”
“You'll see her.”
Isabella stared at him.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Your dog disagreed.”
“What?”
“Bruno found me.”
Her eyes filled with disbelief.
“He ran all the way back?”
“Back?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
Alessandro caught it immediately.
“You've been near Il Corvo Nero before.”
She said nothing.
“Isabella.”
“Don't interrogate me.”
“I thought you were dead for six years.”
“And I spent six years making sure you believed it.”
That answer landed hard.
Alessandro stood.
“You wanted me to believe you were dead?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it kept you alive.”
He laughed once without humor.
“You disappear, destroy me, and now you're telling me you did it for my protection?”
“Your father discovered us.”
Alessandro stopped.
Isabella continued.
“He told my father.”
“My father knew?”
“They made an agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“To separate us.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“That wouldn't have stopped me.”
“They knew.”
Her voice weakened.
“So they gave me another reason.”
“What reason?”
Isabella looked toward the door.
“Sofia.”
Silence filled the room.
Alessandro stared at her.
“No.”
“She was born seven months after I disappeared.”
His face changed.
“Isabella.”
“She is your daughter.”
For the first time in years, Alessandro Moretti had absolutely nothing to say.
He sat slowly.
“My daughter?”
“Yes.”
“You kept my child from me.”
“I kept her alive.”
“From whom?”
“Your father.”
Alessandro stood again.
“My father has been dead four years.”
“And the people who helped him aren't.”
The door opened.
Luca entered.
“Boss.”
“Not now.”
“You need to hear this.”
Alessandro looked at Isabella.
“Say it.”
Luca placed a phone on the table.
“Giovanni found surveillance footage from a gas station twelve miles before the crash.”
The screen showed Isabella's silver sedan.
Then a black SUV.
Two men approached her vehicle while she was inside the store.
One crouched near the front wheel.
Alessandro leaned closer.
“Can you identify them?”
“Working on it.”
Isabella stared at the screen.
Then whispered:
“I can.”
Alessandro turned.
“Who?”
“The taller one is Marco Bellini.”
Luca's face hardened.
One of the five lieutenants from Alessandro's meeting.
The same man who had smiled across the table hours earlier.
Alessandro looked at Luca.
“Bellini sat across from me yesterday.”
“I know.”
Isabella gripped the blanket.
“He found us.”
Alessandro turned toward her.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Where have you been living?”
“Different places. Never more than eight months.”
“With Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“And Bruno?”
“Since Sofia was two.”
Alessandro's anger sharpened.
“You've spent five years running with my daughter?”
“I've spent five years keeping your daughter breathing.”
A small voice interrupted them.
“Mommy?”
Everyone turned.
Sofia stood in the doorway holding Bruno's leash.
Isabella's face broke.
“Sofia.”
The girl ran toward her.
Alessandro stepped aside.
Sofia climbed carefully onto the bed and hugged her mother.
Bruno sat beside them.
Then Sofia looked at Alessandro.
“Mommy, that's the man who saved us.”
Isabella looked at Alessandro.
“No, sweetheart.”
Her eyes moved toward Bruno.
“He is.”
Sofia shook her head.
“Bruno found him.”
Then she looked directly at Alessandro.
“So they both saved us.”
Alessandro crouched beside her.
“Sofia.”
“Yes?”
He hesitated.
Isabella knew the question.
She gave one small nod.
Alessandro's voice softened.
“Do you know who I am?”
Sofia smiled innocently.
“Alessandro.”
He almost laughed.
“Yes.”
She waited.
He couldn't say it.
Not yet.
Because Luca's phone suddenly rang.
Luca answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at Alessandro.
“Bellini's gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Nobody knows.”
Alessandro straightened.
Luca continued.
“And three of our warehouses were hit twenty minutes ago.”
Alessandro looked toward Isabella.
This wasn't only about killing her.
May you like
Someone was starting a war.
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