Chương 4 - Her Mother’s Rules
Alina opened the envelope with shaking fingers.
There were two pages.
A birth certificate.
And a letter.
Lena,
You have a sister.
Her name is Sofia.
I told you she didn’t exist because I thought a clean lie would hurt less than a truth I couldn’t fix.
Alina sat on the kitchen floor.
Dante lowered himself into a chair across the room.
He said nothing.
Your father died before Sofia was born.
Dante helped us afterward.
Then I found records I should never have seen.
Money moved through a children’s foundation.
Names disappeared from lists.
Women signed papers they couldn’t read.
Alina read the next lines twice.
When I tried to leave, Sofia was taken.
I was told Dante had ordered it.
I believed that for years.
Her eyes lifted toward him.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Look at me when you answer.”
He did.
“No.”
She continued.
Later, I found a signature that didn’t match.
I don’t know if Dante was betrayed or if he let someone use his name.
Either way, don’t trust his sorrow.
Trust what he can prove.
Alina handed him the letter.
His eyes stopped halfway down the page.
“What records?” she asked.
“Accounts connected to a foundation my family funded.”
“Funded with what?”
He met her stare.
“Some money came from businesses that were legal.
Some didn’t.”
The honesty was ugly.
She preferred it to comfort.
The last paragraph contained three instructions.
Find Sister Agnes.
Bring the key from my sewing basket.
Do not let Vittorio Bellandi know.
Dante went perfectly still.
Alina saw it.
“That’s your security chief.”
“Yes.”
“You brought him into the restaurant.”
“Yes.”
The word sounded harder this time.
She found her mother’s sewing basket on a shelf above the refrigerator.
Beneath a cushion of bent pins was a brass key taped inside the lining.
Nico called from the hallway.
“Boss.”
Dante rose.
Alina followed him to the doorway.
Nico held up his phone.
A security alert showed a photograph from Dante’s house.
Vittorio stood beside Leo’s nanny.
The nanny was holding the baby.
May you like
Vittorio’s message beneath the picture was brief.
WE NEED TO TALK BEFORE YOU BELIEVE THAT GIRL.
