Chương 6 - The Woman Who Stayed
Alina stepped into the hallway.
“Neither were you, apparently.”
Vittorio’s eyes shifted to her wrist.
It lasted less than a second.
She saw it anyway.
Dante handed Leo back to Rosa.
“You knew Sofia’s real name?”
Vittorio spread his hands.
“I knew her history was complicated.”
“You never told me.”
“She asked for privacy.”
Alina took out her mother’s letter.
“Did Marisol ask for privacy too?
Or did you make that decision after taking her daughter?”
Vittorio’s face changed.
Just enough.
“This is grief talking.”
“No,” Alina said.
“This is a question.”
Dante looked at Nico.
“Take his phone.
Disable his access.
He stays in the east sitting room until we finish.”
Vittorio didn’t resist.
That frightened Alina more than anger would have.
He knew something they didn’t.
Rosa took Alina into a small room beside the nursery.
Dante remained in the hallway, making calls.
“Did Sofia ever mention a sister?” Alina asked.
“Once.
Near the end.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
Rosa looked toward the door.
“Because she made me promise.”
Alina nearly snapped.
Then she saw the older woman’s hands twisting together.
“What did she say?”
“She said her family was alive.
She said someone had taught her to believe otherwise.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t name him.
She wanted proof first.”
Rosa opened a drawer and removed a baby book.
Inside its back cover was a loose photograph.
Alina at nineteen, standing beside her mother at a bus station.
A picture Alina remembered taking.
One her mother had mailed to an old friend.
“Sofia kept that near Leo’s crib,” Rosa said.
“She would show it to him.
She’d say, ‘That’s Aunt Lena.
She doesn’t know about you yet.’”
Alina pressed the photograph to her chest.
So the baby hadn’t recognized a stranger.
He had reached for a face his mother had shown him.
“Why didn’t she come?”
“She was getting ready to.”
Rosa slid a small plastic memory card across the table.
“I found this in the baby book after she died.
I was afraid to use it.”
Alina looked at the label.
May you like
In Sofia’s handwriting were five words.
IF I DON’T COME HOME.
