Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
We drove through the night.
No one spoke for ten minutes.
Finally I looked at Luca.
“Why would my mother hide from you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t give me that.”
“I genuinely don’t know.”
Derek groaned from the back seat.
His shoulder was wrapped.
I looked at him.
“You said she was afraid of Luca.”
“She told my father that.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Why were you meeting Matteo?”
Derek looked away.
“Answer me.”
“Because he funded my life.”
The words disgusted me.
“Everything?”
“School.”
“Apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Job?”
“Yes.”
“Brittany?”
His face tightened.
“No.”
I almost laughed.
“The only independent choice you made was cheating.”
“Emma.”
“Don’t.”
Luca drove faster.
We reached an abandoned private airfield near Albany.
A woman stood beside a hangar.
Gray hair.
Thin frame.
Familiar posture.
My entire body went numb.
“Mom?”
She turned.
I stopped breathing.
My mother.
Alive.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Emma.”
I got out of the SUV.
For six years, I had visited a grave.
For six years, I had talked to a stone.
For six years, I had believed I was alone.
Then she reached for me.
I slapped her.
She stumbled.
I immediately hated myself.
But I slapped her again.
“You were alive?”
“Emma—”
“You let me bury you?”
“I had no choice.”
“You had six years!”
“I was protecting you.”
“From who?”
Her eyes moved to Luca.
Luca went still.
My mother whispered, “From his father.”
I stared at her.
“Then why did Derek say from Luca?”
“Because Matteo lies.”
Derek’s face hardened.
“Careful.”
My mother looked at him.
“You sound just like him.”
Derek flinched.
She turned to me.
“Emma, Luca never hurt Sofia.”
Luca’s expression changed.
My mother continued.
“He tried to save her.”
“What happened?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Sofia found the original Moretti trust.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
My mother looked at my daughter.
“With the only person Antonio Moretti would never search.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
She touched my baby’s blanket.
“You.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“When you were five, Sofia gave you a music box.”
A memory flashed.
Wooden.
Blue flowers.
Broken ballerina.
I hadn’t seen it in years.
My mother whispered, “The trust is hidden inside it.”
Luca’s face tightened.
“Where is the box?”
I looked at him.
“My apartment.”
My mother went pale.
May you like
Then a massive blast erupted behind the hangar.
Matteo’s men had found us.
