Chapter 9 - THE STEWARD’S FINAL SECRET
Sophia returned to the river house.
Vincent was gone.
The doctor lay unconscious near the stairs.
Lucia searched the rooms.
“No sign of forced entry.”
Alessandro examined the back door.
“He left willingly.”
Sophia replayed Isabella’s warning.
“Do not trust Vincent.”
Lucia looked furious.
“I trusted him once.”
Alessandro found a folded note beneath a glass on the table.
It contained an address.
And four words.
Bring both daughters alone.
Lucia read it.
“It is Carlo’s trap.”
“Obviously,” Alessandro said.
Sophia took the note.
“The address belongs to Saint Catherine’s old maternity building.”
The same hospital where Emma’s life had begun.
Alessandro looked at her.
“You are staying here.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“My daughter is involved.”
“Both daughters are involved.”
Lucia crossed her arms.
“I am not going anywhere with you.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“Then Carlo will keep Isabella.”
“Why should I care?”
“Because she helped create what happened to your mother.”
Lucia’s expression hardened.
“That is a reason to leave her there.”
Sophia stepped closer.
“It may also be the only chance to make her confess publicly.”
Lucia studied her.
“You think confession changes anything?”
“No.”
“But truth prevents Carlo from rewriting the story.”
Lucia looked toward Emma.
The child was drawing flowers on a scrap of paper.
Finally, Lucia nodded.
They left Emma with Agent Cole under federal protection.
Emma clung to Sophia.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
“Promise?”
Sophia hesitated.
Alessandro crouched beside Emma.
“We will both come back.”
Emma looked at him seriously.
“No bad choices.”
He nodded.
“No bad choices.”
At the abandoned maternity building, Vincent waited in the delivery room.
He looked older than he had the day before.
A pistol rested on the table.
Alessandro entered first.
Sophia and Lucia followed.
“Where is my mother?” Alessandro asked.
“Not here.”
“Then why did you bring us?”
Vincent looked at Lucia.
“To finish what I failed to do eighteen years ago.”
Lucia raised her weapon.
“Try.”
Vincent did not reach for the gun.
He reached for an old metal case.
Inside were medical records.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
And a birth certificate.
Lucia Russo Moretti.
Father: Alessandro Moretti.
Mother: Elena Russo.
Alessandro touched the paper.
“Why keep this?”
“Evidence.”
“Evidence you buried.”
“I waited for your father to die.”
“He died fourteen years ago.”
“Then Carlo threatened Lucia.”
Lucia laughed bitterly.
“He threatened me because you taught him where I was.”
“I tried to move you.”
“You kept failing.”
Vincent nodded.
“Yes.”
Sophia examined another file.
It contained Emma’s stolen genetic records.
Ryan’s payments.
The corrupt doctor’s signature.
And authorization from someone identified only as I.M.
Sophia looked at Isabella’s initials.
“Your mother approved the storage of Alessandro’s genetic material.”
Alessandro took the paper.
His face turned cold.
“She knew.”
Vincent nodded.
“Your father ordered samples preserved.”
“He wanted future heirs under family control.”
Lucia stared at him.
“So Emma was not an accident.”
“No.”
Sophia felt sick.
“Ryan believed he was stealing it.”
“Carlo allowed him to.”
“Why?”
“To create a child whose existence could be revealed or hidden when useful.”
Alessandro’s voice became low.
“Emma was designed as leverage.”
“Yes.”
Lucia looked at Sophia.
“And you?”
Vincent answered.
“Collateral damage.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with rage.
“No.”
“I am her mother.”
“I am not collateral damage.”
Vincent lowered his gaze.
“I did not mean—”
“That is exactly what you meant.”
“You all speak about women as if we are rooms you pass through.”
“Elena was a problem.”
“I was collateral.”
“Lucia was a weapon.”
“Emma was leverage.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“And men like you inherit the throne built from our suffering.”
Alessandro did not defend himself.
Vincent pressed a button on the metal case.
A recording began.
The voice belonged to Alessandro’s father.
“If Elena refuses to leave, remove her.”
Isabella’s younger voice answered.
“She is pregnant.”
“She claims she is.”
“She showed me the test.”
A pause followed.
Then Carlo’s voice.
“I will handle it.”
The recording ended.
Lucia stared at the machine.
Her hands trembled.
“My grandmother knew.”
“She knew you existed,” Vincent said.
“She did not know Carlo planned the explosion.”
“She still sent my mother there.”
“Yes.”
Lucia turned toward Alessandro.
“Your family killed her together.”
“Our family,” he said quietly.
“No.”
She stepped back.
“Never mine.”
Gunfire sounded in the hallway.
Vincent grabbed the case.
“Carlo found us.”
Men stormed the building.
Alessandro pushed Sophia behind a reinforced desk.
Lucia fired toward the doorway.
Vincent ran to a control panel.
“What are you doing?” Alessandro shouted.
“Giving you time.”
Heavy metal doors began closing through the corridor.
Vincent handed Lucia the evidence case.
“Take it.”
She stared at him.
“You come with us.”
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
He opened his coat.
A red light blinked against his chest.
An explosive vest.
Sophia covered her mouth.
Carlo’s voice came through a speaker.
“Vincent leaves the building, everyone dies.”
Vincent smiled sadly.
“He never trusted me.”
Lucia’s anger broke.
“You cannot stay.”
“I already stole eighteen years from you.”
“Do not steal this choice too.”
He touched her cheek.
“I am sorry.”
This time, he said it.
He pushed Lucia through the closing steel door.
Alessandro grabbed Sophia and pulled her into the emergency stairwell.
The door sealed.
Lucia pounded against it.
“Vincent!”
His voice came through the intercom.
“Tell Emma the lion found his family.”
The explosion shook the entire building.
When the smoke cleared, Vincent was gone.
So was half the evidence.
But Lucia still held the birth certificate.
May you like
And Sophia still held the recording.
---
