Chapter 12 - THE CHILD EVERYONE WANTED TO CONTROL
Alessio stared at Dominic.
“What did you say?”
Dominic repeated slowly:
“She has Leo’s real birth records.”
The room felt colder.
I looked at Leo sleeping peacefully.
A baby who had no idea how many people were fighting over him.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because powerful people usually feared one thing.
The truth.
Alessio walked toward the window.
“My son’s birth records are sealed.”
Dominic nodded.
“That’s why this matters.”
Victoria, still guarded in another room, had been brought back after the shooting.
When Alessio entered, she looked almost amused.
“You finally understand.”
He stared at her.
“What are you hiding?”
She smiled.
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“Then explain.”
Victoria looked toward the nursery.
“Leo is not just your heir.”
A pause.
“He is the reason your family has been lying for years.”
Alessio’s face hardened.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“You deserve the truth.”
She looked at me.
“And so does she.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What truth?”
Victoria’s eyes softened.
“You weren’t hired to protect Leo.”
I frowned.
“Then why?”
“Because someone knew you would remember.”
A memory flashed.
The fire.
The necklace.
The crying child.
The promise.
I stepped back.
“No…”
Alessio noticed.
“What is it?”
I couldn’t breathe.
Because suddenly I remembered the one detail I had forgotten.
The night of the fire.
The night I found a child hidden inside the house.
The night someone begged me to save him.
And the night I saw a woman run away carrying something.
A necklace.
A blue bead necklace.
I looked at Alessio.
“Your wife…”
His eyes narrowed.
“What about her?”
“She didn’t die because of the fire.”
Nobody moved.
“She died because someone wanted her silent.”
Alessio’s face changed.
“Who?”
I looked at the evidence bag.
At the blue bead.
At Leo.
Then I whispered:
“The person who has been controlling everything…”
A pause.
“Is the person who helped raise your son.”
Before Alessio could respond, every phone in the room rang at the same time.
One message.
One picture.
One warning.
The picture showed Leo’s crib.
Empty.
May you like
And beneath it were four words:
YOU FAILED AGAIN, ALESSIO.
