Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The east wing smelled like dust and memories.
The hallway was dark.
The paintings on the walls were covered with white sheets.
Everything looked frozen in time.
Like nobody had dared to enter since the night Alessio lost his wife.
I held the flashlight tightly.
Alessio walked ahead.
His gun was ready.
But I noticed something.
His hands were shaking.
“You okay?”
He didn’t look back.
“Keep walking.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
For the first time, his voice softened.
“This place…”
He stopped.
“This is where my life changed.”
I understood.
This wasn’t just an abandoned hallway.
It was where he lost the person he loved.
Then we heard it.
A baby crying.
Leo.
We both froze.
The sound came from behind a locked door.
Alessio rushed forward.
“Leo!”
The door was reinforced.
He kicked it once.
Nothing.
Again.
The lock broke.
Inside was a small hidden room.
And there was Leo.
Alive.
Sleeping in a blanket.
But he wasn’t alone.
A woman stood beside him.
Holding him.
Alessio raised his gun.
“Put my son down.”
The woman turned slowly.
And when Alessio saw her face…
he stopped breathing.
Because she was someone he knew.
Someone impossible.
Someone who was supposed to be dead.
“Victoria…”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Alessio.”
The gun lowered slightly.
I looked between them.
“Who is she?”
Nobody answered.
Leo started crying.
The woman held him tighter.
“You always were protective.”
Alessio’s voice broke.
“How are you alive?”
Victoria smiled.
“That’s the first question you ask?”
She looked at Leo.
“Not why I came back?”
The room became ice cold.
Alessio stepped forward.
“You died.”
“No.”
Her eyes moved to him.
“You just believed what you were told.”
My heart raced.
Because suddenly everything made sense.
The betrayal.
The hidden rooms.
The cameras.
Someone inside the house knew every secret.
Because someone who belonged there had returned.
Victoria looked at me.
“So this is the nanny.”
Her smile disappeared.
“The woman who saved my son.”
Alessio’s face changed.
“Your son?”
Victoria laughed quietly.
“You still don’t know?”
The words hit him.
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at Leo.
Then back at Alessio.
“The child you have protected for four months…”
A pause.
“Is the reason everyone has been lying to you.”
I felt a chill.
Alessio’s voice became dangerous.
“Explain.”
Victoria smiled.
“Ask your nanny.”
Every eye turned toward me.
I froze.
“What?”
Victoria tilted her head.
“She knows.”
Alessio looked at me.
And suddenly…
May you like
the same doubt returned.
The same doubt someone had been trying to create from the beginning.
