Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAINElena collapsed.

Vittorio fired instantly.

Catherine ducked.

The vault erupted in gunfire.

Documents flew into the air.

Emma pulled Isabella behind the coffin.

Lucy screamed.

Vittorio rushed toward Elena.

Blood spread across her chest.

“Stay with me.”

Elena smiled weakly.

“I knew this day would come.”

“Don't talk.”

“She has the antidote.”

“Who?”

“Catherine.”

Vittorio looked up.

Catherine stood across the room.

She was holding a small vial.

“Looking for this?”

Vittorio aimed.

“Put it down.”

“You have no idea what it does.”

“Give it to me.”

“It reverses the memory suppression.”

Vittorio stared.

“You've been keeping it all these years?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because if you remembered too soon, you would have died.”

Vittorio lowered his gun slightly.

“Who ordered you?”

Catherine looked toward his father.

He nodded.

Then Catherine said:

“Your mother.”

Vittorio froze.

“What?”

“She knew your father was going to erase you.”

“So she created another plan.”

“Yes.”

Catherine placed the vial on the table.

“She knew one day you would need your memories.”

Vittorio looked at Elena.

“Then why did she leave the ledger?”

“Because the ledger wasn't meant to expose your father.”

Vittorio frowned.

“What was it meant to expose?”

Catherine looked toward Isabella.

“Her.”

Everyone froze.

Isabella stepped backward.

“No.”

Vittorio moved protectively in front of her.

“You're lying.”

Catherine shook her head.

“Your daughter wasn't merely hidden.”

“Stop.”

“She was created.”

The words echoed.

“Created?”

“Genetically modified.”

Vittorio stared.

The genetic marker.

The inheritance.

The interest in her blood.

It was beginning to make sense.

“Your father spent years trying to create a child who could legally unlock the Bellini trusts.”

Isabella's face went white.

“He used your genetic material,” Catherine said.

Vittorio felt sick.

“And my mother's.”

“Yes.”

“And Isabella?”

“Was the result.”

Isabella covered her mouth.

“No…”

Vittorio turned to his father.

“You did this.”

His father said nothing.

Catherine continued.

“Your mother discovered what he had done. She took Isabella and disappeared.”

“And Lucy?”

“A decoy.”

Vittorio looked at Emma.

“The real Lucy?”

Catherine pointed at the ledger.

“Still alive.”

Emma stopped breathing.

“Where?”

Catherine smiled.

“Not far.”

She pressed a remote.

The vault wall opened.

Behind it was a video screen.

A woman appeared.

She was older.

She held a little girl.

“Emma…”

Emma collapsed.

Her daughter.

Alive.

“Mommy?”

Emma screamed.

The video ended.

Catherine said:

“She has been living under protection for eight years.”

Emma stood.

“Where?”

Catherine pointed toward the tunnel.

“Follow the blue lights.”

Emma ran.

Vittorio looked at Catherine.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“That isn't true.”

Catherine smiled.

“I want what your mother wanted.”

“What?”

“Your family to survive.”

Vittorio looked at Elena.

Then Isabella.

Then Lucy.

His father moved.

Marcus suddenly shot him.

Everyone froze.

Marcus stood over the old man.

“You failed.”

His father fell.

Marcus turned toward Isabella.

“You're coming with me.”

Vittorio raised his weapon.

Marcus smiled.

“Shoot me.”

He grabbed Isabella.

“And you lose the only person who knows where the last vault is.”

Then Marcus whispered something into Isabella's ear.

She went pale.

Vittorio saw it.

“What did he tell you?”

Isabella looked at her father.

“He said…”

She swallowed.

“He knows where Mommy is.”

Vittorio froze.

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Because Isabella had never known her mother.

Not alive, at least.