Chapter 6 - The Man Behind MeRaymond died with one warning, and I had no idea whether it was meant to save me or destroy me.
I turned.
Alessandro was standing behind me.
Gun drawn.
His eyes were fixed on the doorway.
Another shot rang out.
Glass shattered.
His guard returned fire.
“Get down!”
Alessandro grabbed me and pulled me to the floor.
Mia screamed.
I covered her ears.
Men ran through the corridor.
Someone shouted.
Then silence.
Not peace.
The kind of silence that comes after violence.
Alessandro looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He checked Mia.
Then Raymond.
Dead.
I couldn't stop staring at Raymond's last words.
Don't trust the man standing behind you.
Alessandro saw the fear in my eyes.
“You think he meant me.”
I said nothing.
He lowered his gun.
“He may have.”
That answer shocked me.
“You're not denying it?”
“I don't know who Raymond was talking about.”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a phone.
“Check this.”
A file appeared.
A hospital record.
The night Mia was born.
My name.
Elena Bellini.
Delivery room 4.
One female infant.
Then the next line made my vision blur.
SECOND FEMALE INFANT REMOVED AT 2:16 A.M.
No name.
No parent listed.
I looked at Alessandro.
“I didn't have two babies.”
“You did.”
“I would know.”
“You were unconscious.”
My fingers went numb.
“What are you saying?”
He showed me another document.
A C-section report.
Severe complications.
Emergency anesthesia.
I remembered the pain.
The bright lights.
The nurse shouting.
Then nothing.
When I woke up, I had been told that my daughter was in neonatal observation.
One baby.
Just one.
What if there had been two?
“What happened to the second child?”
Alessandro didn't answer.
He opened another file.
Security footage.
Hospital corridor.
A man carrying a newborn.
His face was hidden.
But on his wrist was a watch.
A black leather strap.
Gold case.
Alessandro wore the exact same watch.
I stared at him.
“You had that watch?”
“My father gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Seven months ago.”
My breathing stopped.
The video was timestamped eight months ago.
One month before he owned it.
Someone had made a copy.
Or someone had given it to him because they wanted us to notice.
Then Alessandro's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice said:
“Ask him where he was the night Mia was born.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Where were you?”
He didn't speak.
“Where were you?”
He closed his eyes.
“At the Duca estate.”
“Why?”
“My father called me.”
“What happened?”
“He said there had been an incident.”
“What incident?”
“My sister.”
I stared.
“What sister?”
He looked at me.
“The child he claimed was dead.”
My skin crawled.
“Your father told you she was alive?”
“For seven hours.”
“What happened after that?”
“He told me to drive to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“He said the child had to disappear.”
I stopped breathing.
“You obeyed him?”
“No.”
“Then what did you do?”
Alessandro looked at Mia.
“I stole a baby.”
My whole body went cold.
“You?”
“I thought I was saving my sister.”
He sat down slowly.
“I took the child from the hospital.”
My heart hammered.
“But the baby disappeared from my car before I reached the estate.”
“Who took her?”
“I don't know.”
“Then where did Mia come from?”
He looked at me.
“I found her three months later.”
“In my penthouse?”
“Yes.”
I stared.
“I found your daughter crying in the laundry room.”
My mouth fell open.
“That was impossible.”
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
“She wasn't in the laundry room.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“She was in my bedroom.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“But I put her in the laundry room.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
He leaned forward.
“Because someone had already moved her before you ever hid her there.”
My stomach twisted.
“Who?”
Alessandro pulled a photograph from his pocket.
It showed my mother.
Standing outside the penthouse.
Holding a baby.
The photograph had been taken three months before I started working there.
I looked closer.
The baby wore a white bracelet.
The exact same bracelet from the hospital record.
My voice shook.
“My mother brought Mia here.”
Alessandro nodded.
“And she left one message.”
“What message?”
He turned the photograph over.
May you like
Four words were written on the back.
SHE IS NOT THE ONE.
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