Chapter 9 - THE BELLINI DAUGHTERVanessa didn't move.
For several seconds, she seemed unable to understand the words.
Then she laughed.
It was a broken sound.
“No.”
Nicholas didn't blink.
“Your mother is Elena Russo.”
“No.”
“Lucia raised you.”
“No.”
“She stole you.”
Vanessa backed away.
“I saw my birth certificate.”
“It was forged.”
“I remember my mother.”
“You remember the woman who raised you.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Dominic…”
I didn't know what to say.
Nicholas opened another file.
Inside were two photographs.
Elena holding a newborn girl.
And Maria Moretti holding a newborn boy.
Both photographs were dated the same day.
Vanessa stared at them.
“That's me.”
“Yes.”
“And that's…”
“Nicholas.”
She looked at Peter.
“Then Peter is…”
“Your son.”
She covered her mouth.
I felt sick.
Everything had been hidden beneath layers of false names and fake family histories.
But one question remained.
“Why did Lucia steal Vanessa?”
Nicholas answered immediately.
“Because Lucia couldn't have children.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“That isn't true.”
“It is.”
“My mother had me.”
“She did not.”
“Then who am I?”
Nicholas stepped closer.
“You are Elena's daughter.”
Vanessa shook her head.
Then she noticed something in the photograph.
A necklace around the baby's neck.
A tiny silver bird.
She touched her own necklace.
The same bird.
Her breathing stopped.
Lucia had given her a necklace that belonged to Elena.
Not as a gift.
As a reminder.
A reminder of a secret Vanessa had never understood.
A car engine roared outside.
Nicholas looked toward the window.
“They're here.”
We moved fast.
Marco barricaded the doors.
Grace took Peter into the basement.
I stayed with Nicholas and Vanessa.
Then the shooting began.
Glass shattered.
Bullets tore through the walls.
Men stormed the house.
We returned fire.
One attacker shouted:
“Take Dominic alive!”
Nicholas looked at me.
“They still don't want you dead.”
“Why?”
“Because you are the final witness.”
“To what?”
He grabbed my arm.
“Your father's last meeting.”
“With whom?”
“Lucia.”
“No. Who else?”
He looked at Vanessa.
Her eyes widened.
“The mayor?”
Nicholas shook his head.
“Higher.”
“Federal?”
“Higher.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Nicholas leaned close.
“The man who financed the Bellini family.”
Another explosion shook the house.
The basement door burst open.
Grace appeared.
“Peter is gone.”
I turned.
“What?”
“She was holding him.”
She pointed toward Vanessa.
Vanessa's hands were empty.
The back basement door stood open.
She hadn't taken him.
Someone else had.
Nicholas ran toward it.
I followed.
Outside, we saw a black SUV speeding away.
Nicholas grabbed the hood of another car.
“We're following.”
As we drove, Vanessa sat beside me.
She was shaking.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“When I was little, Lucia used to lock me in a room whenever I asked about my real mother.”
“What else?”
“She always said there was one person I should never trust.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“You.”
I stared ahead.
Then she whispered:
“But now I remember what she said after.”
“What?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“She didn't say you would hurt me.”
“She said…”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“She said you would eventually remember what you did to my mother.”
I looked at her.
“What I did?”
“Yes.”
The SUV vanished into an underground tunnel.
We followed.
At the end stood an abandoned railway station.
Empty.
Except for one man waiting on the platform.
My father's old lawyer.
Mr. Adrian Cole.
He raised his hands.
“I don't want a fight.”
“Where is Peter?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
Adrian looked at Nicholas.
Then at Vanessa.
Then at me.
“You really don't know, do you?”
“Know what?”
He smiled sadly.
“The accident that killed your mother wasn't an accident.”
I stepped closer.
He continued:
“She was killed because she tried to tell you the truth.”
“What truth?”
Adrian pulled a key from his pocket.
“The truth about your father.”
He dropped it at my feet.
“Your father ordered the hit.”
I stared at him.
“But your mother wasn't the target.”
“Who was?”
Adrian's eyes moved to Vanessa.
“Her.”
Vanessa went pale.
“Why?”
“Because Elena had discovered what Vanessa really was.”
“What?”
Adrian whispered:
“The child who inherited everything.”
A train horn sounded in the distance.
Then Adrian looked at me and said:
May you like
“Peter wasn't kidnapped to protect the Bellinis.”
“He was kidnapped because someone wants to use his bloodline to control the entire Moretti empire.”
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