Chapter 15 - The Sister in the DarkFor three days, Leo tried to find the missing twin.
Nothing.
No records.
No school.
No adoption documents.
No death certificate.
The hospital had been destroyed by fire years earlier.
Every trail ended.
But Beatrice couldn't stop thinking about one thing.
The photograph.
The girl beside her mother.
The face that looked like hers.
The feeling that somewhere in the world, a piece of her life had been walking without her.
Then Maria arrived at the estate.
She was still weak.
Leo met her in the library.
Beatrice stood beside him.
Maria looked at her daughter.
“You found it.”
Beatrice held up the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Her name is Clara.”
Beatrice's heart raced.
“She is your twin.”
“Where is she?”
Maria looked at Leo.
“Your father gave her away.”
“To whom?”
Maria hesitated.
“The family that funded the Rossi empire.”
Beatrice frowned.
“Who?”
Maria whispered a name.
Beatrice had never heard it.
Leo had.
And the reaction on his face told her everything.
“You know them.”
“Yes.”
“Who are they?”
Leo's voice became quiet.
“The Bellandi family.”
Beatrice had heard that name.
Every criminal organization in Chicago had heard it.
The Bellandis had vanished twenty years earlier.
Everyone thought they were dead.
Leo suddenly understood.
“They didn't vanish.”
Maria nodded.
“They went underground.”
“Why take Clara?”
“Because they wanted an heir.”
Beatrice's eyes filled.
“You let them take her.”
Maria looked broken.
“I tried to stop them.”
“Why didn't you find her?”
“Because your father threatened to kill you.”
Beatrice's anger softened.
For years she had believed her mother abandoned her.
Now she understood.
Love had forced impossible choices.
Maria reached into her coat.
She removed a final letter.
“This was meant for you when you were twenty-eight.”
Beatrice stared.
“Why twenty-eight?”
“Because that is the age your father believed you would be strong enough to survive the truth.”
Beatrice opened the letter.
Inside:
Elena,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep you away from the Rossi war.
Your sister is alive.
She was raised to believe you stole her life.
She was trained to hate you.
And she has spent the last twenty-eight years preparing for the day she would meet you.
Beatrice's hands trembled.
The final sentence was underlined.
When she comes, she will not ask to be your sister.
She will come to destroy you.
Silence filled the library.
Lily entered.
“Bea?”
Beatrice looked at her.
“I’m here.”
Lily climbed into her arms.
Leo moved closer.
Whatever happened next, they would face it together.
Then the security system screamed.
Mateo burst through the door.
“Boss!”
Leo turned.
“What?”
“The north gate.”
“What about it?”
Mateo's face was pale.
“There are no guards left.”
Leo reached for his gun.
“Who came in?”
Mateo hesitated.
“A woman.”
Beatrice's heart stopped.
“What woman?”
Mateo looked directly at her.
“She looks exactly like you.”
The doors behind him opened.
A woman walked into the library.
Same dark eyes.
Same face.
Same height.
Same scar beneath the left eyebrow.
She wore a black coat and carried a pistol.
Lily whispered:
“Bea…”
Beatrice could not move.
The woman looked at her.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then the stranger smiled.
Not warmly.
Not cruelly.
Almost sadly.
“Hello, Elena.”
Beatrice's knees weakened.
“You're Clara.”
The woman nodded.
“I've waited twenty-eight years to meet you.”
Leo stepped between them.
Clara laughed softly.
“You still protect her.”
Leo raised his gun.
“She doesn't need protection.”
Clara's eyes flicked toward him.
“She will.”
Beatrice stepped forward.
“Why?”
Clara's smile disappeared.
“Because I didn't come here to kill you.”
She pulled a photograph from her coat.
It showed their father.
Standing beside a man Beatrice recognized immediately.
Leo's father.
But there was someone else in the photograph.
A little girl.
Lily.
The photograph had been taken yesterday.
Beatrice's blood turned cold.
Clara whispered:
“I came to warn you.”
Leo's face hardened.
“Warn us about what?”
Clara looked toward the windows.
Then back at them.
“The people who started this war are coming for Lily.”
Beatrice tightened her arms around the child.
Clara continued:
“And this time, they aren't trying to kidnap her.”
She raised the photograph.
“They're coming to kill everyone who stands between them and the throne.”
Leo stared.
“What throne?”
Clara smiled.
“The Rossi throne.”
Then every light in the mansion went out.
A dozen gunshots erupted outside.
May you like
And in the darkness, someone whispered from the hallway:
“The war has finally begun.”
