Chapter 5 - The Missing BoyLuca Was Not Who Sophia Thought He Was
Sophia stared at the photograph.
Her mind rejected it.
Luca had been born nineteen years ago.
The photograph was older.
Much older.
Her hands trembled.
"That's impossible."
Matteo took it.
He stared for several seconds.
Then his face changed.
"You know him."
Sophia looked at him.
"Who?"
"The boy."
"That's Luca."
"No."
Matteo's voice was barely audible.
"That's me."
Sophia blinked.
"What?"
Matteo turned the photograph toward her.
The boy was six.
Dark hair.
Thin face.
Same eyes.
Same small scar above the eyebrow.
Sophia looked again.
Then at Matteo.
"No."
"My mother kept photographs of me?"
"No."
"Then why is she holding you?"
Matteo's expression hardened.
"Because Elena wasn't your mother alone."
Sophia stepped back.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"Suspected what?"
"That Luca wasn't your biological brother."
Sophia's stomach twisted.
She remembered every childhood moment.
Luca's birth certificate.
Their mother's hospital bracelet.
The photograph of Elena holding a newborn.
Everything seemed normal.
Until now.
"How could I not know?"
"Because Elena wanted you to believe it."
"Why?"
"Because she was protecting him."
"From what?"
Matteo looked at the photograph.
"From me."
Sophia's voice broke.
"You were his father?"
Silence.
Matteo didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Sophia's knees nearly gave out.
"My brother..."
"Half-brother."
"No."
"I know what you're thinking."
"You don't know anything."
Sophia slapped him.
The sound echoed.
Matteo did not react.
"You're telling me my entire life was a lie."
"I am telling you that your mother was hiding something."
"You were part of it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because twenty years ago, I was supposed to die."
Sophia stared.
Matteo walked to the garage wall and leaned against it.
"My father ordered Elena killed."
"Why?"
"Because he discovered she was pregnant."
"With Luca?"
Matteo nodded.
"My father believed the child would someday challenge him."
"So he killed my mother?"
"No."
Matteo's eyes darkened.
"He tried."
Sophia whispered:
"Then what happened?"
"Elena disappeared."
"And you?"
"I believed she died."
"For twenty years."
"Yes."
Sophia looked at the photograph again.
"Then who was buried?"
Matteo's silence answered.
"Whose funeral did I attend?"
"A woman named Rosa Bellandi."
Sophia shook her head.
"Why would my mother do that?"
"To make everyone believe Elena Romano was dead."
"Everyone except you."
"I didn't know."
"Until now."
"Until you walked into my penthouse and cursed at me."
Sophia looked at him.
"Those words."
Matteo nodded.
"She used them when she was scared."
Sophia remembered her mother's trembling hands.
Her mother's whisper.
Never trust the man with the black ring.
She had thought it was nonsense.
Now she looked down.
Matteo's right hand wore a black ring.
Her mother's warning was no longer a childhood memory.
It was a confession.
Sophia stepped backward.
"You've been wearing it this entire time."
Matteo looked at the ring.
"Yes."
"My mother warned me about you."
"She was right."
The answer stunned Sophia.
Before she could respond, Matteo's phone rang.
He listened.
Then the color drained from his face.
"What?"
A pause.
"Say that again."
Another pause.
Then he looked at Sophia.
"Luca is awake."
Sophia grabbed his arm.
"Then let's go."
Matteo didn't move.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"The first thing your brother said when he woke up."
Sophia waited.
Matteo's eyes hardened.
"He asked where Elena was."
A chill traveled through her.
"Why would he ask that?"
"Because according to the doctors..."
May you like
He paused.
"He hasn't spoken her name since he was four."
Related Stories
