Chapter 4 - The Hidden FloorThe mansion descended into darkness.
Marco immediately moved toward Emma.
“Stay behind me.”
Gunfire exploded somewhere outside.
Emma screamed.
Rosa pulled her close.
Alessandro did not panic.
That was what frightened everyone else.
He simply walked to the emergency panel.
“Seal the west wing.”
Marco spoke into his radio.
“Lockdown! Nobody leaves!”
The mansion doors slammed shut.
Security lights flashed red.
Then another message appeared.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.
Alessandro looked at the clock.
9:41 p.m.
He turned toward Rosa.
“Take Emma downstairs.”
Rosa nodded.
But Emma refused to move.
“I want Mom.”
“You’ll see her.”
“When?”
“When this is over.”
“But what if they hurt her?”
Alessandro crouched.
“They won’t.”
Emma looked into his eyes.
“You promised.”
“Yes.”
Her tiny hand wrapped around his.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
No one had ever spoken to Alessandro that way.
No fear.
No bargaining.
Just trust.
He picked her up.
They moved through a hidden corridor behind the library.
Emma looked around.
“You have secret rooms?”
“Several.”
“Mom says rich people have too many rooms.”
Despite everything, Alessandro almost smiled.
The corridor descended beneath the mansion.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Marco entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside were old records, safes, weapons, and a wall covered with photographs.
Alessandro walked to the wall.
Most photographs belonged to his father.
But one section stopped him.
Isabella.
Sophia.
And a man Alessandro did not recognize.
Under the photograph was one word:
LARK.
Emma pointed.
“Who is that?”
Alessandro stared.
“I don’t know.”
Marco turned on the lights.
There were medical charts.
Adoption records.
Birth certificates.
A yellow envelope.
Alessandro opened it.
His hand froze.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Child: Emma Grace Delgado.
Mother: Sophia Delgado.
Father: Unknown.
But beneath the certificate was a handwritten note.
Father known to Moretti bloodline.
Alessandro looked at Emma.
Then at Marco.
“Find Sophia’s medical records from twelve years ago.”
Marco immediately started searching.
Three minutes later, his face changed.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“Sophia gave birth at St. Agnes Clinic.”
Alessandro stared at the date.
Twelve years ago.
Exactly nine months before Isabella died.
But Emma was six.
Not twelve.
“So what does this mean?”
Marco swallowed.
“It means the photograph has been altered.”
Alessandro looked again.
The woman holding baby Emma was not Sophia.
The face had been replaced.
The original photograph had been covered.
He removed the top layer.
A different woman appeared.
Isabella.
Emma stared.
“That’s her?”
Alessandro could barely breathe.
“Yes.”
Then Rosa made a sound.
A whisper.
“I knew it.”
Alessandro turned.
“You knew?”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“Your father told me Isabella had a daughter.”
“When?”
“The night Isabella disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“She was never supposed to die.”
Silence.
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Then why did everyone tell me she was killed?”
Rosa looked at him.
“Because your father ordered us to bury the truth.”
Emma slipped from Alessandro’s arms.
“What truth?”
Rosa looked at the child.
“You were never supposed to exist.”
A gunshot thundered upstairs.
Then another.
Marco drew his weapon.
Alessandro grabbed Emma.
A voice echoed through the hidden corridor.
“Alessandro!”
The voice was familiar.
Too familiar.
A man emerged from the darkness.
Alessandro’s uncle.
Matteo Moretti.
He smiled.
“You finally found the room.”
Alessandro stared.
“You’re dead.”
Matteo laughed.
“No.”
He pointed a gun toward Emma.
“I’m just very good at becoming someone else.”
May you like
Then he revealed the truth that made Alessandro’s blood turn cold.
“I was the one who took Isabella’s child.”
