Chapter 6 - The Secret Rosa BuriedAlessandro stared at Rosa.
The old housekeeper trembled.
“What did you do?”
“I protected her.”
“Who?”
“Isabella.”
The word seemed to drain the air from the room.
Emma hugged Alessandro’s neck.
Rosa continued.
“Twelve years ago, Isabella came to me carrying a baby.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
He could see her.
His sister.
Young.
Frightened.
Alive.
“What happened?”
“She said your father wanted the child dead.”
“Why?”
“Because Emma was proof that Isabella had married someone outside the family.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Who?”
Rosa shook her head.
“I never saw his face.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Isabella told me.”
The old woman reached into a drawer and removed a tiny silver key.
“She gave me this.”
Alessandro took it.
“What does it open?”
“The place where she hid the truth.”
“Where?”
Rosa looked toward the library.
“Your mother’s piano.”
They moved quickly.
The hospital remained under threat.
Marco assigned half the security team to protect the mansion and half to secure Sophia.
Rosa opened the piano lid.
Under the wooden frame was a hidden compartment.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
A cassette tape.
And a diary.
Alessandro opened the first page.
Isabella’s handwriting.
If you are reading this, I failed to keep Emma hidden.
Emma stared.
“That’s my name.”
Alessandro kept reading.
Father believes the child is dangerous. He is wrong. The danger is the man who taught him to fear his own blood.
Alessandro turned the page.
There was a name.
A name he knew.
His father’s oldest attorney.
Richard Vale.
Alessandro’s stomach tightened.
Richard had worked beside his father for thirty-five years.
He had advised Alessandro since he took control.
He had attended every family funeral.
Rosa whispered.
“He was there that night.”
Alessandro looked up.
“What night?”
“The night Isabella supposedly died.”
The cassette suddenly clicked.
An old recording began playing.
Isabella’s voice filled the room.
“Alessandro, if you hear this, I’m sorry.”
He stopped breathing.
“I know Father will tell you I betrayed him. He will tell you I ran. He will tell you I died.”
Static.
Then:
“I did none of those things.”
Emma’s face crumpled.
“Mommy?”
Alessandro listened.
Isabella continued.
“I entrusted my daughter to Sophia.”
Alessandro looked at Rosa.
“Why Sophia?”
“She was the only woman Father’s men would ignore.”
The recording continued.
“Rosa, if Alessandro ever finds Emma, tell him this.”
A pause.
“His father did not order my death.”
Alessandro’s eyes widened.
“Then who did?”
The tape crackled.
“Matteo.”
The room went silent.
“But Matteo could never act alone.”
A second voice appeared.
Male.
Cold.
Familiar.
Richard Vale.
“I told you what would happen if you resisted.”
Isabella cried.
“You promised you would protect my daughter.”
“I promised nothing.”
The recording ended.
Alessandro stood motionless.
Richard.
His most trusted adviser.
The man who had been sitting beside him at dinner two nights earlier.
The man who had probably known Emma existed.
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Sophia disappeared from the hospital.”
Alessandro’s blood ran cold.
“How?”
“Security cameras were cut.”
“Who took her?”
Marco looked directly at him.
May you like
“The footage shows Richard Vale entering Room 417.”
And somewhere across the city, Richard was already taking Emma’s mother toward the place where Isabella’s story had begun.
