Chapter 6 - The Daughter
Peter Vale was dead before he reached the elevator.
One bullet.
Close range.
Professional.
His killer left no weapon.
No fingerprints.
Nothing except a black snake carved into the wooden wall beside the body.
Emma watched from the hallway.
I saw the exact second she understood what Peter’s death meant.
This wasn’t history anymore.
It was happening around us.
I took her back inside.
She wouldn’t speak.
Finally she whispered, “Is it true?”
I knew what she meant.
I looked at the woman who had spent fourteen months silently cleaning my house.
The woman who had never asked for money.
The woman I had walked past a hundred times without knowing who she was.
“I don’t know the whole truth.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
I stared at her.
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You’re my father?”
“According to your mother.”
Emma looked away.
“I spent my whole life believing I was invisible.”
She laughed once.
It was broken.
“And you were right there.”
I had no defense.
I had never known she existed.
That didn’t make it hurt less.
“Why did she hide me?”
“I think she was protecting you.”
“From Kolov?”
“Yes.”
Emma shook her head.
“Then why did she let me work here?”
“I think she didn’t know I would ever notice.”
Emma looked at me.
“She chose this house because it was the safest place?”
I had no answer.
Perhaps her mother had known.
Perhaps Maria had trusted the Castellano name even while hiding Emma from the Castellano bloodline.
Or perhaps she had expected me to discover the truth eventually.
I called an old family lawyer.
“Find Maria Carter’s original files.”
He paused.
“They were destroyed.”
“Find them anyway.”
A few hours later, he sent something.
A scanned document.
A DNA test.
The names were partially blacked out.
But the result was clear.
Paternity: 99.98%.
My hands went cold.
Emma saw my face.
“It’s me.”
I nodded.
She closed her eyes.
Then she asked a question I wasn’t prepared for.
“Did you know my mother?”
“No.”
“But she knew you.”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
I stared at the test.
“I think your mother believed Antonio Carter was going to betray my family.”
“What happened to him?”
“We don’t know.”
A knock came at the door.
Marco entered.
“Boss.”
His expression said bad news.
“Talk.”
“We found the two attackers.”
“Where?”
“One is dead.”
“Who killed him?”
“Kolov.”
I stared at him.
“And the other?”
“Alive.”
“Bring him.”
Marco nodded.
Before leaving, he hesitated.
“He asked for Emma.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He says he’ll only talk to her.”
Emma looked terrified.
I shook my head.
“No.”
Marco turned away.
Then the lights in the hospital flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The monitor beside Emma beeped.
Her heart rate spiked.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered before I could stop her.
A man whispered through the speaker.
“Hello, daughter.”
Emma froze.
I took the phone.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
“You really want to know?”
I heard rain in the background.
Then he said:
“Ask your daughter what happened on January 17, 2006.”
The call ended.
I looked at Emma.
She was staring at me.
“I was not born yet.”
“I know.”
“Then why does he call me daughter?”
I had no answer.
May you like
And for the first time in twenty years…
Neither did I.
