Chapter 3 - The Wife Who Disappeared Overnight
The message stayed on the screen.
Four words.
Four words that destroyed everything Alessandro thought he knew.
Ask him about our son.
For almost a minute, Alessandro didn't move.
The office around him disappeared.
The expensive furniture.
The city lights outside the window.
The hundreds of people waiting for his orders.
None of it mattered.
Only one sentence remained.
Our son.
His eyes moved back to the medical report.
Then to the photograph of Grace.
Then back to the message.
"No."
The word left his mouth quietly.
Almost like he was trying to convince himself.
Because if it was true...
If Grace had a son...
If he had a child he never knew about...
Then every year of their marriage suddenly looked different.
Marco watched him carefully.
"Boss?"
Alessandro didn't answer.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
"Trace this message."
Marco nodded.
"We already tried."
"And?"
His silence was enough.
Alessandro looked up.
"Say it."
Marco took a breath.
"The message came from Mrs. Bellandi's number."
"I know that."
"But the location data was removed."
Alessandro stood.
"Removed?"
"Professionally."
The room became colder.
Someone had hidden the message.
Someone wanted him to receive it.
But they didn't want him to know where Grace was.
Alessandro looked at the medical report again.
The name at the bottom burned into his mind.
Leo Bellandi.
A child.
Six years old.
The same last name.
The same birth date that matched the period when Grace disappeared for three months before their wedding.
Three months.
A time he never understood.
A time Grace refused to discuss.
He remembered asking her.
"Where were you?"
And she had smiled sadly.
"Somewhere I needed to be."
He thought it was a personal matter.
He thought she needed space.
He never imagined she was protecting a secret.
A child.
His child.
"Find Leo."
Marco looked surprised.
"Boss..."
"Find him."
"But if this information is real—"
Alessandro slammed his hand onto the desk.
Not in anger.
In desperation.
"If there is a child out there who carries my blood, I want to know."
Marco nodded immediately.
"I'll handle it."
When he left, Alessandro sat alone.
For the first time in years, he looked at his own reflection in the dark window.
The city saw him as untouchable.
A man without weakness.
A man who could destroy anyone who threatened him.
But Grace knew the truth.
She knew the man underneath.
And maybe that was why she was the only person who could hurt him.
Because she was the only person he trusted enough to lose.
Grace woke up in a small apartment far from the city.
For a moment, she forgot where she was.
Then she heard the sound of footsteps.
Small footsteps.
She opened her eyes.
A little boy stood beside the bed.
His dark hair was messy.
His eyes looked exactly like Alessandro's.
"Mom?"
Grace immediately sat up.
"Leo."
The boy smiled.
"You slept a long time."
She forced a smile.
"Did you eat breakfast?"
He nodded.
"Mrs. Elena made pancakes."
Grace looked toward the door.
"Did she?"
The little boy nodded.
Then he climbed onto the bed.
"Are we staying here forever?"
The question broke her heart.
Because children always asked the questions adults tried to avoid.
Grace touched his face.
"No."
"Are we going home?"
She looked away.
Home.
That word used to mean Alessandro.
Now it only reminded her of everything she lost.
"I don't know yet."
Leo studied her face.
"Are you sad because of Dad?"
Grace froze.
Children noticed everything.
Even things adults tried to hide.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because you cried when you packed my things."
Her heart tightened.
She remembered that night.
The night before Christmas.
The night she made the decision.
She had packed quietly.
Not because she hated Alessandro.
Because she loved him too much.
And staying meant destroying herself slowly.
Leo reached for her hand.
"Did Dad hurt you?"
Grace looked at her son.
The boy Alessandro never knew existed.
The boy she had protected from a world full of danger.
"No."
She whispered.
"Your dad just forgot something important."
"What?"
Grace smiled sadly.
"He forgot that love needs to be chosen every day."
Leo didn't fully understand.
But he hugged her anyway.
And that was enough.
Back at the Bellandi estate, Alessandro watched security footage from the past six years.
Every day.
Every moment.
Every time Grace left the house.
He searched for signs.
Something he missed.
Something she tried to tell him.
Then he found it.
A video from two years earlier.
Grace standing outside a hospital.
Holding a small child's hand.
Alessandro paused the footage.
Zoomed in.
His breathing stopped.
The child looked at the camera for half a second.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
His eyes.
He replayed it.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The woman beside Grace was Elena.
Someone who had worked for the Bellandi family for years.
Alessandro immediately called her.
She answered after three rings.
"Alessandro."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"How long have you known?"
Silence.
Elena understood.
"You found out."
"How long?"
She didn't answer.
"Elena."
Her voice became emotional.
"She wanted to tell you."
Alessandro closed his eyes.
"When?"
"Many times."
"Then why didn't she?"
Elena sighed.
"Because every time she tried, something happened."
"What does that mean?"
"You were always busy fighting someone."
The words hurt because they were true.
"You built an empire," Elena continued.
"But Grace was building a family."
Alessandro gripped the phone.
"Where is she?"
Another silence.
Then Elena whispered:
"She made me promise."
"Promise what?"
"That I would never tell you unless she was ready."
Alessandro's voice lowered.
"She isn't ready."
"No."
"Because she hates me?"
Elena paused.
"No."
That answer surprised him.
"Then why?"
"Because she is afraid."
The word stayed between them.
Afraid.
Not angry.
Not revenge.
Afraid.
Alessandro looked out at the city.
"Afraid of me?"
"No."
Elena's voice softened.
"Afraid that you will take Leo away."
For the first time in his life, Alessandro had no response.
Because he understood.
His reputation.
His enemies.
His world.
Everything he had built.
That was exactly what Grace was protecting her child from.
The call ended.
Alessandro remained standing.
Then his phone received another message.
This time from an unknown number.
A picture appeared.
Grace.
Leo.
Walking outside.
Taken that morning.
His blood turned cold.
Someone else had found them.
And they were watching.
Under the picture was one sentence.
You are not the only one searching for your son.
Alessandro immediately grabbed his coat.
"Marco!"
His bodyguard rushed in.
"Boss?"
Alessandro showed him the message.
Marco's face changed.
"We need to move."
They left within minutes.
But as Alessandro reached the address hidden inside the message coordinates, he saw something that made him stop.
May you like
The apartment door was already open.
And inside, someone was waiting.
