Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Lorenzo moved first.
He pulled Elena and Matteo away from the window.
Marta dropped behind the couch.
Another knock.
Soft.
Deliberate.
Elena stared at the dark glass.
They were on the fourth floor.
Only the fire escape reached that window.
A woman’s silhouette stood outside.
Lorenzo aimed the pistol.
“Show your hands.”
The figure lifted both hands.
Elena’s breath disappeared.
Even through glass.
Even after six years.
She knew that face.
Older.
Thinner.
Hair streaked with gray.
But unmistakable.
“Mom?”
The woman closed her eyes.
Elena crossed the room.
Lorenzo caught her.
“Wait.”
“That’s my mother.”
“That may be exactly what someone wants you to think.”
Elena turned on him.
“I know my mother.”
“You knew her six years ago.”
The words hurt.
He regretted them instantly.
But he did not release her.
The woman outside spoke through the glass.
“Elena.”
Her voice.
The same voice from birthdays.
Bedtime stories.
Hospital corridors.
The last phone call before Isabel allegedly died in a highway accident.
Elena began shaking.
“Open it.”
Lorenzo studied the woman.
“Name Elena’s first pet.”
The woman stared.
“What?”
“Answer.”
“A goldfish. Pepper. She killed it by feeding it half a jar of flakes.”
Elena almost laughed through tears.
“Open it.”
Lorenzo did.
Isabel climbed inside.
Elena stood frozen.
Her mother looked at her.
“My baby.”
Elena slapped her.
The sound cracked through the room.
Isabel accepted it.
Then Elena threw her arms around her.
She cried into her mother’s shoulder with an anger so deep it had survived six years waiting for somewhere to go.
“You were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“There was a coffin.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had to.”
Elena shoved her away.
“No. You chose to.”
Isabel looked at Matteo.
Then at Lorenzo.
“I chose to keep her alive.”
Lorenzo’s voice was cold.
“Explain.”
Isabel sat down.
She looked exhausted.
“After Sofia discovered Bianca’s network, she contacted me.”
“You knew my aunt was behind it?” Lorenzo asked.
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“Before Matteo was born.”
“And you did nothing?”
“I gathered evidence.”
“My wife died.”
Isabel’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“Did Bianca kill her?”
The question silenced everyone.
Isabel answered slowly.
“I don’t know.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“That answer may save your life for about thirty seconds.”
Elena stepped between them again.
“Stop threatening everyone who knows something you don’t.”
He looked at her.
She did not back down.
Something changed in his face.
He holstered the gun.
“Fine.”
Isabel watched that exchange.
Then looked at Matteo.
“Sofia’s condition was real. But I believe someone delayed the correct treatment.”
“Bianca?”
“Possibly.”
“Vale?”
“Possibly.”
Elena frowned.
“You spoke to Marta. Why?”
“I’ve been watching the Rossi household through people I trusted.”
“For six years?”
“For longer.”
“Why not contact me?”
“Because Bianca believed I was dead.”
“So did I!”
Isabel flinched.
Elena’s voice broke.
“You decided my grief was acceptable.”
“No.”
“You did.”
Isabel cried silently.
“I decided your grief was survivable.”
Elena stared at her.
“And what was the alternative?”
“Your funeral.”
Nobody spoke.
Isabel wiped her eyes.
“Bianca had already sent someone to your apartment after Sofia contacted me. You were twenty-three. You knew nothing. I realized if I remained alive publicly, you would be leverage.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And left me alone.”
“Yes.”
Elena turned away.
Lorenzo understood more than he wanted to.
His own father had justified cruel decisions as protection.
He had done the same.
Different scale.
Same logic.
Love twisted into control.
“Why now?” Lorenzo asked.
Isabel looked at Matteo.
“Because Bianca became impatient.”
“With what?”
“The family trust.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“What trust?”
“Vittorio’s medical foundation.”
“It’s worth less than the shipping division.”
“Not anymore.”
Isabel removed documents from beneath her coat.
“The foundation owns patents.”
Dr. Vale’s name appeared again.
Bianca’s too.
Specialized infant nutrition.
Diagnostic testing.
Rare metabolic conditions.
Lorenzo understood.
“Matteo is valuable to them.”
Isabel nodded.
“Not as a child.”
Elena felt sick.
“As data.”
Marta began crying.
“I didn’t know.”
Isabel touched her shoulder.
“I know.”
Lorenzo read quickly.
“Bianca wanted to trigger symptoms.”
“To prove a response pattern.”
“With my son.”
“Yes.”
“Why not use another child?”
“Because Matteo’s genetic profile is unusually valuable.”
Lorenzo’s hands trembled.
The pistol remained holstered.
Elena noticed the effort.
He was choosing not to become the man everyone expected.
“Where is Dr. Vale?” Isabel asked.
“At my house.”
“Get him out.”
Lorenzo stared.
“What?”
“Bianca will kill him.”
“You think he is innocent?”
“No.”
Isabel shook her head.
“I think guilty men still become inconvenient witnesses.”
Lorenzo grabbed his phone.
Antonio answered.
“Get Vale out of the house now.”
A pause.
Then Antonio said, “Boss.”
“What?”
“He’s gone.”
Lorenzo went still.
“How?”
“Guard found unconscious. Vale disappeared ten minutes ago.”
Isabel closed her eyes.
“Bianca has him.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian knows where Sofia’s original medical file is.”
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“Where?”
“He never told me.”
Elena remembered.
Room 417.
The number.
“Saint Catherine’s.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The bottle label.”
She grabbed the original hospital sheet.
“Room 417.”
Isabel stared.
“That ward was closed after the old program ended.”
Lorenzo understood.
“Sofia hid it there.”
Isabel nodded slowly.
“Maybe.”
Lorenzo called Antonio.
“We’re going to Saint Catherine’s.”
Isabel stood.
“Then we need to hurry.”
“Why?”
“Because Bianca knows the same thing.”
They left the apartment with a plan.
Antonio’s men secured the street.
Marta stayed behind under protection.
Isabel joined Elena and Lorenzo.
Matteo remained with Elena.
Lorenzo refused every suggestion to leave him elsewhere.
“No more rooms without me.”
The drive took eighteen minutes.
Saint Catherine’s old maternity wing had been closed for renovation.
The hospital security desk had no record of Room 417 being active.
Lorenzo did not care.
They used a service elevator.
Fourth floor.
Dark corridor.
Plastic sheeting.
Construction equipment.
Room numbers had been removed.
Except one.
The metal plate remained.
Elena’s pulse hammered.
Lorenzo tried the handle.
Locked.
Isabel handed Elena the brass key.
“It might be this.”
Elena inserted it.
The lock clicked.
Lorenzo opened the door.
Inside was an abandoned consultation room.
One desk.
One cabinet.
One old examination bed.
And Dr. Adrian Vale.
Tied to a chair.
Alive.
His eyes widened when he saw them.
“Don’t come in!”
Lorenzo stopped.
“Why?”
Vale looked toward the cabinet.
His voice shook.
“Because Bianca is still here.”
A woman stepped from the shadows.
She held Sofia Rossi’s original medical file in one hand.
And in the other, a remote control.
May you like
Bianca smiled at Lorenzo.
“You finally learned to hold your son.”
