Chapter 11 - THE HOUSE BENEATH THE CHAPEL
Alessandro jumped after her.
The river swallowed sound.
Cold water closed over his head, pulling at his injured shoulder. He saw Emma’s white nightgown below him, twisting in the darkness.
He kicked downward.
His hand caught the rope around her chair.
The weight dragged both of them deeper.
He drew the knife from his belt and cut once.
The rope held.
Twice.
Fibers separated.
Emma floated free.
Alessandro wrapped one arm around her and pushed upward.
His lungs burned.
For one terrifying second, he could not see the surface.
Then moonlight broke above them.
He emerged gasping.
Emma did not move.
“Emma!”
He carried her toward the concrete bank.
Sophia was already there, screaming her name.
Alessandro placed the child on the ground and began compressions.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
“Breathe.”
Nothing.
Sophia knelt beside him.
“Please.”
Alessandro pressed again.
“Emma, you promised to fix my shirt.”
Nothing.
He bent and forced air into her lungs.
The child coughed.
Water spilled from her mouth.
Sophia pulled her close, sobbing.
Alessandro sat back in the rain.
Across the warehouse, gunfire ended.
His men had entered through the eastern doors.
Dr. Voss was captured alive.
Carlo escaped through a river tunnel.
Again.
Emma opened her eyes.
“Mama.”
“I’m here.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“You came back.”
He could not answer.
He touched her wet hair.
This time the promise had held.
At dawn, Doctor Caruso examined Emma at the mansion. She had swallowed water but suffered no lasting harm.
Dr. Voss was locked in the cellar.
Under questioning, he admitted altering Alessandro’s birth documents. He also confirmed that he had supplied the poison for Sophia under Carlo’s orders.
But when Alessandro asked who shot Emilia Moretti, the doctor laughed.
“You have the wrong mystery.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother did not die where they told you.”
Alessandro’s expression changed.
“I saw her body.”
“You saw a covered body from twenty feet away.”
“Her grave—”
“Contains someone.”
The doctor smiled.
“Perhaps you should ask why the coffin was never opened.”
Alessandro struck the table once.
The wood cracked.
“Speak clearly.”
“Emilia survived the first gunshot.”
“First?”
“Carlo brought her to St. Catherine’s Home under another name.”
“Why?”
“To make her reveal where the ledger was hidden.”
“How long did she live?”
Voss looked toward the ceiling.
“Long enough to have another child.”
The room went silent.
Alessandro stared at him.
“You are lying.”
“Carlo kept her sedated. Vittorio visited. So did Giovanni.”
“My father knew?”
“Your father paid for the room.”
A cold emptiness spread through Alessandro.
“Where is the child?”
“I do not know.”
Voss leaned closer.
“But Lucia Rossi did.”
Alessandro returned to the chapel with Sophia, Luca and Father Gabriel.
The ledger contained the financial crimes, but not the full story. Emilia’s lullaby pointed beyond the first chamber.
One silver flame.
A mother’s blood will speak the name.
They examined the silver oil lamp.
Dried blood marked its base.
Sophia noticed the wick holder could be unscrewed.
Inside was a narrow strip of paper.
A name.
Sofia Bellandi.
Luca staggered.
“My sister.”
“You had a sister?” Alessandro asked.
“She died as a child.”
“Or you were told she did.”
Father Gabriel searched church records stored beneath the altar.
He found an adoption certificate.
A female infant transferred from St. Catherine’s Home twenty-six years ago.
Mother listed as Emilia Moretti.
Father unknown.
Adoptive name: Sophia Rossi.
Sophia stared at the document.
“No.”
Luca looked from her to Alessandro.
The resemblance had always been subtle.
The dark eyes.
The shape of the mouth.
The same way both tilted their head when angry.
Sophia sank onto the chapel steps.
“My mother was Lucia.”
“Lucia raised you,” Gabriel said gently. “But Emilia gave birth to you.”
Alessandro could barely speak.
“Sophia is my sister.”
Half-sister.
Born one year after Emilia’s supposed death.
Carlo had hidden Emilia while forcing information from her. During that captivity, she had given birth.
To Antonio Bellandi’s second child.
Or perhaps Giovanni’s.
The records did not say.
Emma entered the chapel holding Bianca’s hand.
She saw Sophia crying and ran to her.
“Mama hurt?”
Sophia pulled the child close.
Alessandro watched them.
All this time, the woman living in the cottage had been his family.
The child washing his shirt had been his niece.
Someone had known.
Someone had intentionally placed Sophia inside the estate.
Luca lowered himself onto a pew.
“I brought her here.”
Sophia looked up.
“What?”
“I discovered the adoption records five years ago. After Marco died, I arranged for your employment application to reach Bianca.”
“You knew who I was.”
“I suspected.”
“You placed Emma in danger.”
“I believed the mansion would protect you.”
Alessandro looked around the broken chapel.
“This house has protected nothing.”
A telephone rang in his pocket.
Matteo.
“Boss, the Pier seventeen team found the containers.”
“And Vittorio?”
“Gone.”
“What about the weapons?”
“There are no weapons.”
“What is inside?”
Matteo’s voice shook.
“Photographs. Records. Medical files.”
“Of what?”
“Children. Dozens of them.”
Alessandro felt dread rise.
May you like
Then Matteo said the words that changed the war.
“Carlo and Vittorio were not only moving weapons through the charity. They were selling children.”
