Chapter 3 - The Daughter Who Never Existed
For two days, Adrian's team searched.
No birth certificate.
No adoption record.
No hospital record.
No death certificate.
Nothing.
It was as if my sister had never existed.
Sofia sat across from me in a conference room filled with folders.
“She may have been given another identity.”
“Then find the identity.”
“We're trying.”
“My mother knew where she was.”
“She may have been protecting you.”
“From what?”
Sofia looked at Adrian.
Adrian spoke.
“From the Bellini family.”
I stared.
“Who are they?”
“Old organization. Smaller than mine now. Much older.”
“Why would they care about my sister?”
“They may not.”
“Then who?”
Adrian opened a file.
Inside was a photograph of a man in his sixties.
Victor Bellini.
“He's been looking for someone for twenty years.”
“Who?”
Adrian pointed at the photograph.
“The heir to a fortune.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My family had no fortune.”
“Your father didn't.”
He placed another photograph on the table.
A woman standing beside a luxury yacht.
My mother.
I stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“It was taken twelve years ago.”
My mother had supposedly lived in a modest house.
I looked again.
She was wearing diamonds.
Standing beside men in suits.
And holding a baby.
My sister.
I felt sick.
“She lied to me.”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Adrian was silent.
I looked at him.
“Did your family know?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because if they had known, I would have been told.”
“That doesn't sound reassuring.”
“It wasn't intended to.”
He leaned back.
“I learned not to trust family a long time ago.”
I remembered what I had seen in his eyes when he said it.
Pain.
Real pain.
“Why?”
“My father was murdered by his own brother.”
The room went still.
“I'm sorry.”
“I don't need sympathy.”
“I wasn't giving you sympathy.”
“What were you giving me?”
“The truth.”
Something shifted between us.
Sofia cleared her throat.
“We found a lead.”
A location.
An old private school in Vermont.
A girl matching the description of my sister had attended for twelve years.
Her name was Laura Kane.
Twenty-three years old.
Nurse.
No known relatives.
I stared at the photo.
It was her.
I knew instantly.
The eyes were my mother's.
We flew there that night.
The school was surrounded by pine trees.
The girl was working in the infirmary.
When she saw me, her face went pale.
“I know you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“I'm Emma.”
“I know.”
“How?”
She looked toward Adrian.
“Because he told me.”
I turned.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
She sat down.
“My name is Laura.”
“My sister.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“How long?”
“All my life.”
“Why didn't you find me?”
“I wasn't allowed.”
“By whom?”
She hesitated.
“Your mother.”
I felt betrayed all over again.
“Why?”
Laura reached into a drawer.
She pulled out an old photograph.
My mother.
My father.
Two babies.
Me.
Her.
And another man.
A younger Adrian.
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“My father.”
Laura nodded.
“This photograph was taken at a private meeting.”
“Why were you there?”
“Because your parents were trying to arrange protection.”
“For us?”
“For the whole family.”
Adrian's face tightened.
“Who was after them?”
Laura looked at us.
“The man who owns the Russo family's oldest debt.”
Adrian froze.
“What man?”
She whispered.
“Silas Vane.”
Even Sofia went pale.
Silas Vane was a name I had never heard.
But Adrian had.
He stood very still.
“He's dead.”
Laura shook her head.
“No.”
A phone vibrated.
A message appeared on Adrian's screen.
YOUR HOUSE IS SURROUNDED.
Then another.
TWO HUNDRED MEN.
Then a final one.
BRING EMMA TO THE OLD SHAW GARAGE.
I looked at Adrian.
“That's the place where my father died.”
He nodded.
“We're not going.”
“They have my mother.”
“We don't know that.”
Another message arrived.
A video.
My mother was sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Bruised.
She looked straight into the camera.
“Emma, don't come.”
The screen went black.
I grabbed Adrian's shirt.
“You said we'd save her.”
“We will.”
“Then let's go.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“I'm going whether you come or not.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand that my mother is being tortured.”
He looked at me.
Then softly:
“You're becoming exactly the kind of woman I hoped you would never have to become.”
“What kind?”
“Someone who thinks fear has nothing left to lose.”
He turned to Sofia.
“Prepare the convoy.”
Sofia nodded.
May you like
Adrian looked at me.
“We go together.”
