Chapter 5 - The Orphanage Was Supposed to Be Our Safest Refuge—Until Emma Pointed at a Family Photograph and Identified the Man Who Had Been Following UsThe orphanage was beautiful.
Old stone.
Large windows.
Warm rooms.
Children's drawings on the walls.
It had been closed for years.
Lorenzo unlocked the main doors.
Emma ran inside.
She laughed.
“Big house.”
I smiled.
For a few hours, everything felt almost normal.
Then Emma stopped.
She pointed toward a photograph.
“This man.”
I looked.
A group photograph.
My late mother.
Lorenzo's mother.
Three priests.
Several children.
And one man.
Victor Bellmont.
“He comes,” Emma whispered.
“Where?”
“Outside Mommy's work.”
My blood ran cold.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“He has a brown coat.”
The same man had appeared in several security images.
He had been following us.
He had been watching Emma for months.
We searched the orphanage.
No one.
But the photograph led to a hidden room.
Inside were records.
Children's names.
Adoption papers.
Trust documents.
And one file marked:
EMMA DUCA — PRELIMINARY GUARDIAN ASSESSMENT.
The file was five years old.
Before Emma was born.
I stared.
“How?”
Lorenzo looked sick.
“Someone knew she would exist.”
The file described me.
My history.
My medical records.
My family.
Someone had planned Emma's life before she was born.
Then a second file appeared.
MOTHER: MARIA BELLINI
That wasn't my name.
It was my mother's maiden name.
The Bellmont family had known about Emma.
They had been waiting.
The final page contained one statement:
The child is viable. Proceed with acquisition.
I almost threw the file across the room.
Lorenzo pulled me back.
“Don't.”
“Someone planned to take my daughter before she was born.”
“I know.”
“That means Isabella didn't start this.”
“No.”
“She inherited it.”
“Exactly.”
Then we heard the front door open.
Footsteps.
Several.
Someone shouted:
“Search the building.”
Lorenzo grabbed the gun.
I took Emma.
We hid in the attic.
Men moved through the rooms.
One of them found the file.
“She's here.”
Lorenzo whispered:
“Stay behind me.”
Emma clutched my neck.
Then she whispered:
“Mama.”
“Yes?”
“Don't be scared.”
I almost cried.
“How are you not scared?”
She thought.
“Daddy is here.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
May you like
For a moment, the most feared man in the city looked like nothing more than a father.
Then the attic door opened.
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