Chapter 5 - The Truth in Her Blood
We escaped the mansion fifteen seconds before the west wing collapsed.
The media arrived before midnight.
By morning, Chicago was flooded with rumors about the Moretti engagement party.
Nobody knew the truth.
They only knew that an explosion had destroyed part of a billionaire's estate.
They didn't know that Luca Moretti's mother had been kidnapped.
They didn't know that Vanessa Bellini had been found alive.
And they certainly didn't know that a missing list existed somewhere inside me.
For safety, Luca moved us to one of his private properties outside the city.
I sat in a bedroom looking at my hands.
“I don't understand.”
Luca sat across from me.
“Neither do I.”
“My mother said the evidence was hidden inside me.”
“You were a child.”
“Exactly.”
He leaned forward.
“Maybe not literally.”
Marco entered.
“We found something.”
He placed a medical folder on the table.
“Your childhood records.”
I looked at them.
Most pages were blank.
Then he opened one.
There was a notation:
PATIENT RECEIVED IMPLANT.
I stared.
“What is that?”
Luca's face hardened.
“Medical records suggest a small data capsule was implanted when you were an infant.”
My blood ran cold.
“You're saying I have evidence inside my body?”
“We don't know.”
“Then who does?”
Marco answered.
“Richard.”
The next morning we went to an old private clinic.
The doctor who examined me had once worked for Luca's father.
He took an X-ray.
Then he went silent.
“What?”
He enlarged the image.
A tiny object appeared near my rib.
Metallic.
Embedded.
Real.
I started crying.
“I want it out.”
“We need to be careful.”
“Take it out.”
Luca looked at me.
“We'll find another way.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“This started because of me.”
“No.”
“People are dying because of whatever is inside me.”
Luca took my hand.
“People are alive because you kept my mother alive.”
That stopped me.
The doctor said the object could be removed safely.
But when the procedure was finished, the capsule was empty.
Luca frowned.
“Empty?”
The doctor nodded.
“It's a shell.”
“So the real evidence isn't here.”
“No.”
Marco stared at me.
“Then where is it?”
I suddenly remembered something.
“My mother gave me a necklace.”
“When?”
“When I was little.”
I had kept it in a box for years.
A simple silver pendant.
The doctor examined it.
Then opened the clasp.
Inside was a micro-card.
Luca stared.
“This is it.”
We found encrypted files.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Photographs.
And a video.
Luca pressed play.
His father appeared on the screen.
Not as the powerful man from family photographs.
He looked afraid.
“If anyone sees this,” he said, “I failed to escape.”
He explained that he had discovered Bellini's organization was larger than anyone imagined.
Richard was laundering money through legitimate corporations.
Vanessa had been trained to infiltrate the Moretti family.
And there was one final revelation.
Luca's father had not ordered my mother's disappearance.
He had tried to protect her.
He had planned to testify.
Richard found out.
The car crash had been staged.
I stared at the screen.
Luca didn't move.
His father's voice continued.
“Eleanor, if you're watching this, take Sophie and disappear.”
The video ended.
Luca closed his eyes.
For years, he had believed his father was a monster.
Now he was learning that the man had died trying to undo the damage he had helped create.
Mrs. Moretti entered the room.
She had been resting upstairs.
She saw Luca's face.
“You found it.”
He nodded.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid you'd become obsessed with revenge.”
“Maybe I am.”
She stepped closer.
“You don't need revenge.”
Luca looked at me.
“What do I need?”
His mother smiled.
“A future.”
A car screeched outside.
Marco rushed to the window.
“Boss!”
A bullet shattered the glass.
Everyone ducked.
More followed.
Luca pulled me behind the stone wall.
Security returned fire.
Then the attackers disappeared.
On the floor was a folded piece of paper.
I opened it.
A single sentence had been written.
BRING SOPHIE TO THE OLD RAIL YARD AT MIDNIGHT OR VANESSA DIES.
I looked at Luca.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
“They'll kill her.”
“She chose to help them.”
“She also chose to save me.”
Luca looked at his mother.
Mrs. Moretti nodded.
“You owe her the chance to survive.”
Luca turned toward me.
“I won't let you go alone.”
We left at midnight.
The old rail yard was deserted.
Vanessa was tied to a chair.
Richard stood behind her.
He smiled.
“You came.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Release her.”
“Give me the files.”
“No.”
Richard looked at me.
“You have no idea what you are carrying.”
“Actually, I do.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“The files don't belong to you.”
“My mother died protecting them.”
“She didn't die.”
My heart stopped.
Richard smiled.
“She’s alive.”
Luca looked at me.
Richard continued.
“She has been watching you.”
A light turned on inside a nearby warehouse.
Behind the glass stood a woman.
My mother.
Older.
Tired.
Alive.
I forgot how to breathe.
“Mom?”
She pressed her hand against the glass.
Then screamed one word.
“RUN!”
Richard smiled.
May you like
The warehouse doors locked.
Gas began filling the room.
