Chapter 3 - The Secret Sofia Died Trying to Protect
The attack changed everything.
Matteo moved Alina and Leo into a secure wing of the estate before midnight.
The doors locked automatically.
The windows were reinforced.
Two armed guards stayed outside.
Alina hated every second of it.
She hated Matteo.
She hated the mansion.
She hated the fear curling beneath her ribs.
Most of all, she hated the possibility that Sofia had been alive all along.
For seven years, Alina had mourned a sister who might have been hiding somewhere in the same city.
Now there were photographs proving it.
Letters proving it.
And people shooting through windows because of it.
She sat beside Leo's crib.
The baby was finally asleep.
He looked peaceful.
Nothing like the chaos surrounding him.
Alina touched his tiny hand.
"You knew her, didn't you?"
Leo stirred.
She smiled sadly.
"I know. I don't understand either."
The door opened.
Matteo walked in.
He had removed his jacket.
His white shirt was rolled to his forearms.
There was blood on his cuff.
"You're hurt."
"Not mine."
Alina stood.
"Did you find who shot at us?"
"No."
"Did you find Sofia?"
"No."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Protecting you."
"I didn't ask you to."
"You don't get to choose anymore."
She stared at him.
"That's easy for a man like you to say."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you've probably spent your whole life telling people what they can and can't do."
He moved closer.
"You think I wanted this?"
"I don't know what you want."
"Neither do I."
That answer surprised her.
Matteo looked exhausted.
Human.
Not the untouchable mafia boss everyone feared.
Just a man holding too many secrets.
He looked at the letter.
"Your sister knew my family."
"What did she do?"
"She worked for one of our charitable foundations."
Alina frowned.
"Sofia worked in accounting."
"Officially."
"Unofficially?"
"She was investigating financial records."
Alina felt a chill.
"Why?"
"Because money was disappearing."
"From where?"
"My father's old businesses."
"Your father."
"Yes."
Matteo sat.
"My father, Anton DeLuca, was officially retired before his death. Unofficially, he still controlled several operations. When I took over, I found evidence that someone inside the family had been laundering money through orphanages, clinics, and adoption agencies."
Alina went still.
"Adoption?"
Matteo looked toward Leo.
"Babies."
Her blood ran cold.
"You're saying children were being sold?"
"We don't know the full scale."
"And Sofia found it."
"Yes."
"That's why she disappeared?"
"She tried to expose it."
Alina's hands trembled.
"Then who was responsible?"
Matteo looked at her.
"We thought my father's men."
"And now?"
"Now I think the operation continued after he disappeared."
The room fell silent.
Alina remembered the letter.
The one person she feared.
"Your father."
"Maybe."
"But you said he died."
"I saw the funeral."
"So did I."
"That doesn't mean the body was his."
Alina stared.
"Then who was buried?"
"We don't know."
He handed her a file.
Inside were photographs of bank accounts, shipping manifests, charity records, and adoption agencies.
One company name appeared repeatedly.
Valdez Family Care.
Alina's breath stopped.
"My mother's clinic."
Matteo looked at her.
"Your mother worked there?"
"She founded it."
The memory came flooding back.
Her mother had always told them never to ask questions about certain families.
Never answer the door after dark.
Never give strangers information.
Alina had thought it was ordinary caution.
Now she wondered what kind of life her mother had been hiding.
Then another paper fell from the file.
A birth certificate.
Alina picked it up.
Her name was printed on it.
But the date was wrong.
The birth certificate listed her as being born three years earlier than she actually was.
She stared.
"What is this?"
Matteo took it.
His eyes changed.
"This can't be."
"Why?"
"Because your sister's name appears on the original hospital record."
Alina felt dizzy.
"What does that mean?"
He handed her another document.
It was an old maternity ward record.
Alina Valdez.
Mother: Elena Valdez.
Father: Unknown.
Then beneath it:
Twin birth.
Female infant one: Alina.
Female infant two: deceased.
But Sofia had been three years older.
Alina looked up.
"That's impossible."
Matteo's voice was quiet.
"Unless the record was changed."
"Why?"
He didn't answer.
Leo began crying.
Alina moved toward him.
The baby reached for her immediately.
As she lifted him, something fell from underneath his mattress.
A tiny metal key.
Alina looked at Matteo.
"What is that?"
He picked it up.
Engraved on the side were two letters.
S.V.
Sofia Valdez.
Matteo stared at it.
"Your sister left this."
"Where does it go?"
"We find out."
That same night they traveled to an old DeLuca property outside the city.
A farmhouse abandoned for years.
Inside, beneath loose floorboards, they found a metal box.
The key fit perfectly.
Alina opened it.
There were dozens of photographs.
One showed Sofia.
Another showed Matteo.
Another showed Alina as a child.
Alina's breath caught.
She pulled out a fourth photograph.
It showed her mother standing beside Anton DeLuca.
Behind them was a nursery.
Rows of cribs.
Alina stepped back.
"No."
Matteo stared at the picture.
"My father knew your family."
"He knew my mother."
"And Sofia."
Alina looked at the last photograph.
There was one more person in it.
A woman with dark hair.
She had a scar over her eyebrow.
Alina recognized her.
She had seen that scar the previous week.
At Aurelia.
One of the restaurant investors.
Her name was Vivian Cross.
Alina whispered, "She was at the restaurant."
Matteo's entire expression hardened.
"Who?"
"Vivian Cross."
He looked at the photograph.
Then at Alina.
"She's dead."
Alina shook her head.
"No. She's alive."
Matteo stared at her.
"That's impossible."
The room became silent.
Then Alina realized the truth.
Sofia had not only left clues.
She had been building a trail.
And someone was making sure those clues were found.
May you like
By them.
On purpose.
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