Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Knew Emma Before I Did
Three days passed without an attack.
That frightened me more than gunfire.
Silence meant someone was waiting.
Alessandro had doubled security around the mansion, but he refused to let fear control Emma's life.
She still played in the garden.
She still chased butterflies.
She still insisted on eating strawberries before breakfast.
And she still called Alessandro Daddy Wolf whenever she wanted something.
“Daddy Wolf.”
Alessandro looked up from his tablet.
“What?”
“Cookie.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
She crossed her arms.
“Daddy Wolf.”
He sighed.
“One.”
She smiled.
“Two.”
“One.”
“Big one.”
“One.”
She hugged his leg.
“You best.”
He looked at me.
“This child is manipulating me.”
I smiled.
“She learned from watching you.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Careful.”
But there was warmth in his eyes.
It was the first peaceful morning we'd had in weeks.
Then a car arrived.
A woman stepped out.
She was in her late fifties, wearing a gray coat and carrying an old leather handbag.
Security stopped her.
She gave her name.
“Eleanor Hayes.”
Nobody knew her.
Until Alessandro walked outside.
His face changed.
“Mara?”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Alessandro.”
I watched them.
“Who is she?”
His jaw tightened.
“She worked for my mother.”
The woman looked past him.
Then her eyes landed on Emma.
She went pale.
“Oh.”
She whispered it.
Like she'd seen a ghost.
Alessandro noticed.
“You know my employee?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
“You recognized her.”
“I recognized the rabbit.”
Emma held Bunny tightly.
Eleanor's expression turned frightened.
“That belonged to someone I knew.”
“Who?”
She looked at Alessandro.
“Your father.”
Alessandro went silent.
I didn't understand.
Eleanor pulled out a photograph.
It showed a much younger Alessandro standing beside his father.
In his father's arms was a little girl.
A toddler.
The same blue rabbit rested against her chest.
My breath caught.
“That can't be Emma.”
“It isn't.”
Eleanor looked at me.
“But that rabbit came from the same place.”
“What place?”
She hesitated.
“The Moretti family nursery.”
Alessandro's expression became unreadable.
“Impossible.”
“My father never had a daughter.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Not officially.”
He stepped closer.
“Explain.”
She lowered her voice.
“Your father had another child.”
Silence.
“And that child disappeared.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“Who?”
Eleanor looked at Emma.
“I don't know.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Why are you looking at my daughter?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don't think she is that child.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I am saying the rabbit was planted in your life for a reason.”
Alessandro looked at Bunny.
Emma pulled it closer.
“Bunny mine.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I believe that.”
Alessandro stared at the rabbit.
“Who gave it to her?”
“I don't know.”
I answered.
“I bought it from a street market when she was one.”
Eleanor looked disturbed.
“A street market?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
I told her.
Her face went white.
“That market closed six years ago.”
I frowned.
“No.”
“I worked nearby.”
She opened her handbag and removed a newspaper clipping.
The market had burned six years earlier.
Before Emma was born.
My heart began pounding.
“But I remember buying it.”
Eleanor looked at me.
“Then either someone lied to you about where the rabbit came from, or you were given something that already belonged to the Moretti family.”
Alessandro took the clipping.
His eyes narrowed.
There was a picture of the market after the fire.
In the corner was a child's toy stall.
And hanging from it was a blue rabbit.
I looked at Emma.
She hugged Bunny.
“How?”
Nobody answered.
Then Eleanor whispered:
“Because someone wanted you to have it.”
A gunshot cracked through the garden.
Eleanor dropped.
Alessandro grabbed her before she hit the ground.
“Get down!”
Security scattered.
I pulled Emma behind a stone bench.
Another shot.
Then another.
The mansion became chaos.
Alessandro carried Eleanor inside.
“Medic!”
I followed.
The bullet had grazed Eleanor's shoulder.
She survived.
But before the doctor could treat her, she grabbed Alessandro.
“The rabbit.”
He looked at her.
“Check inside.”
“What?”
“It's hollow.”
My blood ran cold.
Alessandro took Bunny from Emma.
She screamed.
“My Bunny!”
“I'll give it back.”
He carefully examined the toy.
The seam looked normal.
Then he noticed a loose thread.
He opened it.
Inside was a tiny metal capsule.
Nobody moved.
Alessandro removed it.
“What is it?”
Eleanor whispered:
“A key.”
“To what?”
She stared at him.
“The old Moretti vault.”
Alessandro's expression became terrifying.
“That vault burned twenty years ago.”
“Not all of it.”
The metal capsule opened.
Inside was a microSD card.
Alessandro looked at Gabriel.
“Get a reader.”
Within minutes, the card was inserted into a secure system.
A video appeared.
Static.
Then an old recording.
A man's voice.
Alessandro's father's.
“If this recording is found, someone inside my family has betrayed us.”
Alessandro stared at the screen.
His father continued.
“The person you trust most is not who you think.”
Then the image changed.
A list appeared.
Five names.
One name was familiar.
Luca Romano.
The next was another.
Marcus Bell.
Then Evelyn Hayes.
The fourth name was crossed out.
The fifth had been erased.
Alessandro stared.
“Who had access to this?”
Eleanor answered.
“Only your father, me, and one other person.”
“Who?”
She closed her eyes.
“Your mother.”
Alessandro took one step back.
“My mother died fifteen years ago.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I know.”
“Then how?”
Eleanor looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Because she didn't die the way they told you.”
Silence consumed the room.
I looked at Alessandro.
For the first time, the Wolf looked like a son.
Not a boss.
Not a king.
Just a man who had discovered that his entire childhood had been built on lies.
Eleanor whispered:
“Your mother was alive when your father recorded that message.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“Where is she?”
Eleanor looked toward the door.
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
May you like
Eleanor's voice broke.
“By the same people who are watching your daughter.”
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