Chapter 18
No one moved.
Lily stirred against my shoulder.
I held her tighter.
Victor was waiting in the security room when we arrived. Snow filled the monitors in shifting white waves.
On the central screen, a woman stood outside the iron gates.
She wore a dark wool coat and leaned on a cane. Her hair was streaked with silver. A scarf covered the lower half of her face, but her eyes were visible.
Even through the grainy camera, I recognized them.
They were Lily’s eyes.
They were my eyes.
Victor stood motionless.
“Open the gate,” he said.
Marco did not move.
“Sir, we cannot verify her identity.”
Victor’s gaze remained fixed on the screen.
“Open it.”
The gates began to move.
The woman walked slowly toward the mansion.
Halfway up the drive, she stopped and looked directly at the camera.
Then she reached inside her coat and removed a silver locket.
Victor’s breath left him.
The woman opened it.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
Even on the monitor, I could see the image clearly enough.
A young Elena Rossi stood beside Sofia, each of them holding a baby.
One baby wore a bracelet marked with a star.
The other wore a bracelet marked with three branches.
Twins, I thought at first.
But they were not twins.
The dates written beneath them were six months apart.
Marco zoomed in.
Beneath the photograph, someone had written two names.
Annie Moretti.
Hannah Vale.
My skin went cold.
May you like
Victor turned toward me.
Before either of us could speak, the woman outside removed her scarf.
