Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO RETURN
“My brother is dead.”
Luca spoke the words so quietly that I almost didn't hear them.
Margaret Carter sat beneath her blanket, watching him with unbearable sadness.
“No,” she whispered. “He isn't.”
Luca stared at the silver cufflink in his palm.
For a moment, he looked younger than thirty-seven.
He looked like a boy hearing that something he'd believed his entire adult life had been a lie.
“My brother's car went into Lake Michigan fifteen years ago.”
Margaret nodded.
“I know what you were told.”
“They found wreckage.”
“Yes.”
“And his watch.”
“Yes.”
Luca closed his fist around the cufflink.
“Then tell me why you're saying he's alive.”
My mother took a breath.
“Because I treated him after the accident.”
The room went silent.
I looked at her.
“Mom?”
She gave me a pained glance.
“I was working nights at Mercy Hospital. A young man arrived with broken ribs and a head wound. He gave a false name.”
“What name?” Luca asked.
“Thomas Bellini.”
Luca stepped backward.
Richard Bellini's younger brother.
The same man who had overseen Elena's treatment.
“He wasn't Richard's brother?” I whispered.
Margaret shook her head.
“No. Richard helped him disappear.”
Luca sat heavily in the nearest chair.
His older brother, Gabriel Moretti, had vanished when Luca was twenty-two.
I'd heard the story only once.
Antonio told me that Gabriel had been reckless, charming, and bitter about their father's decision to place Luca in charge of the family businesses.
After Gabriel's supposed death, Luca inherited everything.
For fifteen years, he'd believed his brother was buried beneath the water.
Now he was learning that Gabriel had been living beneath another man's name.
“Why?” Luca asked.
Margaret looked toward the fireplace.
“Your father discovered Gabriel had been stealing from the company. He planned to remove him from the family business.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“I remember.”
“Gabriel couldn't accept it.”
“And Richard helped him escape?”
“Yes.”
“Why would Richard do that?”
“Because Gabriel promised him access to the Moretti shipping empire.”
Luca stood.
For several seconds, he paced.
Then he stopped.
“Elena found out.”
Margaret nodded.
“She discovered that shipments were being rerouted through Bellini Maritime. She thought Richard was stealing from you.”
“But it was Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
Luca looked physically sick.
“My own brother.”
I stepped closer.
“Luca.”
He shook his head.
“I spent fifteen years mourning him.”
There was no anger in his voice now.
Only grief.
“He stood somewhere and watched me bury him.”
Margaret reached for the cufflink.
“Elena learned the truth six months before she disappeared. She was gathering evidence.”
“And Gabriel took her?”
“Yes.”
“Why keep her alive?”
My mother hesitated.
“Because she hid something he needed.”
Luca looked up.
“What?”
“A record of the shipping transactions. Enough evidence to expose everyone involved.”
“Where?”
“She never told me.”
I thought about the greenhouse.
The overturned plate.
The silver key.
The picture of Sophie.
Elena had left a trail of clues, but she'd done it carefully.
As though she expected the wrong person to discover every hiding place.
“Mom,” I asked, “did Elena know Gabriel personally?”
Margaret nodded.
“She met him years before he disappeared.”
Luca's face darkened.
“Did she know he was alive?”
“Not until she found the financial records.”
Something troubled me.
“If Gabriel wanted the records, why didn't he simply hurt her until she told him?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because Elena was pregnant when she disappeared.”
The words stopped everything.
Luca stared.
“What?”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“She was six weeks pregnant.”
I put a hand over my mouth.
Luca gripped the back of his chair.
For three years, he'd believed he'd lost his wife.
Now he was learning he'd lost more than he ever knew.
“Was the baby...?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know what happened. Elena was transferred before I could find out.”
Luca turned away.
I heard him struggle to breathe.
After a moment, I placed a hand on his arm.
He didn't pull away.
“Luca, we need to find her.”
He nodded.
But his eyes were wet.
“And if Gabriel has her?”
“We bring her home.”
He looked at me.
“You make it sound simple.”
“It isn't.”
I swallowed.
“But Sophie has been waiting three years. We can't stop now.”
My mother reached for my hand.
“Emily, there's one more thing.”
I turned.
She looked frightened.
“The photograph from Saint Agnes Marina. Did you find it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you notice the red building?”
“We did.”
“There's a chapel behind it. Elena used to go there when she was young.”
Luca frowned.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because she told me she left something there.”
“What?”
“A small music box.”
My pulse quickened.
“What kind?”
“Silver. Shaped like a crescent moon.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“I gave her that when Sophie was born.”
Margaret nodded.
“She said it played the song Sophie loved.”
The moon song.
The one the woman on the boat had been singing.
Luca reached for his phone.
But I stopped him.
“Wait.”
He looked at me.
“If Gabriel has been watching us, he'll expect you to send men to the marina.”
Luca considered that.
“You're right.”
“We need someone who can enter without drawing attention.”
My mother shook her head immediately.
“Emily, no.”
But I already knew.
I'd spent my life being overlooked.
Invisible to wealthy guests.
Invisible to people like Vanessa.
And sometimes being underestimated was an advantage.
“I can go,” I said.
Luca stared.
“Absolutely not.”
“You need someone nobody will recognize.”
“Gabriel has your photograph.”
“But he doesn't know I've discovered anything.”
Luca looked torn.
Then Marco entered.
He'd been waiting outside.
“Sir, there's a complication.”
Luca turned.
“What now?”
Marco held out a printed security report.
“Richard Bellini's private accounts show a payment made yesterday.”
“To whom?”
Marco hesitated.
“St. Catherine's Rehabilitation Center.”
Luca frowned.
“For Elena?”
“No, sir.”
Marco looked at me.
“The payment was for a different patient.”
He handed Luca the report.
The patient's name had been changed twice.
But the original entry remained visible.
ELENA MORETTI — MATERNITY TRANSFER.
Luca looked up sharply.
“A maternity transfer?”
Marco nodded.
“Three years ago. Seven months after her disappearance.”
I felt the room tilt.
Margaret began to cry.
Luca read the next line.
Then his face went completely white.
Because beneath Elena's name was a second entry.
LIVE BIRTH — MALE INFANT.
May you like
And beside the child's identification number, someone had written:
TRANSFERRED TO GABRIEL MORETTI.
