Chapter 8 - THE CHILD WHO NEVER KNEW HIS NAME
“My son?”
Luca stared at the report.
The words seemed too small for what they meant.
For three years, a little boy might have been living somewhere in the world without knowing his father.
Without knowing his sister.
Without knowing that a family had been waiting for him.
I watched Luca read the hospital record again.
Then again.
Finally, he whispered, “Elena had our baby.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I prayed he survived.”
Luca turned toward her.
“You knew?”
“I knew she was pregnant. I didn't know she delivered.”
I stepped beside him.
“Luca, we need to be careful. We don't know whether this record is genuine.”
He nodded slowly.
But I could see hope fighting fear in his eyes.
Marco examined the document.
“The payment came through Gabriel's medical network.”
“Where is the child?” Luca demanded.
“We're tracing the transfer.”
Luca stared at the photograph of Elena.
“She must have thought we'd forgotten her.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She taught Sophie how to bring you back to her. She believed you'd find her.”
For a moment, his expression softened.
Then he folded the hospital report.
“I'm going to Saint Agnes Marina.”
I caught his arm.
“Not alone.”
He looked at me.
“Emily, you've already done more than anyone could ask.”
“Sophie trusts me.”
“And?”
“And if her mother is there, she might trust me too.”
Luca hesitated.
Then nodded.
But before we left, I made one request.
“We need to speak to Vanessa again.”
His expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because she knows more about that boat than she's admitted.”
An hour later, we returned to the mansion.
The guests had been escorted home after their identities were recorded.
Richard remained under guard.
Vanessa sat alone in the dining room.
Her red gown looked strangely out of place beneath the dimmed chandeliers.
The overturned plate was still on the table.
The cherry had begun to wrinkle.
When Vanessa saw us, she stood.
“Luca.”
He placed the hospital record before her.
She stared at it.
Then she began shaking.
“You found out.”
Luca's voice was cold.
“Where is my son?”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Luca, I swear I didn't know about the baby until last year.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Vanessa.”
Her eyes filled.
“My father told me Elena had a child. He said Gabriel was keeping him somewhere safe.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Safe from whom?”
“From you.”
He stared.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“They told me Elena was afraid you'd take the baby away.”
Luca looked stunned.
“You believed that?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
She lowered her head.
“Later, I realized they were lying.”
I watched her carefully.
“What changed your mind?”
Vanessa looked toward the plate.
“Sophie.”
I frowned.
“What about her?”
“She started setting that plate every Sunday. The first time I saw her do it, I remembered something Elena told me years ago.”
Luca stiffened.
“You knew the signal?”
“Not exactly.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“She once told me that if anything happened to her, Sophie would know how to point toward the truth.”
“Then why did you punish Sophie for doing it?”
Vanessa began crying.
“Because I was terrified she'd point at my father.”
There it was.
Not an excuse.
But finally, a reason.
Vanessa had spent years trying to build a life with Luca while knowing her own family might have destroyed his.
She'd chosen silence.
Then jealousy.
Then cruelty.
Now she was facing the consequences.
Luca looked at her for a long moment.
“You could have told me.”
“I know.”
“You let my daughter believe she was wrong for missing her mother.”
Vanessa couldn't answer.
He stepped back.
“Our engagement is over.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Then she reached into her handbag.
She removed a small silver music box.
My heart leaped.
A crescent moon.
Exactly as Margaret had described.
“I took this from the chapel,” Vanessa whispered.
Luca stared.
“When?”
“Last month. After I took Sophie to the marina.”
“Why?”
“Because I heard someone singing inside the boat. I thought it was Elena.”
Luca reached for the music box.
Vanessa held it tighter.
“There was a little boy with her.”
The room went silent.
Luca didn't move.
“How old?”
“About two.”
“Did he look like me?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“He had your eyes.”
Luca shut his eyes.
For a moment, he seemed unable to stand.
I pulled out a chair.
He sat.
Vanessa placed the music box on the table.
“I wanted to tell you. But my father said if I did, Gabriel would move them somewhere nobody could find them.”
“And you believed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why show Sophie the boat?”
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“I thought if Sophie saw Elena herself, maybe she'd stop asking me about her. Maybe she'd understand why I couldn't talk about it.”
I stared at her.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
She wiped her face.
“I was desperate. I thought I could control what Sophie saw.”
Luca opened the music box.
A soft melody began playing.
It was gentle.
Almost painfully familiar.
I remembered Sophie humming it while brushing her dolls' hair.
Beneath the lid was a tiny photograph.
Elena holding newborn Sophie.
And beside it was a folded strip of paper.
Luca opened it.
There were two lines.
If you find the moon, follow the second verse.
The child knows the words.
I looked toward the staircase.
“Sophie.”
Luca stood.
We found her asleep in her bedroom.
Antonio sat nearby.
Luca gently woke her.
“Princess, I need your help.”
Sophie rubbed her eyes.
“Did you find Mommy?”
“Not yet.”
He opened the music box.
She smiled faintly.
“That's my song.”
“Can you sing the second part?”
Sophie nodded.
Her little voice was sleepy.
She sang about the moon watching over a sleeping child.
About a little boat.
About a light waiting beside the water.
Then she stopped.
Luca waited.
“There's more,” she said.
“What comes next?”
Sophie looked at him.
“Mommy changed the last part.”
“How?”
She thought carefully.
Then whispered:
“WHEN THE RED LIGHT GOES OUT, FOLLOW THE BLUE ONE HOME.”
Luca looked at Marco.
Marco immediately understood.
“The marina navigation lights.”
Vanessa had followed us upstairs.
Her face went pale.
“No,” she whispered.
Luca turned.
“What?”
She stared at the music box.
“The blue light isn't on the marina.”
“Where is it?”
May you like
Vanessa's voice broke.
“IT'S ON GABRIEL'S BOAT. AND THAT BOAT IS LEAVING CHICAGO TONIGHT.”
