Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO BURIED MY NAME
Carlo Bellandi didn't look like a monster.
That was the first thing I hated about him.
He looked distinguished.
Silver hair. Tailored suit. Calm eyes.
Someone's grandfather.
Someone who should have been complaining about golf or ordering expensive wine.
Instead, he stood beside a dead man and looked at me like property returned after being lost in shipping.
Gabriel aimed his gun at Carlo's chest.
“Take another step.”
Carlo smiled.
“You always were dramatic.”
“You had men fire on my son.”
“No.”
Carlo glanced at the corpse.
“I had men following the idiots who fired on your son.”
He lowered his weapon.
“I just saved Elina.”
I tightened my arms around Leo.
“Don't say my name.”
Carlo looked almost wounded.
“I've waited a lifetime to say it.”
“You knew I existed.”
“I suspected.”
“My mother said you tried to kill us.”
“Sofia said many things.”
“You knew Sofia?”
His expression darkened.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped between us.
“We're leaving.”
Carlo laughed softly.
“You think you can protect her?”
“I've protected people from worse than you.”
“Not Isabella.”
The words hit Gabriel like a bullet.
His face changed.
Carlo saw it.
So did I.
“You blamed me for her death,” Gabriel said.
“I blame you for failing to prevent it.”
“Enough,” I snapped.
Both men looked at me.
I was tired of being discussed like a document.
“Did you kill Lucia?”
Carlo's smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Did you separate me from Isabella?”
“No.”
“Did you know where I was?”
“No.”
“Then why did Sofia tell me to run from you?”
For the first time, Carlo hesitated.
“That answer belongs somewhere safer.”
Gabriel almost laughed.
“You don't decide what's safe.”
Carlo's men appeared behind him.
Gabriel's appeared behind us.
For one absurd second, Union Station's basement looked like a convention for expensive suits and terrible childhoods.
Leo began fussing.
I bounced him instinctively.
He quieted.
Carlo watched.
His expression softened.
“Isabella used to do that.”
My throat tightened.
“You don't get to use her to manipulate me.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
“She would have said the same.”
I hated that part of me wanted to know him.
Not trust him.
Know him.
Because he knew Isabella.
He knew where I came from.
He knew the pieces Sofia had hidden.
“Where is the inheritance paperwork?” Gabriel asked.
Carlo looked at the storage box.
“Not there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Isabella gave it to me.”
Gabriel went still.
“When?”
“Three days before the crash.”
My blood chilled.
“What did she say?”
Carlo looked at me.
“She said, ‘If my sister ever appears, give her everything.’”
Gabriel's face lost color.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Elina was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
Carlo's eyes hardened.
“Because she didn't know whom to trust.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“You're saying she didn't trust me?”
“I'm saying she was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
Carlo paused.
“Of someone inside your house.”
Silence.
Marco's head lifted.
Gabriel's expression became lethal.
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“How many people live in your house?”
“Staff. Security. Family.”
“Family?”
“My younger brother.”
Carlo looked away.
Gabriel noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you know about Matteo?”
Carlo remained silent.
That was answer enough.
Gabriel's phone rang.
Marco checked his own at the same time.
Both men went rigid.
“What?” I asked.
Marco looked at Gabriel.
“The estate alarm.”
Gabriel answered.
A man's frantic voice came through.
“Boss, we have a breach.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Where?”
“Nursery wing.”
He looked at Leo in my arms.
But Leo wasn't there.
I stared down.
Empty.
No.
That was impossible.
I had been holding him.
Then I remembered.
During the standoff, one of Gabriel's guards had taken Leo so I could open Sofia's letter again.
I spun.
“Where's Leo?”
Marco's face changed.
“Daniel had him.”
“Where's Daniel?”
Nobody answered.
Gabriel grabbed Marco's jacket.
“Where is my son?”
Marco looked around.
Daniel was gone.
So was Leo.
Everything happened at once.
Gabriel shouted orders.
Men ran.
Doors slammed.
I couldn't breathe.
“He took him.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“No.”
“He took Leo.”
Gabriel's face became something terrifying.
Not panic.
Something colder.
A man whose humanity had just been removed.
Carlo's phone rang.
He answered.
Then slowly held it toward Gabriel.
“It's for you.”
Gabriel took the phone.
“Speak.”
A distorted voice answered.
“You found the sister.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Bring Elina to Saint Catherine's Hospital.”
My stomach dropped.
The hospital where Isabella and I were born.
“Midnight,” the voice continued. “Come alone.”
“And my son?”
“You'll see him when I see her.”
Gabriel's eyes found mine.
“If you hurt him—”
“Midnight.”
The call ended.
Gabriel handed the phone back.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“You're not going.”
“They have Leo.”
“I heard them.”
“They want me.”
“Which is why you're not going.”
“He's nine months old.”
Gabriel's jaw clenched.
“I know exactly how old my son is.”
“Then stop acting like I'm more important than him.”
His eyes flashed.
“You think handing yourself over gets him back?”
“I think we don't have the luxury of ignoring them.”
Carlo stepped forward.
“She's right.”
Gabriel pointed his gun at him.
“Say another word.”
Carlo stopped.
I grabbed Gabriel's wrist.
“Look at me.”
He did.
Behind the anger was terror.
Pure terror.
I understood then.
Gabriel had already lost Isabella.
Leo was the last piece of her.
Losing him would destroy whatever remained.
“We're getting him back,” I said.
“We?”
“Yes.”
“You don't understand these people.”
“Apparently they're my family.”
His expression twisted.
“That's exactly what scares me.”
We left the station.
For the next two hours, Gabriel's organization turned Chicago upside down.
Traffic cameras.
Police contacts.
Private surveillance.
Daniel's vehicle was found abandoned.
No Leo.
At 11:32 p.m., we parked three blocks from the abandoned Saint Catherine's Hospital.
The building had been closed for fifteen years.
Windows boarded.
Brick blackened by age.
The maternity wing had survived the old fire.
Barely.
Gabriel checked his weapon.
“You stay in the vehicle.”
“No.”
“Elina.”
“They specifically asked for me.”
“And specifically asking for you is why you're staying here.”
I leaned closer.
“You ordered me to hold your son tonight because he trusted me.”
Gabriel's expression tightened.
“Now I'm asking you to trust me.”
Something passed between us.
Too intense.
Too personal.
Wrong moment.
Wrong man.
But it was there.
Finally he handed me a small earpiece.
“You stay behind me.”
“Fine.”
“If I say run—”
“I'll consider it.”
Marco laughed despite himself.
Gabriel glared at him.
We entered the hospital at 11:58.
Dust covered everything.
Old signs still pointed toward MATERNITY.
My skin crawled.
This was where I had been born.
Where Sofia had taken me.
Where my life had split from Isabella's.
A baby's cry echoed upstairs.
“Leo.”
I ran.
Gabriel caught me.
“Wait.”
The cry came again.
We followed it into the maternity ward.
One light burned in an old delivery room.
A crib sat beneath it.
Leo lay inside.
Alone.
I rushed forward.
Gabriel checked him.
“He's okay.”
Leo saw me.
His face crumpled.
I lifted him.
He grabbed my shirt.
Then applause echoed behind us.
Slow.
Deliberate.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Not Carlo.
Younger.
Maybe thirty-five.
Handsome.
Familiar.
Gabriel's face changed.
“Matteo.”
His brother smiled.
“Hello, Gabriel.”
My blood froze.
Gabriel raised his gun.
“You took my son.”
“I borrowed my nephew.”
“You have three seconds.”
Matteo looked at me.
“You really do look like her.”
“Why did you bring us here?”
“Because this is where the lie began.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“What lie?”
Matteo smiled.
“The one Isabella died trying to tell you.”
He reached into his coat.
Gabriel aimed.
“Slowly.”
Matteo removed a phone.
He pressed play.
Isabella appeared on the screen.
Alive.
Pregnant.
Terrified.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Her recorded voice filled the ruined room.
“Gabriel, if you're watching this, I didn't survive.”
Gabriel lowered his weapon an inch.
Isabella continued.
“And if Matteo is showing you this, then he finally decided to tell you the truth.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“My accident wasn't meant for me.”
A pause.
“It was meant for you.”
Gabriel went pale.
May you like
Then Isabella said:
“And the person who ordered it is someone you still trust.”
