Chapter 6 - THE RECORD THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST
“Anthony Romano used Gabriel's identity the day after Elena's funeral?”
Luca held the employment record beneath the library lamp.
Dominic nodded.
“That's what the paperwork indicates.”
Vanessa stared at the photograph.
“Why would Anthony do that?”
Sofia crossed her arms.
“Because he was hiding something.”
I looked closer.
Anthony's photograph had been attached to a file bearing Gabriel's name, but the employment number had been handwritten over an older number.
“Could there have been two people assigned the same file?” I asked.
Dominic examined it.
“Possible.”
Luca looked at me.
“You think it's an error?”
“I think we need to know before we accuse anyone else.”
Luca nodded.
That small agreement mattered.
Earlier that evening, he had ordered the gates locked.
Now he was beginning to understand that Lily needed a father who asked questions before giving orders.
Dominic arranged for an independent investigator to review Westbridge's records.
Meanwhile, Sofia made another discovery.
The forwarding address on the employment file matched the apartment where Isabel had lived before disappearing.
Luca stared at it.
“Why would Gabriel's employment record point to Isabel's old apartment?”
Sofia shook her head.
“It doesn't make sense.”
But I remembered something Margaret had said.
Elena believed Isabel's records had been deliberately altered.
“Perhaps someone used the address because they already knew Isabel wasn't there.”
Dominic considered that.
“Then the file might have been created to suggest Gabriel was working rather than missing.”
Vanessa looked sick.
“My father would never—”
She stopped.
Nobody needed to finish the sentence.
That night, Luca refused to let Vanessa stay in the family wing.
He arranged for her to use a guest suite until she could leave the following morning.
She protested.
“Luca, please. We need to talk.”
“We will. But Lily deserves one night without being afraid of seeing you.”
Vanessa looked toward the staircase.
“I want to apologize to her.”
“Not tonight.”
Her eyes filled.
“You're ending the engagement.”
Luca was silent.
Then he said, “I'm not discussing a wedding while we're trying to learn whether my brother's child has been kept from his parents.”
Vanessa looked down.
For once, she didn't argue.
The following morning, Lily woke to the smell of strawberry pancakes.
I found Luca in the kitchen wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Flour covered one cuff.
A frying pan sat crookedly on the stove.
“Mr. Moretti?”
He looked embarrassed.
“I may have underestimated pancakes.”
Lily appeared behind me.
“Daddy?”
He turned.
“Good morning, princess.”
She stared at the pan.
“Are you cooking?”
“Trying.”
She laughed.
It was a tiny sound.
But after everything she'd endured, it felt like a miracle.
Luca set the pan aside and knelt.
“I owe you an apology.”
Lily's smile faded.
“For what?”
“For not listening when you told me you were unhappy.”
She looked at her white shoes by the door.
“I thought you'd be mad.”
“I should have made sure you knew you could tell me anything.”
“Even bad things?”
“Especially bad things.”
She thought about that.
Then slipped her arms around his neck.
“Okay, Daddy.”
I turned away to give them privacy.
But Luca caught my eye.
There was gratitude there.
And regret.
He had missed so much of his daughter's quiet suffering.
Later that morning, the investigator confirmed that Westbridge had used several identities in its employment records.
Some belonged to former employees.
Others belonged to people who had never worked there.
Gabriel's name was among them.
But the discovery wasn't what Luca expected.
The actual Gabriel Moretti had been recorded as a visitor six months earlier.
Not a patient.
Not an employee.
A visitor.
“Who did he visit?” Luca asked.
Dominic looked at the report.
“A child.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“Daniel?”
Dominic nodded.
Luca stared.
“Daniel was at Westbridge?”
“For several weeks. The records describe him as receiving educational and behavioral support.”
Vanessa, who had remained downstairs to speak with the investigator, covered her mouth.
“My father said Daniel was attending a special school.”
I looked at her.
“Did you visit him?”
“No. He told me the facility had strict rules.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“An eight-year-old boy was kept away from his family at a facility your father controlled?”
Vanessa began crying.
“I didn't know.”
Sofia stepped toward her.
“But you knew he was frightened.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then you knew enough to ask questions.”
There was no answer.
The investigator also found that Gabriel had signed the visitors' register.
His signature looked genuine.
But the date raised another question.
If Gabriel had been alive six months earlier, why hadn't he contacted Luca?
Luca stood beside the window for a long time.
Then he said, “He believed I wouldn't help him.”
I didn't contradict him.
Sometimes the truth hurt more when nobody tried to soften it.
That afternoon, Luca went to the apartment building listed in the records.
I accompanied him at his request.
The building was modest, with chipped paint and a narrow staircase.
A woman in her sixties answered the superintendent's door.
When Luca introduced himself, she studied his face.
“You look like Gabriel.”
Luca went still.
“You knew my brother?”
“He rented a room upstairs for a while.”
“When?”
“Until about five months ago.”
“Where did he go?”
She shook her head.
“He said he'd found someone who could help him.”
“Did he leave anything?”
The woman hesitated.
Then returned with a cardboard box.
“He told me to keep this if anyone came asking about a boy named Daniel.”
Inside lay children's drawings, grocery receipts, and a worn brown coat.
Luca lifted the coat.
He recognized it immediately.
“Gabriel wore this when he left home.”
His voice cracked.
He pressed the fabric against his chest.
I looked away.
Then something slipped from the inside pocket.
A photograph.
Gabriel stood beside an older woman outside a small diner.
He looked thinner than in the earlier pictures.
But he was unmistakably alive.
On the back was written an address and a date.
Five months earlier.
The address belonged to a neighborhood church on Chicago's south side.
Luca stared.
“He was trying to find Daniel.”
Then I noticed a folded note beneath the photograph.
It was addressed to Luca.
His brother's handwriting filled the page.
I wanted to call you, but I was afraid Carlo would find out. I know what happened to Elena's charity fund. I know why Isabel disappeared. If I can get Daniel somewhere safe, I'll come home.
Luca read the note twice.
Then he reached the final sentence.
His face went pale.
He handed it to me.
May you like
At the bottom, Gabriel had written:
“IF VANESSA MARRIES YOU, CARLO WILL GAIN CONTROL OF SOMETHING FAR MORE VALUABLE THAN ELENA'S MONEY. PLEASE DON'T SIGN ANYTHING BEFORE YOU FIND OUT WHAT HE'S REALLY AFTER.”
