Chapter 5 - THE LAST PROMISE ISABELLA MADE
“My father?”
Luca stared at the photograph.
For six years, he had believed his father was the one person who understood his grief.
Vittorio Moretti had buried his daughter-in-law.
Helped organize the search for Sofia.
Comforted Luca when he couldn't sleep.
And insisted that Isabella's death was a tragedy no one could have prevented.
Now Isabella's own handwriting suggested something else.
Detective Donovan examined the photograph.
“Mr. Moretti, is your father still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“At the family estate outside Chicago.”
“We need to speak with him.”
Luca reached for his phone.
Donovan gently stopped him.
“Not yet. We don't know whether he's involved or whether your wife was asking him for help.”
Luca looked at her.
“I know my father's voice. I'll know if he's lying.”
“Perhaps. But if he's connected to this case, warning him could put the girls in greater danger.”
Emma watched Luca struggle with the decision.
She had never seen him look so uncertain.
At the mansion, he had seemed capable of controlling everything.
But here, surrounded by police officers and medical personnel, he was simply a father being forced to question the people he loved.
“Please,” Emma said quietly. “Find the girls first.”
Luca looked toward her.
Then nodded.
Donovan received another update.
“The treatment suite is empty. But there are signs the children were moved recently.”
“Where?” Luca demanded.
“A service elevator connects the wing to a covered ambulance bay.”
Marco checked the surveillance feed.
“An ambulance left the property fourteen minutes ago.”
Donovan immediately requested a regional vehicle alert.
Emma's face crumpled.
“They're moving Mia again.”
Luca crouched beside her wheelchair.
“Look at me.”
Emma tried.
“I won't stop looking,” he said.
“You don't know if they'll hurt her.”
“No. I don't.”
His answer surprised her.
He didn't offer an empty promise.
Instead, he took the folded drawing from his coat.
“But Mia and Sofia are together. And Sofia knows we're coming.”
Emma looked at the two girls holding hands in the picture.
“She must be so scared.”
Luca nodded.
“So is Sofia.”
Meanwhile, officers continued examining the facility.
A nurse came forward voluntarily.
Her name was Helen Price.
She was sixty-two and had worked at the medical center for four years.
Detective Donovan questioned her in a quiet examination room.
Luca and Emma were permitted to listen.
“Why did Sofia call Rachel her aunt?” Donovan asked.
Helen folded her hands.
“Because Rachel Bennett has cared for that child since she was five.”
“Did Rachel kidnap her?”
Helen's eyes filled.
“I don't know how Sofia first came here. But I know Rachel loves her.”
“Why was she kept hidden?”
Helen hesitated.
“The people funding this facility said Sofia was under protective guardianship.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Bellini's foundation.”
Luca clenched his jaw.
Donovan continued.
“Did Rachel ever try to contact the family?”
Helen nodded.
“Several times.”
Luca leaned forward.
“What happened?”
“Her letters were returned. Someone told her Mr. Moretti had threatened to kill her if she came near him.”
Luca stared in disbelief.
Helen's voice trembled.
“She believed it. Until last month.”
“What changed?” Emma asked.
Helen looked at her.
“Your daughter.”
Emma froze.
“Mia?”
“Yes.”
Helen explained that Sofia, registered under the name Sophie Hart, attended supervised neurological therapy at the same outpatient center as Mia.
The girls met during a group art session.
Mia had asked why Sofia never talked about her father.
Sofia said he didn't want her anymore.
And Mia, with the innocent certainty only a child could possess, had answered:
“Maybe someone told him the wrong thing.”
Helen wiped her eyes.
“Sofia began asking questions after that.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Her little girl had unknowingly challenged a lie that had controlled Sofia's entire childhood.
Helen continued.
“Then one afternoon, Mia brought a picture book about butterflies. Sofia saw the red ribbon in Mia's hair and started crying.”
Luca looked up.
“The ribbon?”
“Mia's mother had bought her one at a secondhand shop.”
Emma nodded slowly.
“I remember. Mia loved the butterflies.”
Luca frowned.
“But Sofia's ribbon was in Vanessa's wedding box.”
Helen looked confused.
“Rachel gave Sofia's original ribbon to Vanessa last month. She wanted proof that Sofia was alive.”
“Then why was Mia wearing one like it?”
Emma shook her head.
“She wasn't. Mia's ribbon was pink.”
Helen paused.
“Then Sofia must have been remembering her own.”
A police officer entered with a small evidence container.
“Detective, we recovered something from the treatment suite.”
Inside was a silver medical alert bracelet.
Emma immediately recognized it.
“Mia's.”
Her daughter's name was engraved beside her emergency medical information.
Emma reached toward it.
Then stopped.
There was blood on the clasp.
“Is she hurt?”
Donovan examined the bracelet.
“We don't know whose blood that is.”
Emma began to cry.
Luca put a steady hand on her shoulder.
“Find out,” he told Donovan.
The detective nodded.
But before she could leave, Helen spoke again.
“There is something else about Isabella Moretti.”
Luca turned.
“What?”
Helen looked frightened.
“Rachel told me Isabella visited this facility after Sofia disappeared.”
Luca shook his head.
“Impossible. Isabella was hospitalized.”
“Not continuously.”
Helen continued.
“Rachel said Isabella came one night carrying a bracelet and a photograph. She wanted to take Sofia home.”
“Why didn't she?”
“Because Anthony Bellini showed her a medical report.”
“What report?”
Helen hesitated.
“Something about the treatment Isabella had received.”
Luca remembered his wife's sudden decline.
Her exhaustion.
Her confusion.
Her repeated headaches.
Doctors had called it a complication of her illness.
But Isabella had been getting better before Sofia vanished.
“Was she poisoned?” Luca asked.
Helen shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Donovan gently intervened.
“We shouldn't draw conclusions without the medical records.”
Then Helen added something that changed the room.
“Rachel said Isabella made her promise to keep Sofia away from one particular person.”
Luca's voice became strained.
“Who?”
Helen looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Luca turned toward Marco.
“Call the estate. I want my father brought in for questioning.”
Marco was already moving.
But Helen wasn't finished.
“She also left Rachel an envelope. It was supposed to be opened if anything happened to Isabella.”
“Where is it?”
“Rachel kept it inside a wooden music box.”
Luca remembered that box.
White enamel.
A tiny painted ballerina.
It had belonged to Isabella's mother.
“Where is the music box now?”
Helen lowered her eyes.
“Rachel gave it to Sofia.”
“Then Sofia has it?”
Helen shook her head.
“No. Sofia gave it to Mia three weeks ago.”
Emma suddenly gripped her daughter's backpack.
“The music box.”
She opened the bag.
Beneath the therapy notebook was a small white box wrapped in a yellow scarf.
Emma had seen it before.
Mia had told her Sophie wanted her to keep it safe.
Emma had assumed it was a child's gift.
Luca watched as she carefully opened the lid.
A tiny ballerina began turning.
A familiar melody filled the room.
Isabella's favorite lullaby.
Then Emma lifted the velvet lining.
Beneath it lay a folded letter.
May you like
Addressed in Isabella's handwriting.
TO LUCA—IF YOU EVER FIND SOFIA, READ THIS BEFORE YOU TRUST YOUR FATHER.
