Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN ADRIEN CALLED COUSIN
Adrien said the name before anyone else could.
“Rachel.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Who?”
“My cousin Rachel.”
Adrien took out his phone, then stopped.
Elena saw why.
No mysterious calls.
No warnings.
This needed a memory.
“Rachel came to live with us when I was twelve,” he said. “My mother said her parents had died.”
“How old was she?” Elena asked.
“Seven.”
Red coat.
Seven years old.
Elena felt dizzy.
“What happened to her?”
Adrien’s expression closed.
“She left at eighteen.”
“Where?”
“Chicago first. Then California.”
“Are you still in contact?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Adrien hesitated.
“Because she hated my father.”
Gabriel gave a humorless laugh.
“That may be the first sensible thing I've heard tonight.”
Adrien ignored him.
“She also hated me.”
Elena looked at him.
“Why?”
“She said I chose Vittorio.”
“Did you?”
Adrien didn't defend himself.
“At eighteen? Yes.”
That answer mattered.
No excuse.
No revision.
“I thought my father was hard because the world required hard men. Rachel said he was cruel because people let him be.”
Marco glanced at Elena.
“Sounds related.”
Despite herself, Elena almost smiled.
Adrien did not.
“She disappeared after an argument with my mother.”
“What argument?”
“I never knew.”
Gabriel looked at the bus ticket.
“Anna was trying to keep Rose hidden.”
“And when Vittorio got suspicious?” Elena asked.
“Anna probably sent her away.”
Sal shook his head.
“Then why didn't Enzo know?”
“Maybe he did.”
Elena remembered the surveillance photographs.
Her father watching.
Waiting.
Obsessing.
“No. If he knew Rose was safe, he wouldn't have spent years searching.”
Sal looked uncomfortable.
“There was something else Enzo was searching for.”
“What?”
“The person who changed Rose’s records.”
Adrien frowned.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because whoever changed Rose’s identity also changed Elena’s.”
Elena went still.
“So finding one meant finding the other.”
Sal nodded.
Marco leaned against a crate.
“And Vittorio’s system recorded everything.”
“The second payroll,” Danny said.
Elena turned to him.
“Exactly.”
They returned to the laptop.
Rachel Moretti produced no result.
Rose Bellandi did.
One record.
RB-01 / STATUS: ACTIVE
Elena’s heart jumped.
“Active?”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“That status updated whenever an identity was used.”
“When?”
Danny opened the metadata.
“Three weeks ago.”
Elena stared.
Rose was alive.
Or someone was using her identity.
Adrien searched the attached employer.
A community center in Albany.
St. Catherine Family Services.
Elena looked at the bus ticket.
Albany.
Adrien checked the time.
“We go at daylight.”
“No,” Elena said.
He looked at her.
“You're exhausted.”
“So are you.”
“This is not a contest.”
“Good, because I wasn't asking permission.”
Something passed through his expression.
Respect again.
Maybe something warmer.
He nodded.
“Daylight.”
At 8:17 that morning, Elena walked into St. Catherine’s carrying the red ribbon.
The receptionist looked at the name Rose Bellandi.
Then at Elena.
“Rose hasn't worked here in years.”
Elena’s hope dropped.
“But she volunteers every Tuesday.”
Today was Tuesday.
“What time?”
The woman looked toward the hallway.
“She’s here.”
Elena stopped breathing.
A woman emerged carrying a box of donated children’s books.
Early forties.
Dark hair.
Simple gray sweater.
She looked ordinary.
That was somehow the most shocking part.
Not hidden.
Not guarded.
Alive.
The box slipped from her hands.
Books scattered across the floor.
Rose stared at Elena.
Then at the ribbon.
“Oh my God.”
Elena couldn't move.
Rose crossed the room slowly.
“Elena?”
One word.
No explanation.
No proof.
Elena started crying.
Rose did too.
They embraced.
And for several seconds, thirty years of lies became irrelevant.
Rose held the back of Elena’s head.
“You got so tall.”
Elena laughed through tears.
“You remember me as a baby.”
“You were a terrible baby.”
“I was?”
“You screamed every time Enzo sang.”
Elena pulled back.
“My father couldn't sing.”
“He really couldn't.”
That small shared truth broke something open.
Adrien remained several feet away.
Rose finally noticed him.
Her entire body stiffened.
“You.”
Adrien stopped.
“Rachel.”
“Don't call me that.”
“Rose.”
“That isn't yours either.”
Elena stepped between them emotionally if not physically.
“He helped me find you.”
Rose’s expression changed.
“You shouldn't have brought him.”
“Why?”
“Because Vittorio will know.”
Adrien said, “My father already knows Elena and I met.”
Rose looked alarmed.
“Then you're out of time.”
“For what?” Elena asked.
Rose grabbed her hand.
“Come with me.”
She led them into a private office.
From a locked drawer, she removed a child’s silver bracelet.
Tiny roses were engraved around it.
Elena recognized it.
“I had one like this.”
“You had the other half.”
Rose turned hers over.
R + E
“Sisters,” she said.
Elena touched the engraving.
“Why didn't you find me?”
Rose’s face crumpled.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After Enzo died.”
Elena froze.
“You knew?”
“I went to his funeral.”
“I would've seen you.”
“I stayed across the street.”
“Why?”
Rose looked at Adrien.
“Because Vittorio was there.”
Adrien frowned.
“My father wasn't at Enzo Maronei’s funeral.”
Rose opened a drawer.
She pulled out a photograph.
A cemetery.
Elena standing beside her mother Maria.
Across the street, inside a black sedan, sat Vittorio Moretti.
Adrien stared.
“He told me he'd never heard Enzo’s name.”
Rose nodded.
“He lied.”
“That isn't new.”
“No.”
She placed another photograph beside it.
“This is.”
Same cemetery.
Same day.
Vittorio handing something to Maria Maronei.
Elena stared at her mother.
“What did he give her?”
Rose answered quietly.
“Money.”
Elena recoiled.
“My mother took money from Vittorio?”
“For fifteen years.”
“No.”
“She wasn't betraying Enzo.”
Rose touched Elena’s hand.
“She was paying Vittorio.”
Elena stared.
“With what money?”
“Not cash.”
Rose opened an old ledger.
Every year beside Vittorio’s name was the same entry:
ONE YEAR — E.M.
Adrien read it twice.
“What was Maria buying?”
Rose looked at Elena.
“Your freedom.”
Elena’s mouth went dry.
Rose’s next words were softer.
May you like
“Because Vittorio knew who your biological father was.”
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