Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
“If Mara wanted to find us, why didn't you bring her home?”
Nico's question was quiet.
Bianca flinched anyway.
Behind them, police officers moved along the fence surrounding the greenhouse.
Sophia stood clutching Luca's backpack.
She could smell his strawberry shampoo on the fabric.
It nearly broke her.
“Answer him,” she demanded.
Bianca looked toward the darkened building.
“Eight years ago, Mara approached me outside a charity luncheon. She was pregnant. She showed me a photograph of Donna Elena and said she thought the woman was her mother.”
Nico stared at her.
“And you believed her?”
“Not at first.”
“What changed?”
“She showed me the necklace.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
The little silver heart.
Mara's most treasured possession.
Bianca continued.
“My father saw us talking. He became furious. That night, he told me Mara was a disturbed woman who'd been inventing stories about our family for years.”
“And you believed him?” Sophia asked.
Bianca looked ashamed.
“I wanted to.”
Nico stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because I already knew what happened to people who challenged him.”
Sophia glanced toward the greenhouse.
“Then why did you help him take my child?”
Bianca didn't answer.
Sophia felt something snap inside her.
She stepped forward.
“You stood in Donna Elena's room and threatened an eight-year-old boy. You told me nobody would believe a maid.”
“I know.”
“You knew his mother!”
Bianca lowered her head.
“Yes.”
“And you still used him against me.”
For once, Bianca had no cruel remark ready.
A police officer approached with Detective Lydia Shaw, a woman in her late forties with short brown hair and a steady expression.
“Ms. Rosetti,” the detective said, “we need to know where the boy is being held.”
Bianca looked at Nico.
“My father doesn't think Luca is a child.”
Sophia stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“He thinks Luca is an inheritance claim.”
Nico's expression changed.
Bianca swallowed.
“Your grandfather's trust still owns the old Ravenswood rail property. It's worth a fortune now that the city is discussing redevelopment.”
Nico nodded slowly.
“The property can't be sold without accounting for my sister's surviving descendants.”
“Exactly.”
“But Alessia was declared dead.”
“My father arranged the declaration.”
The words hung between them.
Nico stared at her.
“Vittorio arranged it?”
Bianca nodded.
“He needed everyone to believe Alessia was gone. But when Mara started asking questions, he realized she could prove she was alive.”
Sophia felt sick.
“And after she died, Luca became the problem.”
Bianca looked at the backpack.
“My father believes controlling Luca means controlling the person who could claim Mara's share.”
“That person is Sophia,” Nico said.
Bianca nodded.
“And if he can frighten her into signing away Luca's interests, the property becomes easier to acquire.”
Sophia looked at Nico.
“I wouldn't sign anything.”
“That's why he took your boy,” Nico replied.
Detective Shaw stepped between them.
“We have enough to investigate a kidnapping. The inheritance can wait. Where is Luca?”
Bianca pointed toward the far end of the property.
“There's an old caretaker's cottage beyond the greenhouse. Renato took him there.”
The detective immediately directed two officers toward the wooded path.
Sophia tried to follow.
Nico caught her attention.
“Stay beside me.”
She glared at him.
“Don't tell me to wait.”
“I'm not. I'm coming with you, but Lydia has to clear the building first.”
Something in his voice made her pause.
Not an order.
A promise.
They followed the officers down a gravel path.
Inside the greenhouse, neglected roses climbed broken wooden frames.
The air smelled of damp soil and fertilizer.
Sophia noticed an overturned watering can.
Beside it lay a child's drawing.
Three crooked windows.
A blue car.
And a stick figure with curly hair.
At the bottom, in Luca's careful handwriting, were four words.
MOM, I AM HERE.
Sophia fell to her knees.
“He left this for me.”
Nico bent down beside her.
“He knows you're coming.”
Sophia traced the letters without touching the page.
She imagined Luca sitting in a strange place, trying to be brave.
She remembered his first asthma attack.
How he'd been too frightened to sleep.
How he had clutched her hand and asked whether breathing would always hurt.
She had promised to stay.
Now she wasn't there.
Nico helped her stand.
“Look at the picture,” he said.
She wiped her eyes.
“Three windows.”
He pointed toward the caretaker's cottage.
It had three upstairs windows.
“And the blue car?”
A faded blue station wagon sat beside the building.
Sophia looked up.
In the middle window, a small face appeared.
Curly hair.
Wide eyes.
“Luca!”
The boy pressed both hands against the glass.
“Mom!”
Sophia began running.
“Luca, sweetheart, I'm here!”
He disappeared from the window.
A shadow moved behind the curtains.
Detective Shaw shouted for everyone to stay back.
The cottage's rear door slammed.
An engine started.
Marco moved toward the driveway.
“Someone's leaving.”
Nico turned to Bianca.
“How many exits?”
“Two. The back road leads past the old stone bridge.”
“Marco, tell the officers.”
Sophia was already moving.
The rear driveway curved around the cottage.
A dark gray van emerged between the trees.
Through the side window, Sophia saw Luca.
His face was pressed against the glass.
She ran into the road.
“Stop!”
The van braked sharply.
Nico grabbed her arm and pulled her clear of its path.
“Sophia!”
She fought him.
“My baby is in there!”
“I see him!”
The driver accelerated toward the stone bridge.
Police vehicles moved from the opposite end of the road, but the narrow lane left little room to maneuver.
Nico shouted for Marco to keep his distance.
He would not risk a collision with Luca inside.
Sophia could hear the boy crying.
Then the van slowed at the bridge.
The side window opened several inches.
Luca looked straight at her.
“Mom!”
“I'm here, baby!”
He was coughing.
A terrible, familiar cough.
Sophia's heart stopped.
“Where's his inhaler?” she screamed.
Bianca appeared behind her.
“In the backpack!”
Sophia tore open the front pocket.
The inhaler was there.
But the spacer was missing.
Luca needed both when his breathing became severe.
Bianca stared at the van.
“I told Renato the medication had to stay with him.”
Nico looked at her.
“Then you knew they might move him.”
Bianca's face crumpled.
“My father said he only needed the boy until Friday. I thought I could keep him safe.”
Sophia turned on her.
“You thought threatening me would make him safe?”
Bianca could not answer.
Ahead, the van stopped.
Police officers approached cautiously.
Renato leaned out of the driver's window.
“Stay back! The boy belongs with his real family!”
Sophia froze.
Nico's expression hardened.
“His real family is standing right here.”
Renato looked toward him.
“Your father gave up that girl thirty years ago, Bellini. Don't pretend your family wants her son now.”
Nico went pale.
Sophia barely heard the words.
She was looking at Luca.
He was crying so hard he could barely breathe.
She raised his inhaler.
“Sweetheart, look at me!”
Luca pressed his fingers against the glass.
May you like
Then he said something that hurt worse than anything Bianca had done.
“Mom, they told me you're not my mommy anymore.”
