Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The next morning, Lorenzo placed the old photograph on his desk.
He hadn't slept.
Neither had Sophia.
The image of Antonio holding the baby had become impossible to ignore.
“Who is Elena Bellini?” Sophia asked.
Lorenzo stared at the photograph.
“I don't know.”
“You never heard the name?”
“No.”
“My father died when I was nineteen.”
“Did he have secrets?”
Lorenzo gave a humorless smile.
“My father had entire countries of secrets.”
Sophia looked at the baby.
“Why would he hide another child?”
“Because someone wanted that child hidden.”
Lorenzo opened another drawer.
Inside was a small wooden box.
He removed several old papers.
One was a photograph of Antonio with a woman.
The woman was Elena.
Another showed Elena standing outside a hospital.
And another showed a baby wearing the same silver bracelet.
Sophia felt a chill.
“Who has these?”
“My mother did.”
“Why?”
“She kept them hidden.”
“From you?”
“From everyone.”
Lorenzo looked at the dates.
Then his expression changed.
“The baby was born six months before I was.”
Sophia stared.
“That means…”
“My father had another child before me.”
He looked toward the door.
“Marco.”
Sophia frowned.
“What?”
“Marco has always known my father's history.”
“How?”
“His father worked for mine.”
Sophia's stomach tightened.
“So Marco could know about this child.”
“Yes.”
“And Vivien?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“I don't know.”
At that moment, the study door opened.
Marco entered.
He stopped when he saw the photograph.
His face went pale.
Lorenzo noticed.
“You know her.”
Marco didn't answer.
“Who is Elena Bellini?”
Marco stared at the photograph.
“Where did you get that?”
“Answer me.”
Marco looked at Sophia.
Then back at Lorenzo.
“She was supposed to disappear.”
The words changed everything.
Lorenzo stood.
“What did you say?”
Marco's jaw tightened.
“I shouldn't have said that.”
“No.”
Lorenzo's voice became dangerously calm.
“You should have said it nineteen years ago.”
Marco looked away.
“Your father had enemies.”
“Everyone knows that.”
“Some of them wanted his bloodline erased.”
“Why?”
“Because the first child had a claim.”
“To what?”
“The Duca empire.”
Silence.
Sophia felt her skin prickle.
Lorenzo stared at him.
“Who is the child?”
Marco didn't answer.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Is the child alive?”
“Yes.”
Sophia looked at Marco.
“Where?”
Marco finally said:
“New York.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“Who?”
Marco looked at him.
Then toward the hallway.
“I can't.”
Lorenzo grabbed the front of his coat.
“You will.”
Marco didn't resist.
“I was seventeen,” he whispered. “Your father ordered me to stay silent.”
“And now?”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Now I don't know who is protecting whom.”
Lorenzo released him.
“What does this have to do with Vivien?”
Marco looked at Sophia.
Then at the bracelet.
His expression changed again.
“Nothing.”
Lorenzo immediately knew he was lying.
“You're lying.”
Marco shook his head.
“I swear.”
“Then explain the clinic.”
Marco froze.
Sophia watched him carefully.
“You knew about the clinic,” Lorenzo said.
Marco looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vivien asked me to arrange something.”
“What?”
Marco hesitated.
“A test.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“What kind?”
“Not paternity.”
Sophia's heart jumped.
“Then what?”
Marco looked at Lorenzo.
“An ancestry test.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Why?”
“Vivien wanted to know whether the baby carried Duca blood.”
The room became silent.
Lorenzo looked toward the photograph.
The baby.
The bracelet.
The hidden first child.
Vivien's secret.
Marco's betrayal.
Suddenly the pieces seemed connected.
But not in the way anyone expected.
Lorenzo sat down.
“Why would Vivien care whether the baby carried Duca blood?”
Marco answered quietly.
“Because she believes the Duca bloodline is the only thing that guarantees her father will accept the marriage.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if she believes the family has another heir.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“Another heir?”
Marco nodded.
“Your father's first child.”
Sophia understood.
Vivien had been searching for the missing branch of the Duca family.
But why?
Marco reached into his coat.
He pulled out a folded document.
“I found this in Victor Romano's files.”
Lorenzo took it.
The paper was old.
At the bottom was a name.
Elena Bellini.
And beneath it:
Child transferred under protection of the Bennett family.
Sophia's heart stopped.
“Bennett?”
Marco nodded.
Lorenzo slowly looked at Sophia.
Sophia couldn't speak.
Her husband's surname.
Michael Bennett.
Her daughter.
Emma Bennett.
Lorenzo stared at the document.
Then at Sophia.
Then at the photograph of the baby.
“No,” Sophia whispered.
Lorenzo stood.
“Where is the rest of the file?”
Marco shook his head.
“Victor destroyed it.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because one page survived.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
Marco reached into his pocket.
A small brass key fell onto the desk.
“This was attached to it.”
Sophia recognized the key immediately.
It looked exactly like the one Michael had kept on his key ring.
The one he had always told her never to lose.
She picked it up with trembling fingers.
“What does this open?”
Marco looked at her.
“Michael's old storage locker.”
Sophia's breath caught.
“Michael never told me he had one.”
Marco's face was grim.
“He wasn't supposed to.”
Then Lorenzo saw something written on the key tag.
May you like
A single word.
BELLINI.
