Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN 318
“Nobody dictates terms to me,” Luca said.
His voice didn’t rise, but the absolute authority in it made the orderly take a step back.
“Room 318,” Luca repeated. “Now.”
The man hesitated, glancing nervously down the hall. “I just work here, man. The Bellini family pays the bills. They said if anyone ever came looking with the black keys, the girl goes in first.”
I clutched the sewing box tighter. “Me? They don’t even know who I am.”
“They don’t care who you are,” the orderly said. “They just know you’re the one carrying the box.”
Luca’s arm extended, blocking my path. “She stays with me.”
He walked past the orderly, grabbing the man’s collar and shoving him against the wall with terrifying ease. “Where is it?”
“Down the hall. Last door on the left.”
Luca didn’t let him go. He looked at me. “Stay close.”
We walked down the dimly lit corridor. The floorboards groaned beneath the cheap linoleum.
Door 318.
Luca didn’t use Vanessa’s key. He simply kicked the door open. The lock splintered with a sharp crack.
Inside, the room was warm. Too warm. It looked nothing like a hospital room. It was furnished like a vintage nursery.
Bookshelves lined the walls. A rocking chair sat in the corner.
And sitting on the edge of the bed was a woman.
She looked to be in her mid-forties. Her hair was streaked with gray, but her eyes were sharp, dark, and startlingly familiar.
She looked up as we entered.
She didn’t look surprised. She looked exhausted.
“So,” she said, her voice raspy from disuse. “You found it.”
Luca froze. “Aunt Teresa?”
I blinked. The woman looked remarkably like the elderly aunt who had been at the dinner table, but much younger.
“Not Teresa,” the woman said softly. “Elena.”
Luca’s breathing stopped.
Elena. Teresa’s daughter. Luca’s cousin.
“They told me you moved to Europe,” Luca said, stepping into the room. “Twenty years ago.”
“Europe is a very big place,” Elena said with a sad, bitter smile. “Easy to disappear there. Even easier to disappear right here.”
She looked at me, then at the wooden box in my arms.
“You brought the box, Emma,” she said.
My blood ran cold. “How do you know my name?”
“Vanessa called me ten minutes ago. She said a maid ruined the plan. She said Luca was coming.” Elena stood up slowly. She was wearing a faded blue sweater.
The same blue fabric used to repair the sewing box.
“Elena, what the hell is going on?” Luca demanded. “Where is Julian? Vanessa said someone in this room thinks I’m dead.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears. She walked over to the small wooden desk in the corner.
She picked up a child’s drawing. Crayon on construction paper.
It showed three stick figures. Two tall men. One little boy.
“Julian is gone, Luca,” Elena whispered.
“Dead?”
“No. He escaped this place five years ago.”
Luca’s expression shattered, quickly masked by cold rage. “My brother has been alive this whole time? And you knew?”
“We all knew,” Elena cried. “Your father. The Bellinis. Me.”
“Why?”
Elena handed the child’s drawing to him. “Because of the boy, Luca.”
Luca stared at the paper. “What boy?”
“Julian’s son. Leo.” Elena pointed to the smallest stick figure. “He was born in this hospital. His mother died in childbirth. Julian was kept here, heavily medicated, told that you died in the crash and the family was bankrupt. The Bellinis paid for everything to keep him quiet.”
“Why keep him alive at all?” I asked.
Elena looked at me. “Because Julian was the true heir to the Moretti trust. Not Luca.”
Luca stepped back as if he’d been struck.
“Your father changed the will,” Elena explained. “He needed the Bellini family’s money to save the business. They agreed to invest, but only if Vanessa married the heir. Julian refused her. You didn’t.”
“So they faked his death,” Luca realized, his voice devoid of all warmth.
“They locked him in 317. They locked your mother in 317 when she found out and tried to free him. I was locked in 318 because I helped her.”
“Answer one question, open two,” I whispered to myself, remembering the phrase my father used when fixing old machinery. Every pulled thread reveals a worse tangle beneath.
Luca crumpled the drawing in his fist. “Where is Julian now?”
“He took Leo and ran. But he left something behind.” Elena reached under her mattress.
She pulled out a delicate gold bracelet.
“He said if you ever found out the truth, I was to give this to the one person you trusted.”
She walked past Luca.
She handed the bracelet to me.
“He’s waiting for you, Emma,” Elena said.
I stared at the gold chain.
Engraved on the clasp was my sister’s name.
May you like
Chloe.
Before I could ask how that was possible, the heavy hospital door slammed shut behind us, the deadbolt locking from the outside with a sickening click.
