Chapter 7 - The Night I Learned My Father Had Protected Someone Else’s Child
I followed Livia into the courtyard.
“Stop.”
She kept walking.
“Did you know what happened to him?”
She turned so quickly I almost collided with her.
“You want the truth? Fine. Your father didn't fall by accident.”
My knees weakened.
“Who did it?”
“I don't know.”
“You just said—”
“I know he was warned.”
The words struck harder than her insults.
She looked suddenly frightened.
“He took something from the warehouse. Everyone thought it was money.”
“What did he take?”
“A ledger.”
A car engine sounded beyond the gates.
Livia stepped away from me.
“Forget this conversation.”
She hurried into her car.
I watched the taillights disappear.
Inside, Alessio was waiting with Valentina.
“Your father was protecting an employee's daughter,” Valentina said.
I looked between them.
“Who?”
“A girl named Sofia,” Alessio answered.
“She witnessed the loading-platform sabotage. Antonio hid her before anyone could silence her.”
I thought of my father arriving home late, his shirt smelling of rain and steel.
He had told me once that courage was rarely loud.
I had forgotten the words until now.
“Where is she?”
“We're trying to find her.”
I sat down hard.
Alessio moved closer.
“I should have found this years ago.”
“You were injured too.”
“That doesn't excuse ignorance.”
He looked toward the brace beneath his trousers.
“My accident happened after I began questioning the same accounts.”
The connection spread through me like cold water.
“Someone hurt both of you.”
“Yes.”
“Someone close.”
His silence answered.
For the first time, I reached for his hand without thinking.
He let me hold it.
Neither of us called it anything.
That evening, a woman telephoned the estate.
She asked for Isabella Romano.
May you like
When I answered, her voice trembled.
“My name is Sofia. Your father saved my life.”
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