Chapter 2 - THE FILE THAT SAID SHE LOST THE BABY
Julian did not speak for nearly a minute.
His mother.
Bianca Rossi.
The woman who had cried beside him when Elena disappeared.
The woman who said she had always feared Elena would eventually grow tired of the Rossi family.
The woman who encouraged Julian to stop searching after the first month.
“You misunderstood her.”
Elena laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“I spent eight months hoping I had.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Dante drove them into the underground garage of a private residential building in Back Bay.
Elena waited until the elevator doors closed.
“Your mother came to our house the morning after I took the pregnancy test.”
“She knew?”
“I hadn’t told anyone.”
“How?”
“I still don’t know.”
Julian felt sick.
Elena continued.
“She brought me an envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“A photograph of you leaving Rossi Tower.”
“So?”
“There was a red circle around your head.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Anything else?”
“A photograph of my ultrasound appointment confirmation.”
His stomach dropped.
“And a photograph of your father’s yacht after the explosion.”
The elevator opened into a private apartment.
Dante locked the door behind them.
No family photographs.
No personal belongings.
Safe house.
Elena lowered herself carefully onto the couch.
Only then did Julian notice how swollen her ankles were.
“How long have you been working housekeeping?”
“Three months.”
“Why?”
“Because people ask fewer questions when they think you’re invisible.”
“You had money.”
“My accounts were frozen.”
Julian frowned.
“I never froze them.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Eventually.”
She reached inside a folder Dante handed her.
Bank statements.
Her private savings account had been emptied six days after she disappeared.
Not withdrawn by Elena.
Transferred to a Rossi family holding company.
Authorization listed:
MARCO ROSSI, CFO.
Julian stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Apparently your favorite sentence tonight.”
He deserved that.
“What did Marco say when you contacted him?”
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because three days after I left, someone sent me a screenshot from the family medical database.”
She placed another page in front of him.
PATIENT: ELENA ROSSI.
PREGNANCY STATUS: MISCARRIAGE.
Julian felt his throat close.
“But you didn’t…”
“No.”
“The family system says you did.”
“Yes.”
“Who entered it?”
“The credential belongs to Dr. Nathan Wells.”
Julian knew him.
The Rossi family physician.
He had delivered Julian’s cousin’s children.
Treated Bianca for years.
Signed Antonio Rossi’s final medical records after the yacht explosion.
Julian looked at Dante.
“Where is Wells?”
“Missing.”
“Since when?”
“Six weeks.”
Elena continued.
“When I realized somebody had entered a fake miscarriage into the system, I understood the threat wasn’t meant only to scare me.”
“They were creating a paper trail.”
“Yes.”
“A paper trail that the child never existed.”
Elena nodded.
Julian sat across from her.
For months, he had imagined Elena leaving because she wanted freedom.
Then because there was another man.
Then because she had never loved him.
He had never once imagined she was running to keep his child alive.
That realization carried another uglier one.
“I stopped looking.”
Elena said nothing.
“After six weeks.”
“I know.”
“My mother told me investigators found airport footage suggesting you left voluntarily.”
“It was staged.”
“I believed her.”
“I know.”
“I was angry.”
“I know.”
“I started seeing Camila.”
This time Elena looked at him.
That hurt more than anger would have.
“I saw photographs.”
Julian lowered his eyes.
“Elena—”
“You don’t owe me an explanation for what you did after believing I abandoned you.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
Her voice became quieter.
“The reason doesn’t change what happened.”
He understood.
Even if he had been manipulated, Elena had spent eight months alone carrying their child while Julian appeared in magazines beside another woman.
There was no sentence capable of erasing that.
“Is the baby mine?”
Elena’s expression softened and broke at the same time.
“Yes.”
Julian closed his eyes.
The word hit harder than he expected.
He placed both hands over his face.
A son or daughter.
His.
Alive.
“How far?”
“Thirty-four weeks tomorrow.”
He looked up.
“You’re due in six weeks?”
“Approximately.”
“And you’re scrubbing hotel floors?”
“I needed employment records under a different payroll system. The Alcazar uses a contractor for overnight housekeeping.”
Dante added:
“And because the hotel has private security not controlled by Rossi Group.”
Julian turned.
“I partly own that hotel.”
“Thirty-two percent.”
“Exactly.”
“Your cousin Marco controls the management company representing your shares.”
Again Marco.
Every road led back to him.
Julian stood.
“I’m calling him.”
Dante took the phone from his hand.
“No.”
Julian’s temper exploded.
“Give me my phone.”
“You call Marco now, Elena disappears again before sunrise.”
Julian stepped forward.
Dante did not move.
Elena whispered:
“Julian.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
Dante placed Julian’s phone on the table.
“Because the moment you saw Elena in that lobby, three people received alerts.”
“Who?”
“Marco.”
Julian clenched his jaw.
“Stefano Rossi.”
His uncle.
Chairman of the Rossi Family Trust.
“And?”
Dante looked toward the window.
“Camila Vale.”
Julian felt the room tilt again.
“No.”
Dante unlocked a tablet.
Security footage appeared.
The Grand Alcazar lobby.
Twenty minutes after Julian and Elena fled.
Camila stood alone near the elevators.
She was no longer upset.
She was typing rapidly.
Dante zoomed.
A message became visible on the screen reflection behind her.
FOUND HER.
HE KNOWS ABOUT THE BABY.
A reply appeared.
KEEP HIM AT THE HOTEL.
Camila typed:
TOO LATE.
Then another message arrived.
FROM STEFANO:
THEN INITIATE PHASE TWO.
Julian stared.
“What is phase two?”
Dante shut off the screen.
“I don’t know.”
A loud knock hit the apartment door.
Everyone froze.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two more.
Dante drew a pistol from beneath his jacket.
Elena stood too quickly and grabbed the edge of the table.
Julian caught her.
“Elena?”
Her face twisted.
Pain.
She pressed one hand beneath her stomach.
Julian went white.
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.”
Another pain hit.
Elena gasped.
Dante looked at the door.
Then at Julian.
“Either someone found us…”
May you like
Another knock.
“…or your wife is going into labor six weeks early.”
