Chapter 8 - THE SISTER WHO HAD BEEN ERASED
Her name was Sofia.
She was born between Dante and Luca.
Died at three months old.
That was what Dante had been told.
Lucia began crying before she finished signing.
She did not die.
Dante stood so quickly the chair fell.
“What?”
Emma translated.
Lucia explained.
Sofia was born with a heart defect.
Vittorio arranged private care.
During treatment, someone inside the trafficking network switched hospital identities.
A baby died.
Sofia disappeared.
Lucia was told the body was her daughter.
Years later, she learned the truth.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Luca asked.
Lucia signed:
I had no proof.
Then:
And every time I searched, someone died.
Emma’s throat tightened.
Elena had found proof.
That was why she disappeared.
Luca immediately began searching the old network.
Sofia would be thirty-five now.
Possibly living under another name.
Maybe unaware of everything.
Then DeLuca laughed from across the room.
“You really don’t know.”
Dante turned.
“Know what?”
“Sofia isn’t missing.”
“Where is she?”
DeLuca smiled.
“You see her every week.”
The room went still.
Dante stepped closer.
“Name.”
DeLuca shook his head.
“Give me immunity.”
“No.”
“Then enjoy wondering.”
Dante’s temper broke.
He grabbed DeLuca by the collar.
Emma moved.
“Dante.”
He ignored her.
“Dante.”
This time he looked.
Emma did not touch him.
She simply signed one word.
Listen.
He recognized it.
Lucia had taught him that morning.
Dante released DeLuca.
Slowly.
That moment mattered more than anyone acknowledged.
Luca eventually found the answer through hospital records.
The switched infant had been placed in foster care under the name Sarah Nolan.
Sarah later changed her name after adoption.
Current name:
Dr. Sarah Bennett.
Dante stopped breathing.
His family physician.
The same woman who had treated Lucia for years.
The same woman who sat beside her after every cardiology appointment.
The same woman Dante trusted enough to treat his men.
Emma stared.
“She’s your sister?”
“Apparently.”
They went to Sarah’s clinic.
She listened silently.
Then said:
“I know.”
Dante froze.
“You know?”
“For three years.”
Lucia began crying.
Sarah looked at her.
“I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure whether you wanted me or the daughter you lost.”
Lucia crossed the room.
She touched Sarah’s face.
Then signed:
Both.
Sarah understood a little sign language.
Not much.
Enough.
She started crying.
Dante stayed where he was.
For once, he did not force a reunion.
Sarah looked at him.
“You look like him.”
“Vittorio?”
“Yes.”
Dante’s face tightened.
Sarah added:
“But you don’t have his eyes.”
“What does that mean?”
“You have Mom’s.”
Lucia cried harder.
Then Sarah told them why she had remained close.
Elena found her.
Years earlier.
She told Sarah the truth.
“She also told me who ordered the baby switch.”
Everyone looked toward DeLuca’s file.
But Sarah shook her head.
“It wasn’t him.”
“Who?”
Sarah looked at Dante.
“Your father.”
May you like
Silence.
Vittorio Moretti himself had arranged his daughter’s disappearance.
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