Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR
The east wing didn’t look abandoned.
That was the first surprise.
It looked lived in.
Clean hallway.
Fresh flowers.
Food trays.
Medical equipment.
And a locked bedroom at the end.
Luca stared at Marcus.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then who ordered this setup?”
Marcus checked the electronic access records.
Dr. Bellini.
Again.
Luca’s expression went cold.
“Open it.”
Security did.
Sarah stood inside.
Alive.
Not tied up.
Not injured.
Just terrified.
I rushed toward her.
Then stopped.
“Did you send the video?”
She nodded.
“Why are you here?”
“I was hiding.”
“From who?”
“Bellini.”
I laughed bitterly.
“The photograph shows you standing beside him.”
“That was before I knew.”
“Knew what?”
Sarah looked at Luca.
Then me.
“That he arranged your mother’s fake death.”
Silence.
She explained.
Three years ago, Marina learned Bellini had restarted the medical-fraud network she once investigated.
She also discovered he had access to Luca Rossi’s private medical records.
Bellini intended to use surgical procedures to track high-value patients and gather information about Rossi movements.
The tracking device removed from Luca’s chest had been one example.
“Why fake Mom’s death?”
“To protect you.”
That sentence made me angry.
“Everyone needs to stop protecting me by ruining my life.”
Sarah flinched.
“You’re right.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said she’s alive.”
“She was when I last saw her.”
“When?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
My anger sharpened.
“You knew for eighteen months.”
“I thought silence kept you safe.”
“It kept me grieving.”
Sarah cried.
“I know.”
Then Luca asked:
“Why bring Emily here?”
Sarah looked at him.
“I didn’t.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The agency contacted you?”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“But you told me about the job two years ago.”
“I told you about a different household.”
My skin went cold.
“What?”
“I worked six weeks for Mrs. Ferrara.”
“Here.”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“At a Rossi property in Charleston.”
Everything I assumed had been built from pieces.
Similar rules.
Same family.
Different house.
“So who arranged my position here?”
Luca’s eyes darkened.
Mrs. Ferrara.
We called the agency.
No record existed of a woman named Ferrara recruiting me.
The call came through a temporary virtual number.
The contract was legitimate—but submitted directly through Luca’s private household office.
Electronic authorization:
Marcus Bell.
Marcus went pale.
“I never signed that.”
Luca believed him.
I could tell.
“Then someone cloned his credentials,” Luca said.
Sarah looked suddenly terrified.
“Bellini.”
Why would Bellini put me inside Luca’s house?
Then Sarah remembered something.
“What personal problem did Luca solve for you?”
“My medical debt.”
“What hospital?”
“St. Vincent.”
Her face drained.
“Oh God.”
“What?”
“Emily, those bills were never your mother’s.”
I stared.
“Then whose?”
Sarah swallowed.
“Yours.”
I laughed nervously.
“I wasn’t sick.”
“You were ten.”
My childhood.
A two-week period Mom told me I had severe pneumonia.
I remembered almost nothing.
Sarah continued:
“You underwent surgery.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
She looked at Luca.
May you like
Then at me.
“To remove something Bellini put inside you.”
