Chapter 6 - THE SCAR I NEVER QUESTIONED
I had a scar beneath my ribs.
Small.
Pale.
I had always believed it came from having my appendix removed when I was ten.
There was only one problem.
I still had my appendix.
A CT scan arranged through an independent hospital confirmed it that night.
My stomach twisted as the physician reviewed old scar tissue.
“You had abdominal surgery years ago.”
“For what?”
“I can’t determine that from the scar alone.”
Sarah sat across from me.
“Your mother found out Bellini had used children connected to witness families.”
Luca went still.
“What do you mean used?”
“Tracking.”
The word landed heavily.
Tiny early-generation devices.
Experimental.
Illegal.
Inserted during procedures conducted through fraudulent clinics.
If a witness disappeared, Bellini’s network could find their family.
My mother discovered one had been placed inside me.
“She removed it?” I whispered.
Sarah nodded.
“With help.”
“From who?”
“Vittorio Rossi.”
Luca’s father.
I turned toward him.
His expression had changed.
“My father helped Emily?”
Sarah nodded.
“Marina trusted him.”
That explained why Mom had returned to the Rossi family years after disappearing.
She needed someone powerful enough to help save her daughter.
Me.
Luca sat down.
“My father never told me.”
“He was trying to identify everyone involved.”
Sarah continued.
Then Daniel Hale—my father—was murdered.
Marina took me and vanished.
For years, Bellini believed we were gone.
Then something exposed us.
“What?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Your mother’s cancer diagnosis.”
“But you said it was fake.”
“The diagnosis was fake. The tests weren’t.”
Mom went to St. Vincent for stomach pain.
A lab technician recognized her DNA profile from old files.
Bellini found her.
That was when Marina staged her death.
“With Bellini’s help?”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“With someone inside his department.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the east-wing door.
“Mrs. Ferrara.”
The name again.
This time, Sarah explained.
Angela Ferrara had been a nurse at St. Vincent.
She helped Marina switch identities and disappear.
She later left New York.
Sarah worked for her in Charleston.
“So Mrs. Ferrara is real.”
“Yes.”
“But she didn’t hire me.”
“No.”
Luca looked toward Marcus.
“Find her.”
An hour later, they did.
Angela Ferrara was alive.
Living in Savannah.
She agreed to a secure video call.
The moment she saw me, she cried.
“Emily.”
I hated how many strangers knew me.
“Where is my mother?”
Angela’s face changed.
“I thought Sarah told you.”
“She doesn’t know.”
Angela looked terrified.
Then whispered:
“Marina came back to New York six months ago.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Why?”
“To finish what she started.”
“What?”
“Expose Bellini.”
Luca leaned toward the screen.
“Where is she?”
Angela swallowed.
“Inside the Rossi organization.”
Silence.
“As who?” I asked.
Angela looked directly at me.
“Someone you’ve already met.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
Then she said:
“Your mother is Mrs. Ferrara.”
