Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO HIRED ME WAS MY MOTHER
“No.”
Angela shook her head immediately.
“I’m the real Angela Ferrara. Marina used my name.”
My breathing turned shallow.
The woman who met me three hours before I arrived at Luca’s mansion.
Neat gray coat.
Dark glasses.
Hair pinned beneath a scarf.
I had noticed something familiar about her voice.
But we spoke for less than fifteen minutes.
I was exhausted.
Desperate.
I never really looked.
“My mother hired me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Angela started crying.
“I don’t know.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“I do.”
We looked at him.
“She wanted Emily inside my house.”
I felt betrayed all over again.
“Why?”
“Protection.”
“I am going to ban that word.”
Luca almost smiled.
Then became serious.
“Bellini can reach hospitals, apartments, agencies. But not this estate.”
Sarah nodded.
“Marina knew Luca had discovered the tracking device. She realized he was finally investigating Bellini.”
“So she used me to connect us.”
Luca looked uncomfortable.
“I think there’s more.”
“What?”
“Your reference letter.”
Marcus retrieved my personnel file.
The recommendation appeared to come from a luxury hotel.
Forged.
But hidden inside its metadata was an encrypted attachment.
Carlo recovered it.
A letter.
From Marina.
To Luca.
If Emily reaches you, Bellini has found me.
My chest tightened.
Do not tell her who I am until you know whether your house is compromised.
Luca looked toward Marcus.
The east wing proved it was.
The letter continued.
She will hate me for this.
I whispered, “Correct.”
Sarah touched my hand.
I didn’t pull away.
Mom wrote:
But Bellini has already used her once. I will not let him do it again.
Then came instructions.
A safety deposit number.
A password.
And one warning:
DO NOT TRUST DR. BELLINI’S DEATH CERTIFICATE.
Luca went still.
“Whose death certificate?”
We found out minutes later.
Dr. Paolo Bellini had been declared dead two days ago.
Private plane crash.
No recovered body.
Of course.
Every instinct in Luca sharpened.
“He staged it.”
Then security alarms sounded.
Not outside.
Inside the east wing.
Marcus checked the monitor.
Someone had entered the medical suite through a service passage.
Sarah whispered:
“There’s no service passage.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“There is.”
His father had built hidden routes in the mansion during the most violent years of the Rossi family.
Only four people knew them.
Luca.
Marcus.
Luca’s late father.
And Dr. Bellini.
Then the lights died.
I heard Luca say my name.
A hand grabbed my wrist in the darkness.
I fought.
A cloth pressed near my face.
I held my breath and kicked backward.
Someone cursed.
Then emergency lights flashed on.
Luca was on the floor.
Blood spreading through his shirt.
And behind me stood the woman who hired me.
May you like
My mother.
Holding a gun.
