Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE ME
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
Leo.
The baby who'd reached for me at Aurelia.
The child who'd stopped crying the instant I held him.
The baby who'd touched my necklace and whispered Mama.
He hadn't recognized me.
He'd mistaken me for Amelia.
My twin.
A woman I'd never met.
I sat beside my mother's hospital bed, struggling to breathe.
"Amelia raised him?"
Mom nodded.
"For several months."
"Why?"
Her eyes filled.
"Because Elena was trying to protect him."
I looked down.
"From Vittorio?"
"Yes."
Mom continued.
"Elena discovered financial records connecting the charity to unlawful medical transfers."
My stomach tightened.
"Then why didn't she tell Luca?"
"She tried."
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Again.
A powerful man too busy trusting his family to listen to his wife.
Mom continued.
"Elena believed someone was using Leo to control Luca."
I looked up sharply.
"How?"
"Threats."
My chest tightened.
"What kind?"
Mom hesitated.
"Vittorio told Elena that if she exposed the operation, Leo would disappear."
I covered my mouth.
"That's why she hid him?"
"Yes."
Mom nodded.
"Amelia helped."
I thought about the photographs.
The private nursery.
My mother.
Elena.
Amelia.
All connected.
Then I asked:
"Where is Amelia now?"
Mom looked away.
My stomach dropped.
"Mom."
She swallowed.
"I don't know."
I closed my eyes.
Another missing person.
Another woman who'd tried to protect someone.
Another life hidden behind the Moretti name.
Then Mom reached for my hand.
"There's something else."
I looked up.
"Please tell me everything."
She nodded slowly.
"Amelia left a message for you."
My heart pounded.
"Where?"
"In the lining of my coat."
She gestured toward the closet.
A nurse helped retrieve the coat after it was cleared by hospital staff.
Inside the lining was a small memory card.
It had been carefully wrapped.
My hands trembled.
The contents were documented and copied for investigators.
Then I watched the video.
A woman appeared on the screen.
My face.
My eyes.
My expression.
But not me.
Amelia.
She looked exhausted.
Her dark hair was tied back.
A bruise marked her cheek.
I covered my mouth.
"Hi, Avery."
Her voice was different.
Lower.
Rougher.
But the resemblance was overwhelming.
She smiled sadly.
"I don't know if we'll ever meet."
My eyes filled.
"But Mom told me about you."
I began crying.
"She said you're kind."
"That you work hard."
"And that you always make jokes when you're nervous."
I laughed through tears.
Amelia smiled.
"I do that too."
For a moment, it felt like looking into a mirror that could speak.
Then her expression became serious.
"Elena didn't die in the accident."
My heart stopped.
"She escaped."
I leaned forward.
"But Vittorio found her."
Amelia swallowed.
"He's holding her somewhere."
My hands trembled.
She continued.
"Leo is safe with Luca for now."
I closed my eyes.
"Please watch over him if you can."
Her eyes filled.
"He knows our face."
Then she whispered:
"And he remembers our mother's necklace."
I touched the pendant at my throat.
Amelia looked directly into the camera.
"There's one final thing."
My heart pounded.
"Vittorio doesn't only want the charity records."
A pause.
"He wants the child Elena was carrying when she disappeared."
I stopped breathing.
May you like
Then Amelia said:
"Leo has a baby sister. And nobody in the Moretti family knows she was born."
