Chapter 3 - The Photograph Taken Before Sophia Was Born
Elena slapped Mrs. Bellini.
The sound shocked everyone.
Even Elena.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered immediately.
But Mrs. Bellini did not move.
She deserved the anger.
Perhaps she expected it.
“You do not say something like that about my child.”
“I didn’t mean Sophia caused Isabella’s death.”
“Then choose your words better.”
Dante stepped between them.
“What did you mean?”
Mrs. Bellini sat at the pantry table.
For the first time, she looked old.
Not strict.
Not intimidating.
Just tired.
“Isabella was trying to protect Elena.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“I had never met her.”
“Yes, you had.”
“No.”
Mrs. Bellini stood and opened a locked drawer beneath the old recipe cabinet.
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena stared.
She was in it.
Twenty-two years old.
Pregnant.
Standing outside a community clinic in East Boston.
She remembered the day.
She had been seven months pregnant with Sophia.
Afraid.
Alone.
Her boyfriend, Miguel, had disappeared two weeks earlier after draining their joint savings account.
Elena had gone to the clinic for a prenatal appointment.
In the background of the photograph, entering a black SUV, was Isabella Moretti.
“What is this?”
Mrs. Bellini answered:
“Isabella volunteered there under another name.”
Elena looked up sharply.
The clinic had provided free services for immigrant women, domestic-abuse victims, and mothers with no insurance.
Isabella Moretti?
Wife of a mafia boss?
Volunteer?
“Yes,” Mrs. Bellini said. “She wanted Adrian to know nothing about it.”
“Why?”
“Because some of the women she helped were running from men connected to his world.”
That landed heavily.
Isabella had built a secret network.
Safe apartments.
Legal help.
Medical care.
Emergency cash.
Elena had unknowingly benefited from it.
“The clinic paid my hospital bill,” Elena whispered.
Mrs. Bellini nodded.
“Isabella.”
Elena stared at the photograph.
“Why me?”
“She saw your file.”
“What file?”
“Your boyfriend.”
Miguel Castillo.
Sophia’s father.
The man Elena had spent five years pretending no longer mattered.
Dante’s expression sharpened.
“What about him?”
Mrs. Bellini looked toward Sophia, now sitting quietly with Titan near the doorway.
“Not in front of the child.”
Elena almost argued.
Then she took Sophia to the kitchen with another maid.
Titan followed.
When Elena returned, Mrs. Bellini continued.
“Miguel wasn’t only a construction worker.”
Elena shook her head.
“That’s what he did.”
“That is what he told you.”
Miguel worked occasionally as a courier for Vincent Moretti.
Adrian’s cousin.
Vincent handled certain operations Adrian preferred not to know too much about.
Dante swore quietly.
“What did Miguel deliver?”
“Money. Documents. Phones.”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
“What happened to him?”
Mrs. Bellini looked at her.
“He discovered something.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Adrian’s organization had been paying protection money to corrupt officials for years.
Nothing surprising in that world.
But the ledger revealed something worse.
Somebody was selling names of witnesses and informants.
People disappeared after entering protective custody.
Miguel copied part of the ledger.
Then he disappeared.
Elena had spent years believing he abandoned her.
“He left me pregnant.”
“No,” Mrs. Bellini whispered.
“He ran because somebody threatened you.”
Elena sat down hard.
“Who?”
“Isabella never knew for certain.”
“Then how does Sophia connect?”
Mrs. Bellini pulled out another photograph.
Isabella holding a sealed envelope.
On it was written:
FOR ELENA CASTILLO — IF HER DAUGHTER IS EVER BROUGHT TO THE MORETTI HOUSE.
“How did she know I was having a girl?”
“The clinic.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“What was inside?”
“I never opened it.”
Mrs. Bellini handed it over.
Elena tore the seal.
Inside was a small brass key and another note.
Elena,
If you are reading this, then something has happened to me, and the danger attached to Miguel never truly ended.
Your daughter will be recognized by Titan.
He was trained using one scent before my death.
The scent belonged to you.
Elena stared at the words.
Titan had never loved Sophia by accident.
The dog had been conditioned to recognize her family.
But why?
She read the final line.
May you like
Miguel Castillo is alive.
And he knows who killed me.
