Chapter 1 - The Baby Who Called Me Mama
That was when the baby moved.
Not a random kick.
Not the restless squirm of a tired child.
He lunged toward me.
Both tiny arms stretched so suddenly that Dominic Rinaldi nearly lost his grip on him.
The entire table froze.
The baby made a desperate little sound.
“Ma… ma…”
My fingers tightened around my notepad.
Dominic’s face changed.
Not dramatically.
That almost made it worse.
The man who had walked into Aurelia as if fear belonged to everyone else suddenly looked as though someone had reached inside his chest and stopped his heart.
One of his guards shifted.
“Leo.”
Dominic barely seemed to hear him.
The baby kept reaching for me.
His lower lip trembled.
Then he began crying.
Not angry crying.
Heartbroken crying.
His hands opened and closed toward my face.
I looked around helplessly.
“Does he want something?”
Dominic stared at me.
“No.”
His voice came out rough.
“He doesn’t do this.”
Leo twisted harder.
Instinct took over.
I placed my order pad down and leaned closer.
“Hey, little guy.”
The baby stopped crying instantly.
Aurelia became so quiet I could hear the candles crackle.
Leo reached out.
His tiny palm landed against my cheek.
Then slid into my hair.
His face softened.
Dominic went completely pale.
I felt ridiculous standing there surrounded by armed-looking men while a nine-month-old studied me like I was the only person in the room he trusted.
Then Leo grabbed the chain around my neck.
I caught his wrist gently.
“Careful.”
The necklace slipped out from beneath my blouse.
A silver medallion.
Old.
Oval.
Engraved with a tiny winged lion.
Dominic stood so fast his chair scraped across the floor.
His guards moved automatically.
I stepped backward.
“What?”
He stared at the pendant.
“Where did you get that?”
His tone frightened me more than shouting would have.
“It belonged to my mother.”
“What was her name?”
I swallowed.
“Rosa Valdez.”
Dominic repeated it quietly.
As if searching through a memory.
Leo grabbed for the pendant again.
Dominic slowly reached inside his jacket.
For half a second I thought he was reaching for a weapon.
Instead, he removed his phone.
He tapped through photographs.
Then turned the screen toward me.
My breath disappeared.
The woman in the photograph could have been me.
Same dark eyes.
Same cheekbones.
Same slightly crooked smile.
She stood beside Dominic in a white summer dress, one hand resting over a pregnant belly.
Around her neck hung a silver medallion.
A winged lion.
Identical to mine.
I stared at the screen.
“Who is that?”
Dominic’s eyes never left my face.
“My wife.”
I looked at Leo.
Then back at the photograph.
“Where is she?”
Something hardened behind Dominic’s expression.
“She died six months ago.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked again.
It was not resemblance.
It was not coincidence.
The woman looked like my reflection wearing another life.
My manager appeared behind me.
“Alina, maybe you should take a break.”
Dominic turned toward him.
The manager stopped.
Then Dominic looked at me again.
“What day were you born?”
“August seventeenth.”
His jaw tightened.
“What year?”
I told him.
Dominic closed his eyes for one second.
When they reopened, whatever he had suspected was now frightening him.
“My wife’s name was Sofia Bellini Rinaldi.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“She was born August seventeenth.”
My heartbeat became painfully loud.
Dominic looked toward Leo.
Then back at me.
“And Sofia was not born alone.”
I forgot how to breathe.
“She had an identical twin sister.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What happened to her?”
Dominic’s answer came quietly.
“She disappeared from the hospital when she was two days old.”
Leo reached for me again.
May you like
And Dominic whispered the name of the baby nobody in his family had seen for twenty-seven years.
“Alessia.”
