Chapter 5 - THE MEMORY BEHIND THE RED DOOR
Isabella hadn't thought about the red door in twenty-two years.
Not until she saw the warehouse photograph.
Then the memory came rushing back.
Rain.
A concrete hallway.
A girl holding her hand.
A man shouting.
And a heavy red door slamming somewhere behind them.
She gripped the edge of the table.
“Isabella?”
Marco's voice sounded distant.
She closed her eyes.
“I remember something.”
Rosa leaned forward.
“What, sweetheart?”
“The warehouse.”
Marco went still.
“What about it?”
“There was a red door. Sofia was holding my hand.”
Rosa began crying.
Isabella swallowed.
“She told me not to be scared.”
Marco's face tightened.
“Did you see who took her?”
“I don't know.”
She pressed her fingers against her temples.
The memory was fragmented.
Images without order.
A truck engine.
A blue blanket.
Someone singing softly.
Then a woman's voice.
Don't let them separate the girls.
Isabella opened her eyes.
“My mother was there.”
Rosa stared.
“Adriana?”
Isabella nodded.
“She was crying.”
Marco leaned closer.
“Did she say anything else?”
Isabella hesitated.
“She told Sofia to run.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
Then Isabella remembered something else.
A man had been standing beside the red door.
She couldn't see his face.
But she remembered his watch.
A gold watch with a black leather strap.
Her father had owned one exactly like it.
She felt sick.
“Enzo.”
Marco's expression hardened.
“Are you certain?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I remember a watch. That doesn't prove anything.”
He nodded.
“Then we find evidence.”
That answer surprised her.
She'd expected the feared mafia boss to threaten somebody.
Instead, he was asking for proof.
Marco called an independent investigator who'd been reviewing the DeLuca family's old records.
Within hours, they located additional photographs and archived shipping documents.
The warehouse had been operated by a company called Bellini Freight.
Its owners included Vittorio DeLuca and an investor named Lorenzo Bellini.
Rosa reacted to the name.
“Lorenzo.”
Marco looked at her.
“You knew him?”
She nodded slowly.
“He was your father's closest friend.”
Isabella felt the room tighten around them.
“Where is he now?”
“Dead,” Marco said.
“Ten years ago.”
Then his investigator sent another file.
A visitor record from a children's residential facility outside Milwaukee.
The visitor's name was Enzo Romano.
The child's registered name was Sofia Bellini.
The date was only six months earlier.
Rosa began trembling.
“My daughter?”
Marco stared at the record.
Then the investigator called.
His voice came through the speaker.
“We verified the facility's archived photograph.”
Marco's jaw tightened.
“And?”
The investigator hesitated.
“The woman registered as Sofia Bellini is alive.”
Rosa began crying.
May you like
But then came the detail that made Isabella's stomach drop.
“And she's been working at Bellavita under another name for the past eighteen months.”
