Chapter 8 - THE STEPMOTHER WHO CONTROLLED TWO LIVES
Marietta Romano had been managing Sofia DeLuca's finances for twenty years.
That was what the documents suggested.
Not as a loving guardian.
Not as a trusted relative.
But through a network of false identities and questionable legal agreements.
Isabella stared at the papers.
“All those years…”
Marco looked furious.
His sister had been alive.
Working.
Struggling.
Living under another name.
And someone had been collecting money intended for her care.
Rosa sat beside the investigator, reading through the records with trembling hands.
“Marietta,” she whispered.
Isabella thought about every cruel comment her stepmother had made.
Every time she'd been told she was selfish.
Every time money disappeared.
Every time her father looked away.
The truth was becoming unbearable.
Then Marco's phone rang.
His investigator had located Anna.
She'd been found at a bus terminal outside Chicago.
Frightened.
But unharmed.
When officers approached, she asked to speak with Rosa.
Marco arranged a secure meeting.
That evening, Anna entered a private room at Bellavita.
Rosa stood.
For several seconds, neither woman moved.
Then Rosa whispered:
“Sofia?”
Anna began crying.
“Mamma?”
Rosa crossed the room.
They embraced.
Twenty years collapsed into one terrible, beautiful moment.
Marco turned away, wiping his eyes.
Isabella stood frozen.
She had imagined this reunion a hundred different ways during the investigation.
But nothing had prepared her for the sight of a mother holding the daughter she'd believed lost forever.
Sofia clung to Rosa.
“I thought you didn't want me.”
Rosa began sobbing.
“Never.”
She held her daughter's face.
“I looked for you every day.”
Sofia shook her head.
“They told me you abandoned me.”
“Who?”
Sofia looked toward Isabella.
“Marietta.”
Isabella's stomach tightened.
Then Sofia continued.
“She said Enzo was protecting me.”
Marco's face hardened.
“Protecting you from what?”
Sofia swallowed.
“Your father.”
Marco went still.
“Vittorio?”
Sofia nodded.
“He wanted to stop the people using the family businesses to move illegal money.”
The room fell silent.
Sofia looked toward Rosa.
“Marietta told me he was dangerous. But I found out later he was trying to expose everything.”
Isabella stared.
Her father.
Her stepmother.
Nico.
Lorenzo Bellini.
All connected.
Then Sofia turned toward Isabella.
“There's something else.”
Isabella swallowed.
“What?”
Sofia reached into her handbag and removed a sealed envelope.
“Your mother gave this to me the night before she died.”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
Sofia handed it over.
On the front, in Adriana's handwriting, were four words.
For my daughter Isabella.
She opened it.
May you like
The first sentence made her stop breathing.
“My darling girl, if you're reading this, your father has finally been forced to reveal why he married Marietta.”
Related Stories
