Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WITH THE SILVER CRESCENT|
Celeste Romano agreed to meet Sophia at a quiet café near Central Park.
She arrived wearing a dark coat, a scarf, and the silver bracelet Sophia had noticed at the gala. Without the chandeliers and expensive gowns, she appeared less like a powerful society matriarch and more like a tired woman who had been carrying a secret for too long.
Sophia placed Leo's note on the table.
"Do you know this handwriting?"
Celeste read it once.
Her fingers trembled.
"Where did you get this?"
"He gave it to me before he disappeared."
Celeste looked toward the window.
"Then he trusted you."
"He trusted you too, apparently. Why?"
Celeste removed the bracelet and turned it over. On the inside of the crescent was a tiny engraving: N.M.
"Nico Moretti gave this to me when he was seventeen. He said that one day it would help someone find the truth."
Sophia leaned forward.
"What happened to him?"
Celeste took a breath.
"Three years ago, Nico discovered that his father was using a children's charity to conceal payments to men who worked for the Moretti organization. Nico wanted to expose the arrangement. Richard ordered him to stop."
"And Nico refused."
"Yes."
Celeste explained that Nico had approached her because her husband had once managed the charity's financial accounts. She had helped him copy the records, believing they could reveal where the money had gone.
But Richard found out.
The night of the warehouse explosion, Celeste received a call from a hospital administrator. A badly injured man had been brought in under a false name. The man had a ring bearing the Moretti crest.
"I recognized the description," she whispered. "I went to the hospital, but Richard's men were already there. They told me the patient had died."
"Did you believe them?"
"No."
Celeste looked at Sophia.
"I heard him humming the family song through a half-open door. I never saw his face. But I knew it was Nico."
Sophia's eyes filled.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was threatened. My husband had debts to Richard, and Valentina's future depended on the alliance between our families. If I spoke, my daughter could have been hurt."
Sophia sat back.
"Everyone seems willing to sacrifice somebody else's child to protect their own future."
Celeste lowered her head.
"I know."
Sophia looked at the bracelet.
"Why would Nico tell me to find you?"
"Because I kept the original records. I hid them after the explosion, and I have never been able to retrieve them."
"Where are they?"
Celeste hesitated.
"Saint Agnes Chapel."
Sophia went cold.
"Why did the message tell Aleandro to bring Emma there?"
"Because the chapel contains something else. Nico left a recording beneath the basement floor. It names the people who ordered the explosion."
Sophia stood.
"Then we're going."
Celeste caught her hand.
"Not without protection. If those records still exist, there are people who will do anything to keep them hidden."
Sophia looked at her.
"Then they should have thought about that before they left a little girl to grow up without her father."
Celeste began to cry.
Outside, across the street, a black sedan sat with its engine running.
A man inside photographed Sophia and Celeste as they left the café.
He sent the images to a number saved as V.R.
May you like
The reply came immediately.
Get the child first.
