Chapter 3 - THE MAID'S DAUGHTER SAW EVERYTHING
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Sophia Bellini had learned that adults often asked questions without wanting honest answers.
Her mother had taught her to stay quiet, finish her chores, and never enter rooms where the Moretti family conducted private business. The mansion was beautiful, but Sophia understood that beauty did not mean safety.
She remembered the rain that night.
She had been searching for a missing stuffed rabbit near the kitchen when she heard a faint sound from the outdoor service area. At first, she thought it was a kitten.
Then she heard a baby crying.
Sophia followed the sound past the laundry door. Behind two overflowing trash bins, a cream-colored blanket lay inside an open container.
A tiny hand moved beneath it.
She screamed.
Nobody answered.
The baby cried harder.
Sophia lifted him out, wrapped him tightly in the blanket, and ran inside.
But she had seen something else before she reached the door.
A woman stood near the service gate, speaking into a phone.
“It's done,” the woman whispered. “He won't be a problem anymore.”
Sophia had not recognized the woman's face. Rain had blurred the glass, and the woman had been wearing a hood.
However, Sophia remembered her shoes.
Black leather heels with a silver buckle shaped like a small bird.
Now, sitting in a guest room with her mother, Sophia drew the shoes on the back of an old receipt.
Elena stared at the drawing.
“Where did you see these?”
“Outside, before I found the baby.”
“Did you see the woman's face?”
“No. But she dropped something.”
Sophia reached into her sweater pocket and produced a small gold button.
Elena's face drained of color.
It belonged to a formal jacket worn by members of the Moretti household staff, but the tiny engraving on its reverse was unfamiliar.
A silver bird.
Before Elena could speak, Dominic entered the room.
“Mr. Moretti wants to talk to Sophia.”
Elena immediately stood.
“She has already told him everything.”
“He wants to hear it again.”
In Rocco's study, Sophia repeated her account while Dominic took notes.
“Did the woman say the baby's name?” Rocco asked.
“No, sir.”
“Did she say anything else?”
Sophia thought carefully.
“She said somebody had paid her.”
Rocco's eyes narrowed.
“How much?”
“I don't know. She said, 'The money is in the second envelope.'”
Rocco and Dominic exchanged a glance.
“What second envelope?” Rocco asked.
“I don't know. She sounded angry. Then she said, 'After tonight, the Morettis will never ask questions again.'”
The room fell silent.
Rocco dismissed Dominic and crouched in front of Sophia.
“You did the right thing bringing that baby inside.”
“Are you going to find his mother?”
“Yes.”
“What if his mother is the bad person?”
Rocco did not answer immediately.
“Then I'll protect him from her.”
Sophia considered that.
“Even if she's family?”
Rocco's expression changed. For a moment, the feared mafia boss looked like a man who had spent years refusing to confront his own mistakes.
“Especially if she's family.”
That evening, Dominic identified the silver-bird symbol. It appeared on a collection of invitations associated with the Bellmont Foundation, a charity that had financed several of Valentina's private projects.
The foundation's executive director was Eleanor Voss, a former nurse at St. Helena Private Hospital.
She had resigned abruptly four weeks after Matteo's supposed death.
Three days later, she had purchased a one-way ticket out of Chicago.
Rocco ordered Dominic to locate her.
But the next morning, before the search could begin, a message arrived on Rocco's private phone.
The sender was unknown.
The message contained a photograph of Sophia standing beside her mother outside the mansion.
Beneath it were eight words.
Send the girl away, or the baby dies.
Rocco stared at the screen.
Then he called every guard in the house.
“From this moment forward,” he said, “Sophia Bellini and her mother are under my personal protection.”
May you like
He looked toward the window.
“And whoever sent that message just made a very expensive mistake.”
