Chapter 8 - Sophia Met Her Birth Mother
Gabriella D’Angelo did not ask Sophia to call her Mom.
That mattered.
She sat in the library with both hands in her lap, looking more frightened than any adult Sophia had ever seen.
Sophia sat beside Elena.
Rocco remained across the room.
Luca’s wound was superficial.
A cut from broken glass during their escape.
Gabriella had been hiding in Montreal.
Anthony found her two months earlier.
He wanted Sophia.
Not because he loved her.
Because she had inherited something.
“What?” Rocco asked.
Gabriella looked toward Sophia.
“D’Angelo Maritime.”
Anthony’s shipping company.
“He changed ownership years ago.”
“To whom?”
“To my mother.”
“Your mother is dead.”
“Yes.”
“And she left it?”
“To me.”
“So why Sophia?”
“I transferred it before disappearing.”
Rocco understood.
“To your daughter.”
Gabriella nodded.
Forty-three percent of a company worth nearly nine hundred million dollars.
Sophia blinked.
“I own boats?”
Everyone looked at her.
Gabriella almost laughed.
“Technically shipping terminals.”
“Can I have a boat?”
Elena covered her face.
“Please don’t.”
Sophia smiled.
For a second, tension eased.
Then Gabriella continued.
“Anthony needs Sophia’s shares to control a pending merger.”
“How?” Rocco asked.
“She’s a minor.”
“He forged guardianship documents.”
“Using whom?”
Gabriella looked toward Elena.
“You.”
Elena went pale.
Anthony had spent years building documents proving Elena was knowingly managing Sophia’s inherited assets.
Fake signatures.
Fake transfers.
Fake tax filings.
If exposed without context, Elena could look guilty.
“He planned this from the beginning,” Rocco said.
Gabriella nodded.
“Why give Sophia to Elena?”
“Because I trusted her.”
“You had never met.”
“I watched her.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“Why me?”
“Because you escaped him without even knowing.”
Elena frowned.
Gabriella explained.
Anthony had tried finding Elena after her adoptive parents died.
He offered money through intermediaries.
Jobs.
Housing.
Elena rejected everything because she believed the offers were scams.
She built her own life.
Worked.
Raised Sophia.
Stayed invisible.
“You were the only D’Angelo who never wanted anything from him.”
Gabriella smiled sadly.
“That made you the safest person I knew.”
Sophia looked between them.
“Can I ask something?”
Gabriella nodded.
“Why didn’t you keep me?”
Every adult stopped breathing.
Gabriella’s face crumpled.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Grandpa Anthony?”
“Yes.”
Sophia frowned.
“He sounds terrible.”
Rocco coughed to hide a laugh.
Gabriella nodded.
“He is.”
“Did you want me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?”
Gabriella started crying.
“I thought staying away kept you safe.”
Sophia thought for a moment.
Then said:
“That was kind of dumb.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Sophia.”
Gabriella laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
“It was.”
Sophia looked at Elena.
“You’re still my mom.”
Elena nodded quickly.
“Always.”
Then Sophia looked at Gabriella.
“But you can visit.”
Gabriella began sobbing.
Sophia moved across the couch and hugged her.
Rocco looked away.
He had seen men swear blood loyalty and betray each other before dessert.
Yet an eight-year-old child had just defined family better than every Moretti and D’Angelo patriarch combined.
The next problem arrived immediately.
Anthony contacted the media.
Documents were leaked portraying Elena as an international child-trafficking participant.
News vans appeared outside the mansion.
Elena saw her photograph on television.
MAID CONNECTED TO SECRET BILLION-DOLLAR HEIR SCANDAL
Sophia stared.
“That picture is bad.”
Elena laughed despite herself.
Rocco did not.
“We respond.”
Agent Cross warned against it.
“Public statements can complicate prosecution.”
“They’re destroying her.”
“Elena’s innocence will be proven.”
“When?”
“Eventually.”
Rocco stared.
“Eventually doesn’t undo what millions of people believe today.”
Elena touched his arm.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“I don’t need you fighting reporters.”
“I can.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
“I need you helping Antonio.”
Rocco looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because whenever the news gets loud, you disappear into being Rocco Moretti.”
“That’s who I am.”
“No.”
She looked toward the nursery.
“You’re also his dad.”
That word disarmed him.
Dad.
Not boss.
Not heir.
Not Moretti.
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Antonio was nearly two weeks old.
Isabella had moved temporarily into a secure guest house on the property.
Camille visited Emilia daily.
Rocco refused to remove the child abruptly from the foster parents who had loved her for eleven months.
They began a careful transition.
Everything was messy.
Nothing matched the family structures Rocco had inherited.
And somehow it felt healthier.
Then Matteo found Valentina.
A photograph surfaced at a casino in Monaco.
She stood beside Anthony.
Alive.
Elegant.
Smiling.
They were preparing the D’Angelo merger.
Cross explained.
“If they complete it before Sophia’s guardianship fraud is exposed, they could move enormous assets.”
“So stop it.”
“We need evidence tying Anthony directly.”
Gabriella had some.
Not enough.
Then Luca produced a drive.
“From Valentina’s office.”
Rocco looked at him.
“You’ve had this?”
“Since the night I got Isabella out.”
“What’s on it?”
“Recordings.”
Anthony.
Valentina.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Every conversation.
Luca had copied Valentina’s hidden surveillance archive.
Cross’s face changed.
“This could be enough.”
Rocco stared at his brother.
“Why didn’t you give it earlier?”
Luca shrugged.
“I wanted to hear everything first.”
“That was stupid.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Luca smiled faintly.
“You’re welcome.”
Federal authorities moved internationally.
Valentina and Anthony would be arrested when they entered a cooperating jurisdiction.
But Anthony changed plans.
Instead of staying abroad, he returned to New York.
Why?
Because Sophia’s shares required one original signature.
Gabriella’s.
He needed her alive.
The message arrived at midnight.
A photograph of Elena’s childhood home.
Then another.
Sophia’s school.
Then Antonio’s bassinet inside Rocco’s mansion.
Taken from within the house.
Someone was still working for Anthony.
Someone close enough to enter the nursery.
Beneath the final photograph were six words:
BRING GABRIELLA OR CHOOSE WHICH CHILD.
Rocco stared at the screen.
Then looked at every guard in the room.
May you like
The traitor was still inside his house.
And this time, he intended to find them before another child vanished.
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