Chapter 15 - The Woman at the Lake House|
The lake house stood at the end of a narrow road surrounded by pine trees. Its stone walls were weathered, its windows dark, and its boathouse sat crooked above the water.
Tomasso had not visited since childhood.
He remembered the house as a place where his father laughed, where Matteo Moretti brought expensive cigars, and where the adults sent the children outside whenever business turned serious.
Caterina walked beside him through the front door.
Dust covered the furniture, but the rooms had been maintained. Fresh batteries sat in the security panel. The refrigerator held bottled water. Someone had replaced the locks recently.
"This isn't abandoned," Tomasso said.
Caterina examined the hallway.
"Then someone wants us to believe it is."
They searched the downstairs rooms. In the study, Tomasso found an old photograph of his father and Matteo standing beside a woman whose face had been scratched away.
Caterina recognized the blackbird pin on her lapel.
"That's the woman from Sofia's photograph."
"Who is she?"
"I don't know. But she was close enough to our parents to be present at their private meetings."
Behind the photograph, Tomasso discovered a folded map marked with three locations around the lake. The first pointed to the boathouse. The second marked a small chapel. The third had been circled twice.
It lay beneath the floor of the master bedroom.
They found a trapdoor under an old rug.
The staircase descended into a narrow cellar lined with shelves. Most contained empty boxes, but one held a collection of cassette tapes, medical records, and a leather-bound diary.
Caterina opened the diary.
Her mother's handwriting filled the first pages.
The entries described secret meetings, hidden bank accounts, and the growing conflict between Lorenzo and the men who wanted to end the war.
Then, near the middle, Caterina found a name she had never seen before.
Isabella Voss.
The diary described Isabella as Elena's closest friend, a woman who had worked as a nurse at a private clinic. She had helped Elena recover from a serious illness years earlier and had been present when Caterina was born.
Tomasso frowned.
"Why would your mother tell Sofia that the woman in the photograph wasn't her?"
Caterina turned another page.
The answer was written in a trembling hand.
Isabella knows what happened in the delivery room. She knows which child survived. If Lorenzo discovers the truth, he will kill them both.
Caterina looked at him.
"Which child?"
Before Tomasso could answer, a sound came from above.
A door closing.
Footsteps crossed the floor.
Tomasso drew his weapon and signaled Caterina to remain behind him. He climbed the stairs quietly and entered the hallway.
A woman stood beside the fireplace.
She wore a dark coat and held a small suitcase. Her hair was silver at the temples, and her face looked strikingly similar to the woman in the photographs.
But it wasn't Elena.
It was Isabella Voss.
She looked at Tomasso's gun and sighed.
"You've inherited your father's manners."
"Who are you?"
"Someone who has spent twenty years trying to keep two families from destroying themselves."
Caterina appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Did you help my mother fake her death?"
Isabella's expression softened.
"I helped her survive."
"Then tell me where she is."
"I will. But first, you need to understand why Lorenzo has spent so much time trying to control your marriage."
Tomasso lowered the gun slightly.
"Explain."
Isabella opened the suitcase.
Inside lay a stack of legal documents and two birth certificates.
One belonged to Caterina Moretti.
The other bore Tomasso Barbieri's name.
Caterina looked from one to the other.
"What am I looking at?"
Isabella's voice fell to a whisper.
"Your fathers weren't the only men who hid children."
She touched the second certificate.
"One of you was adopted. And the truth was concealed before either of you could remember it."
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Tomasso stared at the paper.
For the first time in his life, he had no idea who he was.
