Chapter 13 - THE BOY WHO REMEMBERED TOO MUCH|
Matteo's question stayed with Luca long after the boy went to bed.
He didn't try to explain himself. He didn't tell Matteo that he had been deceived. He simply promised to answer every question honestly.
The next morning, Matteo came downstairs carrying a small metal box.
“I kept this,” he said.
Luca looked at it.
“What's inside?”
“Things they told me not to show anyone.”
The box contained medical cards, old letters, and several photographs. One showed Matteo as a toddler standing beside Carlo. Another showed him in a hospital corridor with a nurse.
The final photograph was different.
It showed Isabella Varenna holding Matteo's hand.
Luca took it carefully.
“When was this taken?”
Matteo looked at the back.
“Two days before she died.”
Luca's face tightened.
“Did you know her?”
“Not really. They said she was a family friend.”
“She was your grandmother.”
Matteo looked at him.
“I thought I didn't have one.”
Luca couldn't answer.
Matteo opened the box again.
“There was a woman who used to visit me. She said she was my grandmother, but I wasn't allowed to call her that.”
“Was it Isabella?”
“No. An older woman. She brought books.”
Teresa, standing nearby, stepped forward.
“Could it have been your great-aunt, Sofia?”
Matteo shook his head.
“I don't know.”
He pulled out a small card with a handwritten address.
“Sometimes she left these.”
Luca recognized the handwriting.
It belonged to his mother.
The address was for a cottage near Cape Cod.
“Why didn't you show this before?” Luca asked.
“Because Carlo said if I talked about the woman, my mother would be punished.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“Did he hurt you?”
Matteo looked down.
“He didn't hit me. But he said people could disappear.”
Luca crouched in front of him.
“You're safe now.”
Matteo didn't respond.
Later, Marco found evidence that Carlo had been using the cottage as a meeting place. It had been purchased through a Northstar subsidiary and remained under the control of a caretaker.
Luca obtained a warrant.
Inside, investigators found medical records, photographs, and recordings of conversations between Carlo and Augusto.
One recording revealed that Augusto had known Luca's diagnosis was false.
Another suggested that Isabella had been threatened before her death.
But the most important evidence was a document describing the original purpose of Northstar's research.
It was not simply a medical company.
It had been collecting genetic information from members of powerful families, using private medical records to identify heirs and potential vulnerabilities.
The Varenna family had used that information to control marriages, inheritance, and business alliances.
Luca read the document in silence.
“They turned people's children into bargaining chips.”
Marco nodded.
“And they kept records on everyone.”
I looked at the final page.
There was a list of names.
One of them was mine.
EVELYN BROOKS — MATERNAL FAMILY HISTORY: UNKNOWN.
I stared at it.
“Why would they have my records?”
Marco looked uneasy.
“Your mother received treatment at a hospital partially funded by Northstar.”
Luca took the page.
Then he noticed something else.
May you like
A note beside my name:
SUBJECT MATCHES HISTORICAL SAMPLE 04.
