Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO SURVIVED THE CRASH
The police took Marcus to the county jail that afternoon.
Victoria was questioned for nearly six hours.
She confessed to helping Marcus move money through shell companies, but she denied knowing that he had left Lorenzo’s mother to die. The detectives did not believe everything she said, but her testimony became valuable once Calvin recovered the financial records.
The recording from Isabella’s collar was enough to secure charges for kidnapping and obstruction.
But Lorenzo could not stop thinking about one sentence Marcus had spoken.
Your mother survived the crash.
That night, Lorenzo sat in his father’s old office while rain tapped against the windows.
Rosa entered carrying a folder.
“I found this in the attic,” she said.
Lorenzo opened it.
Inside were hospital records from six years earlier.
The records did not belong to his mother.
They belonged to a woman listed only as Patient 441.
The admission date matched the night of the crash.
The hospital was three hours away from Bellandi House.
Lorenzo scanned the pages.
Female. Approximately forty-eight years old. Severe injuries. Refused identification. Transferred by private vehicle. Discharged against medical advice.
At the bottom was a note written by a nurse.
Patient repeatedly asked for a child named Lorenzo. Believes family is watching.
Lorenzo stopped breathing.
“Why did you have this?”
“Your father gave it to me,” Rosa said. “He told me to keep it hidden until you were ready.”
“Where is she?”
Rosa looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
The following morning, Lorenzo hired a private investigator named Naomi Pierce. She had worked in missing-person cases for twenty years and had a reputation for finding people who did not want to be found.
Naomi traced Patient 441 to a small town in Vermont.
A woman named Elena Bellandi had been living there under the name Elena Maren.
Lorenzo drove through the night.
He did not tell Isabella where they were going. She stayed with Evelyn and a child-care specialist at the estate while Lorenzo followed the investigator to Vermont.
The house stood at the end of a narrow road surrounded by pine trees.
An elderly woman opened the door.
She had silver hair, a scar along her jaw, and a cane in her right hand.
Lorenzo recognized her immediately.
His mother.
For six years, he had imagined her beneath a gravestone.
Now she stood in front of him alive.
Neither of them spoke.
Then Elena dropped the cane.
“Lorenzo.”
He crossed the porch.
She reached for him, but he stopped.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was told you would be killed if I contacted you.”
“Who told you?”
“Matteo.”
Lorenzo flinched.
“My father?”
“He came to the hospital after the crash. He said Marcus had people watching the roads. He said if I returned home, they would use me to control you.”
“You could have sent a message.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times.”
She went inside and returned with a wooden box filled with unopened letters.
Every envelope was addressed to Lorenzo.
Every letter had been returned.
“He intercepted them,” Elena said. “Your father suspected it but could not prove it.”
Lorenzo took the letters with shaking hands.
“Why did you stay away after Matteo died?”
“Because Marcus found me.”
She looked toward the forest.
“He told me you had chosen him over me. He showed me forged documents proving you had signed away your inheritance. I believed you wanted nothing to do with me.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
The betrayal had been systematic. Marcus had not only stolen money. He had built an entire false reality around the Bellandi family.
Elena touched his cheek.
“Do you have a daughter?”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Isabella.”
A fragile smile appeared on Elena’s face.
“I knew you would have a daughter.”
“How?”
“Your father told me you were gentle with children. He said you would become a better parent than he had been.”
Lorenzo laughed once, but the sound broke into a sob.
His mother pulled him into her arms.
For the first time since he was a child, he allowed himself to cry against her shoulder.
When they returned to Bellandi House, Isabella was waiting in the front hall.
She ran past Lorenzo and stopped in front of Elena.
“Are you my grandmother?”
Elena knelt carefully.
“I am.”
“Were you lost?”
“Yes.”
“Daddy found you.”
“He did.”
Isabella studied her face.
“Then you can stay.”
Elena’s tears fell.
“I would like that very much.”
Lorenzo watched them embrace.
For one perfect moment, the house felt warm again.
Then his phone rang.
It was Naomi.
“Lorenzo,” she said urgently. “We found another account connected to Marcus.”
“Where?”
“Offshore. It received a transfer two days ago.”
“From whom?”
Naomi hesitated.
“From someone who is still inside Bellandi House.”
Lorenzo looked across the room.
Victoria stood near the staircase.
But she was not looking at him.
May you like
She was staring at Elena.
And in her hand, she held one of the unopened letters.
