Chapter 9 - Bianca’s ConfessionBianca had not been kidnapped.
Instead, he remembered Emilia's words.
Don't become bad because they were bad.
He forced himself to think.
Security footage showed two people entering through a loading corridor wearing DeLuca credentials.
One was a woman dressed as a paramedic.
The other wore a security uniform.
Both credentials were authentic.
More infiltration.
More rot.
Dr. Brooks had been in the bathroom when they took Emilia.
He heard nothing until the window alarm activated.
Luca questioned him for five minutes.
Brooks seemed genuinely horrified.
Dominic confirmed he had not been part of the earlier route leak.
Still, Luca trusted no one completely.
Not now.
At four in the morning, he departed for Pennsylvania with Anna, Matteo, and Dominic.
The letter remained with Luca.
The flash drives did not.
Copies had been encrypted and sent to three attorneys with instructions for automatic release if Luca failed to check in.
For once, he refused to keep the truth inside family walls.
Saint Michael's Church stood in a fading coal town surrounded by wooded hills.
It was small.
Stone walls.
White steeple.
A cemetery behind it.
They arrived just before sunrise.
No cars.
No visible movement.
Anna stepped from the SUV.
Her hands trembled.
"I haven't been here since I was seventeen."
Luca studied the building.
"What did your father like about it?"
"He said the bells reminded him of Italy."
They entered.
Empty pews.
Colored glass.
The smell of wax and old wood.
A priest appeared from a side hallway.
He was perhaps seventy.
Thin.
Gray.
"Can I help you?"
Anna stared at him.
Something happened in her face.
The priest stopped.
His hand tightened around the doorframe.
"Anna?"
She made a sound Luca would never forget.
Not quite a sob.
Not quite a word.
"Dad?"
The old man closed his eyes.
Anna ran toward him.
He caught her.
They held each other.
Twenty years collapsed in seconds.
Luca looked away.
Even Matteo did.
Marco Bellini had survived.
He had spent nearly two decades hidden beneath the identity Father Michael Caruso.
When Anna finally released him, she slapped him.
Hard.
Marco accepted it.
"How could you?"
"I'm sorry."
"You let me bury you!"
"I know."
"You let me stand beside an empty coffin!"
"I know."
She hit his chest.
"I needed you."
He pulled her into another embrace.
"I know."
Luca allowed them thirty seconds.
Then reality returned.
"My daughter has been taken."
Marco looked at him.
Recognition appeared.
"Luca DeLuca."
"You know who has her."
Marco's face darkened.
"Caroline."
"Dr. Ames."
"She was Vittorio's architect."
"What does that mean?"
Marco sat in the front pew.
He looked suddenly exhausted.
"Vittorio had ambition. Caroline had structure."
She created shell organizations.
Clinics.
Charities.
Transport systems.
She identified vulnerable people and moved them through legitimate networks.
When Carlo discovered the operation, he prepared to expose it.
Marco helped him.
Vittorio killed Carlo.
Caroline arranged the cover-up.
Then Elena found the records.
"And my mother?" Luca asked.
Marco hesitated.
"Bianca was complicated."
"Stop protecting her."
"I'm not."
Marco looked at him.
"Your mother saved my life."
Luca froze.
"What?"
"The boat explosion was supposed to kill me. Bianca warned me."
Anna stared at her father.
"You knew Bianca?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell me you were alive?"
"I begged her not to."
Anna turned away, furious.
Marco continued.
"Bianca was trapped. Vittorio suspected she was helping Carlo. After your father died, she pretended loyalty."
Luca laughed bitterly.
"She did a convincing job."
"Too convincing."
"What about Emilia?"
Marco's face changed.
"That was where Bianca lost herself."
He explained.
After the fire, Emilia began saying Anna's name.
She remembered seeing Vittorio.
Caroline convinced Bianca that the child's memories could eventually become legally dangerous.
Vittorio wanted Emilia dead.
Bianca refused.
So Caroline offered another solution.
Suppress the memories.
Condition the child.
Keep her physically dependent.
A frightened Bianca agreed.
"She thought it would last months," Marco said.
"Then why seven years?"
"Because every year made confession harder."
Cowardice again.
Luca felt sick.
Marco looked at Elena's letter.
"Where is the drive?"
"Safe."
"Good."
"Where is Emilia?"
Marco stood.
"If Caroline told you to come here, she's close."
A bell rang overhead.
Once.
Then again.
Anna looked up.
"There shouldn't be bells this early."
Marco's face went white.
"Basement."
They ran.
Behind the altar was a staircase.
The basement smelled of stone and dust.
At the bottom, a door stood open.
Inside was an old records room.
A television screen waited on a table.
It turned on automatically.
Dr. Ames appeared.
Emilia sat beside her.
Alive.
Unhurt.
Luca stepped toward the screen.
"Emilia."
She heard nothing.
Recorded video.
Ames spoke.
"Good morning, Luca."
She smiled.
"If you're watching this, Marco has finally stopped pretending to be dead."
Marco muttered, "Caroline."
"You have something I need. I have someone you cannot live without."
Luca's hands curled.
"The exchange will happen tonight."
An address appeared.
An abandoned children's hospital outside Philadelphia.
Saint Catherine's.
The same institution where Emilia had been conditioned.
Ames continued.
"Bring the original files. Bring Marco."
Anna whispered, "No."
Marco stared at the screen.
Ames smiled.
"And Luca?"
She leaned toward the camera.
"Bring Bianca."
Luca frowned.
Why?
"Because your mother owes me one final payment."
The screen went black.
Marco sat heavily.
Anna stared at Luca.
"What does she mean?"
Luca already knew one thing.
They needed Bianca.
He called Dominic.
"Get my mother."
Dominic's face changed.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We have a problem."
May you like
Luca's stomach tightened.
"Bianca disappeared thirty minutes ago."
