Chapter 11: The Second Child
Chapter 11: The Second Child
No one spoke.
The satellite phone remained in Alessandro's hand.
Vincent's final words echoed through the hidden chamber.
"You still believe Isabella only had one child?"
The line had already gone dead.
Yet the silence he left behind was louder than the explosions outside.
Thomas slowly sat down.
His face had become ghostly pale.
"That's impossible."
He whispered the words as though repeating them might somehow make them true.
"Lady Isabella was pregnant only once."
Marco shook his head.
"We don't know that anymore."
"For twenty years we've believed lies."
Lily looked around in confusion.
"Who's Isabella?"
Alessandro knelt before her.
His voice softened.
"She was your mother."
Lily frowned.
"I thought Vanessa was my mommy."
Amelia gently brushed the child's hair.
"Sometimes grown-ups tell terrible lies."
Lily lowered her head.
"So..."
"Did everybody lie to me?"
No one could answer.
Marco immediately returned to the safe.
"If Vincent mentioned another child..."
"...he expected us to search."
He removed every remaining file.
Most contained financial records.
Construction contracts.
Bribery payments.
But one thin folder stood apart.
Its label had faded.
Only two handwritten words remained.
Project Gemini
Alessandro's heartbeat quickened.
He slowly opened it.
Inside were two ultrasound images.
Not one.
Two.
Both dated seventeen years earlier.
Across the top of the report, the doctor's notes were still visible.
Twin Pregnancy Confirmed
Estimated gestational age:
Thirty-four weeks.
The room became perfectly still.
Thomas stared at the page.
"Twins..."
Lady Isabella had been carrying twins.
Another document followed.
A surgical report from St. Gabriel Medical Center.
The names of the doctors had been blacked out.
But one signature remained.
Dr. Michael Reeves.
The report stated:
Infant A — Female — Living
Infant B — Female — Living
Neither child had died during delivery.
Both had been born alive.
Alessandro closed his eyes.
His mother had spent seventeen years believing she lost her children.
In reality...
Both daughters had survived.
One was Lily.
The other...
Had vanished.
Amelia noticed another envelope hidden beneath the medical records.
Its seal bore Enzo Moretti's initials.
Alessandro carefully opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter from his father.
If Vincent succeeds...
One child will disappear.
If both disappear...
The Moretti bloodline ends.
Marco looked up sharply.
"So Enzo already knew."
Thomas nodded sadly.
"He suspected someone inside the hospital."
Another page fell from the envelope.
It wasn't a letter.
It was a family photograph.
Enzo.
Isabella.
And two newborn babies wrapped in identical white blankets.
On the back, Isabella had written in elegant handwriting:
Lily & Grace
The room froze.
Grace.
The missing twin finally had a name.
Lily looked at the picture.
She smiled.
"That's my blanket."
Then she pointed toward the second baby.
"That's my sister."
Alessandro stared at her.
"You remember?"
She nodded.
"Not from when I was little."
"Grandpa showed me."
"He said Grace lives very far away."
Amelia exchanged a worried glance with Marco.
Vincent had deliberately told Lily enough truth to keep her obedient.
But not enough to understand why.
Suddenly...
Marco noticed something tucked inside the photo frame.
A tiny microSD card.
Barely visible.
He carefully removed it.
"This wasn't in the safe."
"It was hidden inside the photograph."
He inserted it into the laptop.
One file appeared.
Delivery Room Camera
Recorded seventeen years earlier.
The screen flickered.
A hospital operating room appeared.
Doctors rushed around Isabella.
She looked exhausted but conscious.
Enzo stood beside her, holding her hand.
Then Dr. Reeves lifted the first crying baby.
"A healthy girl."
Isabella smiled through tears.
"My Lily..."
Minutes later...
A second cry echoed through the room.
Another baby.
Another girl.
"My Grace..."
Isabella whispered.
Enzo kissed her forehead.
"They're perfect."
For one beautiful minute...
The recording captured a family that should have remained whole forever.
Then...
The operating room doors opened.
Vincent Moretti entered.
He wasn't wearing hospital clothing.
He shouldn't have been there.
Neither should Gabriel.
Yet both men walked directly to Dr. Reeves.
The camera had no audio.
But their body language told the story.
Gabriel handed Reeves a thick envelope.
Vincent pointed toward the second baby.
Grace.
The doctor hesitated.
Then...
He nodded.
A nurse quietly carried Baby Grace out of the operating room.
Not toward the nursery.
Toward a side corridor.
Out of the camera's view.
Isabella, still weak from surgery, never noticed.
Enzo looked away only briefly as another nurse distracted him with paperwork.
By the time he turned back...
Grace was gone.
The recording ended.
Amelia covered her mouth.
Thomas openly wept.
Marco whispered,
"They stole her..."
"They stole a newborn."
Before anyone could speak...
The laptop chimed again.
A hidden folder unlocked automatically.
Its title contained only one word.
GRACE
Alessandro clicked it.
One document appeared.
A current passport.
Female.
Age seventeen.
Nationality changed.
Name changed.
Photograph attached.
The girl had long dark hair.
Gray eyes.
The unmistakable features of Isabella Moretti.
But what made Alessandro's heart stop...
Was the passport issue date.
Three weeks ago.
Grace wasn't dead.
She wasn't missing.
Someone had moved her recently.
Then the final line appeared at the bottom of the file.
Current Location: Unknown
Last Authorized Transfer: Gabriel Rossi
Before Marco could copy the files...
Every screen in the hidden chamber suddenly went black.
Large red letters slowly appeared.
FILE DELETION IN PROGRESS
10%...
11%...
12%...
Marco's face lost all color.
"They've hacked the system."
"If we don't stop it..."
"We lose every piece of evidence."
At that exact moment...
The emergency lights went out completely.
From somewhere inside the tunnel...
A little girl's frightened voice echoed through the darkness.
"Help me..."
It wasn't Lily.
Everyone in the room recognized that voice from the hospital video.
May you like
Somehow...
Grace was inside the mansion.
