Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Should Be Dead
The video continued as Liana held Nico tighter.
“My name before I married Matteo was Elena Graves,” the woman said.
“Liana is my twin sister.”
Liana shook her head.
“No.”
Her mother had never mentioned another daughter.
There had been no second face in the family photographs.
No missing child.
No story about a sister.
Elena seemed to anticipate her disbelief.
“We were born at Saint Agnes Home in Philadelphia.”
“Our mother was told that I died before sunrise.”
“I was sold through an illegal adoption network before she ever left the hospital.”
Liana touched the crescent locket at her throat.
Elena lifted an identical one toward the camera.
“Our mother bought two of these.”
“She placed one around each of our necks before they took me.”
Matteo looked at Liana as though the room had tilted beneath him.
The resemblance was no longer merely noticeable.
It was undeniable.
That was why Nico had reached for her.
He did not know Liana.
He knew his mother’s face.
Elena glanced over her shoulder in the recording.
“I have very little time.”
“The people who staged my death know Matteo reopened the estate to new staff.”
“They arranged Liana’s employment.”
“She was never hired by accident.”
Liana’s grip on Nico tightened.
“I answered an advertisement.”
“Someone wanted you to see it,” Matteo said.
Elena continued.
“They took Liana’s son because they needed leverage.”
“They will use him to control her, just as they used Nico to control me.”
A faint sound came from somewhere behind Elena.
She lowered her voice.
“Matteo, do not trust the person who gave you my dental records.”
“Do not trust the person who advised you to close the investigation.”
“And whatever happens, do not let them move Nico before dawn.”
The picture flickered.
Elena leaned closer.
“The crying is not illness.”
“Something inside the nursery is hurting him.”
The screen went black.
Silence swallowed the room.
Matteo immediately called for Dante Ferraro, his head of security.
Dante appeared at the door less than thirty seconds later.
“No one enters or leaves the estate,” Matteo ordered.
“Shut down every gate.”
“Confiscate every staff phone.”
“Cut the nursery’s power.”
Dante’s gaze landed on Liana and the sleeping baby.
“What happened?”
“My wife is alive.”
For the first time in Liana’s presence, the hardened security chief looked shocked.
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Matteo removed the memory card.
“And someone inside this house helped bury her.”
