Chapter 4 - The Man Who Claimed Sofia
Elena struck David before Matteo could stop her.
The slap echoed in the underground room.
“You stay away from her.”
David touched his cheek.
His smile faded.
“Sofia deserves the truth.”
“You don’t know the truth.”
“I know more than you.”
“You disappeared.”
“I was taken.”
“You left me with a newborn while Helena was dying.”
David’s jaw tightened.
“I had no choice.”
Matteo pushed him against the wall.
“You entered my house with a weapon.”
David looked at him.
“I came to stop Celeste.”
Celeste coughed from the floor.
“Liar.”
David glanced at her.
“You’ve been serving them for twenty years.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“So have you.”
Gabriel confiscated David’s knife and searched him.
No wallet.
No phone.
A small tattoo behind his left shoulder.
Black sun.
Matteo saw it.
“Everyone seems to have my mother’s symbol.”
David looked at the pendant around Elena’s neck.
“It wasn’t Isabella’s symbol.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“It belonged to Helena.”
David sat against the wall.
His breathing was heavy.
“Isabella joined later.”
Matteo crouched.
“Start talking.”
David looked toward Sofia.
Elena stepped between them.
“You don’t look at her.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“You’re not her father.”
The words stopped everyone.
David stared.
“What?”
Elena’s eyes filled with anger.
“You were told you were.”
David stood.
Matteo immediately moved between them.
Elena continued.
“Helena told me before she died. Sofia was created using stored genetic material from multiple donors connected to the program.”
David’s face collapsed.
“No.”
“She said they wanted us to believe she was ours because it would make us protect her.”
David shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“I raised her. I changed every diaper. I stayed awake when she had a fever. I ran every time someone found us. Don’t stand there after five years and tell me what you want to be true.”
Sofia appeared from behind a cabinet.
“Mommy?”
Elena immediately softened.
She knelt.
“It’s okay, baby.”
Sofia looked at David.
“Who’s that?”
Elena hesitated.
David’s expression broke.
“No one you need to worry about,” Matteo said.
Sofia looked up at Matteo.
“You yelled at the mean lady.”
Matteo glanced toward Celeste.
“Yes.”
“Are you a policeman?”
“No.”
“What are you?”
For the first time in hours, Gabriel almost smiled.
Matteo answered, “Currently? Confused.”
Sofia considered that.
Then nodded seriously.
“Mommy gets confused too.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Matteo looked away to hide the smallest flicker of amusement.
The moment vanished when Gabriel’s radio crackled.
“We’ve got movement above.”
Matteo turned.
“How many?”
“Unknown. Main house secured, but we found two dead guards in the west hall.”
David looked at him.
“They’re not trying to storm the house anymore.”
“What are they doing?”
“Looking for the archive.”
Matteo glanced at the cabinets.
David shook his head.
“Not this archive.”
Celeste suddenly whispered, “Don’t tell him.”
David looked at her.
“That loyalty is going to kill you.”
She laughed.
“Loyalty?”
Her eyes filled with hatred.
“You think I was loyal?”
Celeste stood slowly.
“My sister gave birth inside St. Agnes Clinic in 1990.”
Matteo waited.
“They told her the baby died.”
Celeste looked at Sofia.
“She spent the rest of her life believing it.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Celeste…”
“I joined the Bellinis because I thought Isabella had stolen children. Then I learned Lorenzo was involved. After that, I stayed because someone had to watch.”
“Watch what?” Gabriel asked.
“The house.”
“For thirty-six years?”
Celeste looked at Matteo.
“For him.”
Matteo stared.
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Understanding.”
She stepped closer.
“Your father wasn’t protecting you from the program.”
Matteo remembered Isabella’s recording.
Your father is not the man you need to fear.
Celeste continued.
“He was protecting the program from you.”
Matteo’s eyes hardened.
“That makes no sense.”
“You were supposed to inherit control.”
“Control of what?”
“The network.”
Matteo shook his head.
“I inherited shipping companies, real estate, private equity.”
“You inherited the clean assets.”
“And the dirty ones?”
Celeste pointed downward.
“Buried deeper.”
David looked at Gabriel.
“There’s another level.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Under this?”
David nodded.
“How?”
“A freight elevator hidden behind the north wall.”
Matteo walked toward it.
The wall looked solid.
David touched three metal rivets in sequence.
A panel clicked.
A keypad appeared.
“What’s the code?” Matteo asked.
David looked at Sofia.
Elena stepped closer protectively.
David said, “Her birthday.”
Elena’s face went pale.
“How do you know that?”
“Because the program chose the date.”
Matteo entered Sofia’s birth date.
The wall opened.
A freight elevator waited beyond it.
Cold fluorescent light flickered inside.
Matteo stepped toward it.
Elena caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
“You came into my house looking for answers.”
“I came here because Helena said Bellini House was the safest place left.”
Matteo looked at the blood, broken cabinets, and Celeste.
“She had an interesting definition of safe.”
Elena didn’t smile.
“If that elevator still works, someone wants you to use it.”
Matteo stepped inside.
“Then they’re finally getting something they want.”
Gabriel joined him.
David followed.
Celeste hesitated.
Elena lifted Sofia into her arms.
She stepped in last.
The doors closed.
There were no buttons.
Only a scanner.
It illuminated Sofia’s face.
ACCESS CONFIRMED.
PRIMARY LINE DETECTED.
Elena whispered, “No.”
The elevator began descending.
Matteo watched the digital depth counter.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Forty.
Seventy.
It stopped at ninety-three.
The doors opened.
A long white corridor stretched beneath Bellini House.
Modern.
Sterile.
Active.
Lights turned on one by one.
At the far end was a glass door.
Behind it stood a woman.
Alive.
Waiting.
Matteo stared.
He knew her face from the videotape.
Older now.
Gray in her hair.
But unmistakable.
Elena nearly dropped Sofia.
“No.”
The woman smiled sadly.
Matteo’s voice disappeared.
May you like
“Mother?”
Isabella Bellini lifted one hand to the glass.
