Chapter 16 - THE CHILD IN THE NURSERYThe surveillance image remained frozen on the woman holding the envelope.
Behind her, the child slept beneath the Moretti crest.
Lorenzo stared at the screen as if the eighteen years between the hotel fire and that nursery had disappeared.
“Who is the child?” Isabella asked.
No one answered.
Clara moved closer to the terminal.
The sleeping child appeared no older than three. Dark hair curled against her forehead. One small hand rested outside the blanket.
“She cannot be Elena’s daughter,” Clara said. “She would be an adult now.”
“The message did not say the child was Elena’s daughter,” Evelyn replied. “It said your family lost her three days ago.”
Isabella looked at Lorenzo.
“What happened three days ago?”
He pressed both hands against the terminal.
“My family foundation received a security alert from one of our private residences.”
“What residence?”
“A protected house outside Geneva.”
“You have a protected house in Geneva?”
“It was created after the Bellavere fire.”
“For whom?”
Lorenzo finally turned.
“For descendants whose identities could place them in danger.”
Clara’s face tightened.
“Descendants you never told us about.”
“I did not know anyone was still living there.”
“That is not possible,” Isabella said. “A residence does not operate for eighteen years without money, staff, and instructions.”
“It was controlled through independent trustees.”
“More lawyers?”
“People Elena selected before she died.”
Evelyn examined the video feed.
“The nursery camera is not live.”
Isabella looked at the timestamp.
It showed three days earlier.
“The woman recorded this before we opened H-9.”
“She wanted us to believe she could reach the child,” Evelyn said.
“Or she already had.”
The screen changed.
A map appeared showing Geneva, the Bellavere Grand, and an unknown location on the coast. A red line connected all three.
Beneath the map was a message.
BRING THE PHOTOGRAPH TO THE HOUSE WHERE THE SISTERS WERE SEPARATED.
Clara turned toward Lorenzo.
“What house?”
Lorenzo removed the photograph of Elena and the two newborn babies.
“The Moretti family owned a medical residence near Lake Geneva. Elena gave birth there.”
“You told me I was born in a private clinic,” Clara said.
“That was the official record.”
“Was anything you told me true?”
Lorenzo looked down.
“I believed there was only one child until the night of the fire.”
Isabella took the photograph from him.
“What did Elena tell you?”
“She said one baby had been taken immediately after birth.”
“By whom?”
“She did not know.”
“And the baby remaining with her became Clara.”
“Yes.”
Isabella studied the black ink covering the second name.
“Why conceal the name?”
“Because when Elena handed me this photograph, she said the name itself could identify the person who ordered the abduction.”
A printer beneath the H-9 terminal activated.
A sheet of paper emerged.
It contained coordinates outside Geneva and a passenger manifest for a private flight departing the following morning.
Four names appeared.
Isabella Moretti.
Lucia Elena Bell.
Evelyn Shaw.
Lorenzo Moretti.
Someone had booked their journey before they agreed to take it.
Clara read the final line.
One seat remained unnamed.
May you like
Its passenger was identified only as:
THE SECOND DAUGHTER.
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