Chapter 7 – THE LOST SISTER

“Twins?” I breathed, staring at the letter in my hands.

The words blurred as my mind struggled to comprehend them.

Catherine had twins.

Sophie wasn’t an only child.

“Mr. Moretti,” I whispered, looking up at him. “Where is the other baby?”

Luca’s face was unreadable. It was a terrifying mask of shock, rage, and a profound, agonizing hope.

“Marco told me the second baby died during delivery,” Luca said, his voice raw. “He said the stress of the fall… he showed me the death certificate.”

He ran a trembling hand through his dark hair.

“He lied. He sold my child.”

“Sold?” I gasped.

Luca nodded, pacing the small living room like a caged animal. “To the Rossis. That’s how they got leverage over him. They knew Marco pushed Catherine, and they took the second baby as insurance to make sure he followed their orders.”

My stomach twisted violently.

They had a child. Luca’s flesh and blood.

For nine years, Sophie’s twin sister had been living with a rival mafia family.

“But why did my mother write this?” I asked, looking back at the letter. I protected the child.

Luca stopped pacing. He looked at me, a strange light in his eyes.

“Because Evelyn was the nurse who delivered the babies, Hannah. She knew the Rossis were coming for the second child. So, she did the only thing she could do.”

He stepped closer to me.

“She swapped the babies in the nursery.”

The room spun.

I grabbed the edge of the sofa to steady myself.

“Swapped?”

“She took a sick orphan from the ward and gave that child to Marco,” Luca explained, his voice dropping to a whisper. “And she took my healthy daughter and hid her.”

I stared at him, my mind racing.

“Hid her where?”

Luca looked down at me, his eyes filled with overwhelming emotion.

“Hannah. Look at the date on the letter.”

I looked down.

October 12th.

My birthday.

I dropped the letter. It fluttered to the floor like a dead leaf.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head violently. “No, that’s impossible. I’m twenty-five years old, Mr. Moretti. The baby was born nine years ago.”

Luca stepped forward and gripped my shoulders.

“Hannah, look at me.”

“I’m not the baby!” I cried, pulling away. “I’m Hannah Collins! Evelyn is my mother!”

“I know you’re not the baby,” Luca said gently. “You were sixteen years old when my daughters were born.”

I stopped struggling.

“Then… where is she?”

Luca took a deep breath.

“Your mother didn’t raise the child, Hannah. She couldn’t. It was too dangerous. So she gave the baby to the only person she trusted to protect her.”

He pointed to a framed photograph sitting on my mother’s small television stand.

It was a picture of me, taken three years ago at a diner in Detroit.

Sitting next to me in the booth was a bright-eyed, blonde little girl.

My little sister, Lily.

“Lily,” I gasped, clutching my chest.

My mother had adopted Lily when I was sixteen. She told me Lily was the daughter of a distant cousin who had passed away.

Lily had blonde curls. And intense dark eyes.

Just like Sophie.

Just like Luca.

“Lily is in boarding school in upstate New York,” I whispered, panic rising in my throat. “I pay her tuition with my salary from your house.”

Luca’s jaw clenched tight.

“The Rossis don’t have Evelyn, Hannah.”

He pulled his gun from its holster and checked the magazine.

“They figured it out. They know Lily is the missing heir. They sent men here to find her location.”

“We have to call the school!” I screamed, running toward the phone.

Luca grabbed my arm, stopping me.

“It’s too late to call. If the Rossis know she’s there, they already have men on the way. Calling the school will only cause a panic and put her in more danger.”

“Then what do we do?” I sobbed.

Luca’s eyes were cold, calculating, and absolutely lethal.

“We go to New York. And we burn the Rossi family to the ground.”

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