Chapter 3 – [THE CHILD’S RED DOOR]

The color drained from Vanessa’s face.

She took a step backward, bumping into the heavy dining chair.

“Where did you get that?” Vanessa whispered.

Elena Moretti walked slowly across the room.

She had left Anthony ten years ago, moving to Rome after a bitter divorce that nearly tore the family syndicate apart.

Yet here she was.

Holding a piece of crayon-scribbled paper.

“I got it from an orphanage in Naples,” Elena said, her voice echoing in the silent room.

Luca looked at the drawing.

“Mother, what is going on? What orphanage?”

Elena stopped in front of Luca.

“Thirty years ago, Vanessa’s father made a mistake. He had a child out of wedlock. A boy.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

“To protect the Bellini family name, the child was sent away,” Elena continued. “To an orphanage with a bright red door. The Bellinis paid the orphanage to keep him quiet. Forever.”

Luca stared at Vanessa. “You have a brother?”

Vanessa shook her head rapidly. “He’s not my brother. He’s a bastard. My father never acknowledged him.”

“But he found you,” Elena said.

She looked at Marco.

“Didn’t he, Marco?”

Marco was sweating now.

He looked at the front door, calculating his escape.

But two of Luca’s men stepped into the hallway, blocking the exit.

“Marco,” Luca said, his voice dangerously low. “What did you do?”

Marco licked his lips. “Luca, you don’t understand. The Bellinis were going bankrupt. Vanessa’s father was going to lose everything.”

“So they needed the Moretti money,” Luca finished, his eyes hardening. “They needed the wedding to happen. But Dad was going to block the marriage. He knew the Bellinis were broke.”

Anthony nodded weakly from his chair.

He had always hated Vanessa.

“So you poisoned him,” Luca said, looking between Marco and Vanessa.

“No!” Vanessa cried. “I didn’t want him dead! I just wanted him sick enough so you would take over the trust before the wedding! Once you controlled the accounts, my father would be saved.”

“And Marco?” Luca asked. “Why did my own brother help you?”

Vanessa looked at Marco.

Marco looked at the floor.

“Because,” Elena said softly. “The boy from the orphanage… the bastard brother Vanessa’s family threw away… he didn’t stay in Italy.”

My heart pounded.

I looked at the child’s drawing in Elena’s hand.

A red door.

“He came to Chicago,” Elena said. “He changed his name. He got a job.”

She turned and looked directly at me.

“Emily,” Elena said. “What is your brother’s name?”

The room started spinning.

My breath caught in my throat.

“My… my brother?”

“Yes,” Elena said. “The one you are paying for to go to college.”

“David,” I whispered. “His name is David.”

Elena turned the child’s drawing over.

Written on the back, in faded black ink, was a name.

David Bellini.

“No,” I gasped, stepping back. “No, that’s impossible. We grew up in foster care together. He’s my brother.”

“He is your foster brother,” Elena corrected gently. “But his blood belongs to them.”

Luca stared at me.

“Emily. Where is David right now?”

“He’s… he’s at his dorm,” I stammered. “At the university.”

But even as I said it, a horrible realization washed over me.

David had stopped answering my calls three days ago.

The exact same time Vanessa lost her key.

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the dining room burst open.

One of Luca’s guards stumbled in.

He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead.

“Boss,” the guard gasped, holding his side.

Luca drew his weapon instantly. “What happened?”

“Someone breached the west gate,” the guard coughed. “They bypassed the security cameras.”

Luca stepped in front of his father.

“Who?”

The guard looked up, his eyes wide with fear.

“He said his name was David.”

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