Chapter 8: The Woman in the Empty Coffin
The van nearly hit a parked truck when Elena grabbed the steering wheel.
“Stop the vehicle,” she ordered.
Adrian slammed on the brakes.
“What are you doing?”” Luca demanded.
Elena climbed out into the rain.
She stood beside the road, breathing hard, her hands pressed against her mouth.
For the first time since I had met her, she looked genuinely terrified.
I followed her.
“Who is Isabella Moretti?””
Elena shook her head.
“She was Michael's mother.””
“I know that.””
“No, Anna. You don't understand.””
She turned toward me.
“Isabella was my sister.””
The rain seemed to grow louder.
I looked back at the van.
Luca had climbed out, too. Adrian stood by the open door, watching us with the expression of a man who had spent years expecting this moment.
“You had a sister?”” I asked.
“Yes.””
“And she was Michael's mother?””
Elena nodded.
“Isabella married Victor Moretti when she was twenty-two. She believed he was a businessman who wanted to build a legitimate shipping company. By the time she discovered what he was doing, she had already given birth to Michael.””
“What happened to her?””
Elena looked at the road beneath her feet.
“Victor told me she died in a car accident. He showed me photographs of the wreck. He arranged a funeral. He gave me a death certificate.””
I remembered the woman on the screen.
She looked nothing like someone who had spent twenty-eight years in hiding.
“Then how is she alive?””
“Because I never saw her body.””
Elena's voice became almost inaudible.
“Victor said the fire destroyed the remains before the police could identify them. He told me Isabella had been cremated with the other victims.””
“Why would he lie to you?””
“Because Isabella knew where the original archive was hidden. And because she was the only person who could prove Victor had stolen children.””
Adrian closed the van door.
“There's more.””
Elena turned on him.
“Of course there is. There is always more with you.””
He accepted the accusation without protest.
“Isabella wasn't just hiding from Victor. She was working with him.””
Luca swore.
“That makes no sense.””
“Isabella believed she could control him. She thought if she helped him consolidate the organization, she could eventually take it apart from the inside.””
“And Michael?”” I asked.
“Michael believed his mother was dead. Victor raised him to believe that anyone who opposed the family was an enemy.””
I thought of Michael in the chapel, standing between Vanessa and the gun pointed at him. I thought of the way he had apologized for signing the transfer papers.
I had seen guilt in his face.
But I had never seen the kind of coldness that came from knowing your own mother might have helped build the world you hated.
“Why did Isabella kiss him in the video?”” I asked.
Adrian looked away.
“Because she believes Michael betrayed her.””
“How?””
“Six months ago, Michael began investigating his father's death. He discovered evidence that Victor might be alive. He also discovered that his mother had been secretly funding the Bellini Foundation.””
Elena covered her mouth.
“Oh, Isabella.””
Adrian continued.
“She contacted Michael and offered him a deal. She would give him the archive if he handed over the ledger. He refused.””
“Why?””
“Because he wanted to expose everyone. Isabella wanted to choose which names survived.””
I felt a chill.
“So she joined Victor.””
“Or she never left him.””
We returned to the van.
Luca resumed working on the laptop while Adrian explained the warehouse layout. The building had three entrances, two guard posts, and an underground vault accessible through a biometric scanner.
My pendant held the code, but the system also required a fingerprint.
Mine.
“Once you open the vault,” Adrian said, “the archive will begin uploading to an external server. We have to keep the connection active for at least six minutes.””
“And if we don't?””
“The system wipes itself.””
Luca glanced at the screen.
“That's not the only problem.””
He turned the laptop toward us.
A security feed showed the warehouse's underground corridor.
Michael was being led toward the vault by two guards.
Victor walked behind him.
Isabella followed.
“They're moving him,” Luca said.
“Why?”” I asked.
Adrian's face tightened.
“Because Victor knows we're coming.””
He pointed to the bottom corner of the screen.
A message had appeared over the security feed.
*WELCOME HOME, ANNA.*
Below it was a second line.
*YOUR MOTHER IS WAITING.*
The van fell silent.
I looked at Elena.
“Which mother?””
She didn't answer.
I turned to Adrian.
“Can you get us inside?””
“Yes.””
“Can you get Michael out?””
“Yes.””
“Can you promise that nobody will die?””
He stared at me.
“No.””
It was the first honest answer anyone had given me all night.
I nodded.
“Then let's go.””
The Moretti warehouse stood on the edge of the river, a sprawling brick building surrounded by floodlights and high fencing.
Rainwater streamed through the gutters.
Trucks moved in and out of the loading bays, but the main entrance was guarded by armed men wearing black suits.
Adrian parked the van behind a row of shipping containers.
Luca opened the laptop.
“I'm inside their security network.””
“Already?”” I asked.
He gave me a tired smile.
“I'm good at my job.””
“You're a terrible brother.””
“Also true.””
Elena checked the ammunition in her pistol.
I looked at her.
“Did you ever love Victor?””
She stopped.
“I loved the man I thought he was.””
“And when you discovered the truth?””
“I thought I could save him.””
She looked down at the gun.
“That was my mistake.””
Adrian opened the rear doors.
“Time.””
We entered through a service tunnel beneath the loading bay.
The first guard never saw us. Adrian disabled the camera, and Luca locked the security door behind him.
The second guard heard us approaching.
He turned, raising his weapon.
“Who—”
Elena struck his wrist, twisted the gun away, and drove him into the wall. Adrian caught him before he hit the floor.
I stared at her.
She looked at me.
“I worked at Saint Agnes for seven years,” she said.
“I learned to protect myself.””
We continued through the corridor.
At the end stood a steel door marked ARCHIVE STORAGE.
Luca connected the laptop.
“Six minutes,” he warned.
“Once the upload begins, we cannot interrupt it.””
I pressed my thumb against the scanner.
A red light flashed.
*IDENTITY CONFIRMED.*
The door unlocked.
Inside, rows of metal cabinets surrounded a central computer terminal. Each cabinet carried a number, a date, and a family name.
The oldest records were nearly thirty years old.
I walked past them slowly.
Some files had photographs attached.
Newborns.
Families.
Hospital beds.
Names written in neat black ink.
I stopped in front of one cabinet.
The label read:
*MORETTI — FAMILY LINEAGE — RESTRICTED*
I opened it.
Inside was a folder bearing my name.
ANNA REED.
Beneath it was another name.
SOFIA ELENA MORETTI.
And beneath that, a third.
*BIOLOGICAL FATHER: VICTOR MORETTI.*
I gripped the cabinet.
Luca came to stand beside me.
“Anna?””
I pointed to the document.
He read it twice.
His face went white.
“That's impossible.””
Elena approached.
She saw the paper and closed her eyes.
“Victor wasn't just using you as leverage,” she whispered.
“He was my father,” I said.
“Yes.””
I turned toward her.
“Then who was the woman who gave birth to me?””
Elena looked at the photograph attached to the file.
The woman holding the newborn was Isabella.
Michael's mother.
My aunt.
The archive had been wrong about my biological mother.
Or Elena had lied.
Before I could demand an explanation, the terminal chimed.
*UPLOAD INITIATED.*
A countdown appeared.
06:00.
Five minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
Then the lights went out.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
“Thank you for opening the door, Anna.””
The emergency lights turned red.
Steel shutters slammed across the entrances.
Victor's voice continued through the speakers.
“You have given me everything I need.””
A door opened on the far side of the room.
Isabella Moretti stepped inside.
She carried a pistol in one hand and a small white envelope in the other.
She looked at Elena first.
Then at me.
“You should have stayed dead,” she told her sister.
Elena raised her weapon.
“Isabella, don't.””
Isabella smiled sadly.
“You still think you can save everyone.””
She pointed her gun at me.
“But you can't save her.””
Luca stepped in front of me.
Isabella fired.
My brother collapsed.
The gunshot echoed through the archive.
May you like
And as I dropped to my knees beside him, Isabella placed the white envelope on the terminal.
“Now,” she said, “let's find out which one of us Victor really wanted to keep.””
