Chapter 5
I did not sleep.
Neither did Leo.
He sat beside me in the study while agents copied files and my mother cried in the chapel room down the hall.
The house felt different after the truth.
The marble floors.
The guards.
The locked gates.
All of it looked less like protection and more like proof that I had built a fortress around the wrong people.
Leo leaned against my side.
“Did Mom know my sister?”
I closed my eyes.
“I think she held her.”
“Was Mila scared?”
I could not lie to him.
“Maybe.”
His small hand found mine.
“We have to get her.”
“I know.”
“Today.”
I looked at him.
He was bruised.
Exhausted.
Still afraid.
But there was steel in him.
Sofia’s steel.
“Today,” I promised.
Rachel’s team found the private foster house before dawn.
It was outside Joliet, behind a white fence and a sign that said Saint Agnes Family Care.
A soft name.
A clean lawn.
A place built to make people stop asking questions.
Agents raided it at 6:12 a.m.
I was not allowed near the front line.
Rachel put me in a van with Leo, Valentina, and two child advocates.
I hated every second.
Through the windshield, I watched agents carry out boxes.
Computers.
Files.
Children’s blankets.
Then a woman in a blue cardigan was brought out in cuffs.
Mother Agnes.
Not a nun.
Not a saint.
A broker.
Rachel came to the van with a folder.
Her face told me before her mouth did.
“Mila was here.”
My heart stopped.
“Was?”
“She was transferred three months ago.”
Leo started crying.
“To who?” I asked.
Rachel opened the folder.
“A couple in Wisconsin. False adoption. The records list her as Amelia Grant.”
I repeated it silently.
Amelia.
Mila.
My daughter had a name that almost remembered itself.
Rachel handed me a photo.
A little girl with dark curls and serious eyes stood beside a lake.
She was holding a yellow toy boat.
My hand shook.
She had Sofia’s mouth.
My mouth.
Leo touched the picture like it might vanish.
“That’s her?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“That’s my sister?”
“Yes.”
He began to sob.
I pulled him into my arms.
For the first time since Sofia died, grief and hope hit me together.
It felt like drowning while seeing shore.
Then Rachel’s radio crackled.
“Grant residence is empty. Neighbors report family left last night.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Bellini.”
Rachel nodded.
“He’s cleaning the trail.”
Javier, still in custody, refused to talk.
Until Leo walked into the interrogation room.
I did not want him there.
Rachel did not want him there.
Leo wanted to go.
“He hurt me because of the key,” my son said. “He knows where Mila is.”
Javier looked almost amused when Leo entered.
Then my boy lifted his shirt enough to show the bruise across his ribs.
My rage went blind.
But Leo spoke first.
“You did that to me.”
Javier’s smile faded.
“You shouldn’t have touched things that weren’t yours.”
“My mom was mine.”
The room went quiet.
“My sister is mine too.”
Javier looked away.
Leo stepped closer.
“You’re scared of my dad. But you should be scared of my mom.”
Javier swallowed.
“Your mother is dead.”
Leo held up Sofia’s letter.
“She still beat you.”
That broke something in Javier.
Not guilt.
Pride.
He looked at Rachel.
“If I talk, Bellini kills me.”
Rachel sat down.
“If you don’t, Dante stops protecting the process.”
I said nothing.
I did not need to.
Javier looked at me once and understood.
He gave us an address.
Not in Wisconsin.
Not in Chicago.
A lake house in Michigan owned through a shell company tied to Dr. Marchetti.
Father Bellini was taking Mila there before moving her across the border.
Rachel moved fast.
Federal warrants.
State police.
No Moretti convoy.
No family army.
But as they prepared to leave, Leo grabbed my coat.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my sister.”
“You are hurt.”
“She was alone longer.”
I crouched.
“I need you safe.”
His chin trembled.
“I need her safe too.”
I looked at Rachel.
She shook her head.
Absolutely not.
Then Valentina stepped in.
“I’ll stay with him.”
Leo cried harder.
But he did not fight.
That was worse.
I kissed his forehead.
“I will bring her home.”
May you like
He pressed the silver key into my palm.
“Mom brought us this far,” he whispered. “Take her with you.”
