Chapter 7
My mother was found alive at dawn.
Barely.
She had been left in an abandoned clinic outside the city with a bruised face, a broken wrist, and a black bag beside her.
Inside the bag were the birth records.
Two hospital bracelets.
A bloodstained scarf.
And an old camcorder tape labeled Sofia.
Dante brought me to the clinic in a bulletproof SUV.
I hated that I was grateful for it.
My mother lay in a hospital bed, small beneath white sheets.
For the first time in my life, she looked old.
When she saw me, tears slipped down her temples.
“Mara.”
I stood at the doorway.
I did not know if I wanted to hug her or demand she bleed truth onto the floor.
Dante waited behind me with Nico in his arms.
My mother looked at the baby.
Her face crumpled.
“Sofia’s son.”
I stepped closer.
“Tell me everything.”
She nodded.
No more warnings.
No more half stories.
No more dragons in the dark.
Her real name was Evelyn Moretti.
She had been a nurse at St. Catherine’s Hospital thirty years ago.
Antonio Bellagio had fathered twin girls with a woman named Lucia.
Lucia died during childbirth.
Antonio’s wife wanted the babies gone.
Silvio, already cruel at nineteen, arranged it.
Sofia went to a family loyal to the Bellagios.
I was handed to Evelyn with cash and instructions to take me across state lines.
But the man sent to collect me later spoke about drowning loose ends.
So Evelyn ran.
“I loved you,” she whispered.
“You bought me first.”
Her eyes closed.
“Yes.”
The truth sat between us.
Ugly.
Heavy.
Real.
Dante placed Nico in a chair and turned on the old camcorder.
Sofia appeared on the small screen.
Alive.
Her voice sounded like mine but steadier.
“My name is Sofia Bellagio. If I am dead, Silvio did it.”
Dante staggered back.
I gripped the bed rail.
May you like
Sofia looked straight into the camera.
“And Mara, if you exist, I am sorry I found you too late.”
