Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Raised Me
“No.”
The word came out before I could think.
Rosa Rossi remained silent on the phone.
I gripped the receiver so tightly my fingers hurt.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“You don't know anything about me.”
“I knew you before Rebecca ever held you.”
My stomach twisted.
Lorenzo watched me.
Dr. Patel watched me.
Even Lydia had stopped crying.
Gunfire still echoed somewhere beyond the safe room walls, but it suddenly felt far away.
“You said you saved my baby.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“That's not an answer.”
“It is the only answer I can give while Lorenzo’s communications are compromised.”
Lorenzo took the phone from me.
“You're calling through my internal line.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I helped build the emergency system.”
He stared at the wall.
“Are you inside the house?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“I won't tell you.”
His jaw tightened.
“My property is under attack.”
“I know.”
“Marco left me a warning not to trust you.”
Rosa was quiet.
Then:
“Marco is the reason your property is under attack.”
Lorenzo stared at the security monitor.
“He was shot by them.”
“Was he?”
The question landed heavily.
I looked at the monitor.
Blood.
Marco stumbling.
The handwritten warning.
Could it have been staged?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Lorenzo’s voice turned icy.
“You have thirty seconds to explain.”
“Your brother discovered a trafficking operation connected to St. Catherine’s. Sophia discovered the financial trail. Both believed someone inside the family was protecting it.”
“Who?”
“Marco Bellini.”
Lorenzo laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Marco has been beside me since I was nineteen.”
“I know.”
“He carried Sophia out of the wreckage.”
“I know.”
“He took a bullet for me in Brooklyn.”
“I know.”
“Then you'd better have proof.”
“I do.”
“Send it.”
“Not electronically.”
“Mother.”
“Someone has access to your encrypted network.”
Lorenzo looked toward his security equipment.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to survive the next twenty minutes.”
She gave him instructions.
Disable the eastern generator.
Close the wine-cellar passage.
Order guards away from the north courtyard.
Lorenzo questioned every detail.
Then one of his remaining security officers called through the safe-room system.
“Boss, they're coming through the wine cellar.”
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“How many?”
“Six. Maybe eight.”
Rosa heard him.
“Now do you believe me?”
He shut the passage remotely.
Steel barriers dropped.
The security feed showed attackers trapped between two reinforced doors.
For the first time, Lorenzo seemed uncertain.
Rosa continued.
“Someone gave them the architectural plans.”
“Marco had access.”
“Yes.”
“So did you.”
“I designed half of those systems.”
“Exactly.”
Their relationship existed in every word.
Love wrapped in suspicion.
History wrapped in anger.
I couldn't take it anymore.
“My daughter.”
Rosa went silent.
“Enough family drama. Tell me where my child is.”
“Hunter—”
“No.”
I took the phone back.
“You said Rebecca isn't my mother. You said you saved my baby. You knew Nick. You knew about me. I want everything.”
Rosa exhaled.
“Your biological mother’s name was Catherine Vale.”
The name meant nothing.
Or I thought it did.
Then Lydia gasped.
I turned.
“What?”
She covered her mouth.
“Catherine Vale?”
“You know her?”
“She founded St. Catherine’s.”
Silence.
My heartbeat thundered.
The hospital where I gave birth.
The hospital where my daughter was stolen.
The hospital named after my biological mother.
Rosa continued quietly.
“Catherine Vale was a nurse before she became a hospital administrator. Brilliant. Stubborn. Reckless.”
“What happened to her?”
“She discovered what the hospital board was doing.”
I almost laughed.
“Let me guess. Stealing babies.”
“Not then.”
“What?”
“This began decades earlier with illegal adoption arrangements. Wealthy families paid intermediaries to bypass waiting lists. Young women were pressured into signing documents they didn't understand.”
Lorenzo’s expression darkened.
“How were the Rossis involved?”
“My husband.”
Lorenzo froze.
“Father?”
“Yes.”
Rosa’s voice broke for the first time.
“Your father used the hospital to move money.”
I looked between them.
“Money?”
“Payments disguised as donations.”
“And Catherine?”
“She found the records.”
“What did she do?”
“She threatened to go to federal investigators.”
“What happened?”
Rosa was silent.
I already knew I wouldn't like the answer.
“She disappeared.”
I closed my eyes.
“How old was I?”
“Seven months.”
My knees weakened.
“Rebecca?”
“Catherine’s younger sister.”
I sat.
Rebecca.
My aunt.
The woman I had called Mom my entire life.
The woman who resented Nick.
The woman who came to the hospital the night my daughter disappeared.
“Why did she raise me?”
“Because Catherine made her promise.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“I don't know.”
Rosa’s answer came too quickly.
“You do.”
Another silence.
I looked at Lorenzo.
He was watching me carefully.
“What aren't you saying?”
Rosa finally replied.
“Rebecca believed the Rossi family killed Catherine.”
“Did they?”
Lorenzo looked at the phone.
Rosa said nothing.
I felt sick.
“Did your husband kill my mother?”
“I never found proof.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“I don't know.”
My voice broke.
“You've known my whole life?”
“Yes.”
“And Nick?”
“Nicholas found Catherine’s file six months ago.”
“That’s how he knew me?”
“No.”
That answer surprised me.
“He met you by accident.”
I thought of the coffee shop where I'd first seen Nick.
He'd spilled espresso down his sleeve because he was staring at me.
I'd teased him for weeks.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“He didn't date me because of this?”
“No.”
Something inside me loosened.
A tiny piece of my relationship had survived.
“He learned the truth later,” Rosa said. “That's why he started investigating.”
“And that's why he died.”
“Yes.”
The word was almost too soft to hear.
Tears filled my eyes.
Leo had fallen asleep again.
I touched his tiny hand.
“Who killed him?”
“I believe Marco arranged it.”
Lorenzo turned away.
Rosa continued.
“Nick found proof that the modern trafficking ring wasn't simply selling infants. They were targeting bloodlines.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Children connected to wealthy families. Politicians. Criminal organizations. Business owners.”
“For ransom?”
“Leverage.”
Lorenzo understood before I did.
“Insurance.”
“Yes,” Rosa said. “A hidden child becomes power. A DNA test can destroy marriages, inheritance plans, political careers.”
My stomach twisted.
“And my daughter?”
“She's Nicholas Rossi’s child and Catherine Vale’s granddaughter.”
“What does that make her worth?”
Silence.
I nearly screamed.
“What does that make her worth?”
“To the wrong people?”
Rosa’s voice was grim.
“More than money.”
A loud explosion shook the mansion.
Dust fell from the safe-room ceiling.
Dr. Patel grabbed Leo’s bassinet.
Lorenzo checked the monitor.
“South generator.”
Rosa immediately said, “They're trying to force the safe room onto secondary ventilation.”
Lorenzo stared at the air vent.
“What happens then?”
“They can introduce gas.”
Everyone looked upward.
“Turn it off,” Rosa ordered.
Lorenzo hit a control.
Nothing.
“Manual valve,” he said.
“Behind the weapons cabinet.”
He opened the cabinet and found a red wheel.
He shut it.
Seconds later, one ventilation indicator turned orange.
Someone was definitely attempting to push something into the airflow.
My hands went cold.
Rosa had just saved us.
Maybe.
“Where are you?” Lorenzo asked.
“Coming to you.”
“No.”
“You need proof.”
“Stay away.”
“Son.”
The word softened something in him.
“I have spent too many years letting men convince me that silence protects family. It doesn't.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
“Mother—”
The line died.
He stared at the receiver.
“What happened?”
“No signal.”
A security monitor suddenly came back online.
Front gate.
Three black SUVs approached.
Our guards aimed weapons.
The first vehicle stopped.
Rear door opened.
An elegant woman in her late sixties stepped out.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
No visible fear.
Rosa Rossi.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
“She came.”
She walked toward armed guards carrying nothing but a leather folder.
Then another camera showed movement behind her.
A sniper.
On the neighboring rooftop.
I saw the small flash.
“Lorenzo!”
He hit the intercom.
“GET HER DOWN!”
The shot cracked.
Rosa collapsed.
I covered my mouth.
Lorenzo went completely white.
Men dragged her behind the SUV.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Then every camera died.
The safe room became silent except for Leo’s breathing.
Lorenzo stood perfectly still.
I touched his arm.
He didn't react.
Then a sound came from behind us.
A click.
Lydia looked toward the medicine cabinet.
“What was that?”
Another click.
The cabinet door slowly opened.
There shouldn't have been anyone inside.
A man stepped out from a maintenance passage.
Gun raised.
He aimed directly at Leo.
I moved before thinking.
I threw myself between them.
The gun fired.
Pain exploded through my shoulder.
I hit the floor.
Lorenzo fired back.
The man dropped.
Someone screamed my name.
The room spun.
Leo was crying.
Dr. Patel pressed her hands against my shoulder.
Blood covered her fingers.
I tried to sit up.
“My daughter.”
“You've been shot,” she said.
“My daughter.”
Lorenzo dropped beside me.
“You're going to be okay.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
His face was above mine.
For the first time, Lorenzo Rossi looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not dangerous.
Terrified.
I grabbed his jacket.
“If I die—”
“You're not dying.”
“If I die, get her.”
“Hunter.”
“Promise me.”
His eyes burned.
“I promise.”
I heard shouting outside the safe room.
Then Rosa’s voice over the intercom.
Weak.
Alive.
“Lorenzo.”
His head snapped up.
May you like
“Mother?”
“I know where the baby is.”
