Chapter 5 - The Address in the Blue Folder
The bullet passed through my shoulder without hitting bone.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that I lost enough blood to feel as if the room were floating.
Dr. Patel bandaged me inside the safe room while Lorenzo’s men regained control of the mansion.
The attackers had underestimated the estate’s defenses.
Or maybe they had never intended to take the house.
Maybe the attack was only meant to create confusion.
By midnight, six attackers had been captured.
Four were dead.
Two had escaped.
Marco Bellini was nowhere to be found.
Rosa Rossi had survived the sniper shot because the bullet struck the armored panel hidden inside her coat.
Apparently mafia mothers dressed differently than normal mothers.
When she finally entered the library, she looked furious rather than injured.
A bruise darkened her ribs.
Blood streaked one sleeve.
But she walked under her own power.
Then she saw me.
Everything changed.
“You look like Catherine.”
I stared at her from the sofa.
“People keep telling me things about my life without providing answers.”
Rosa nodded.
“Fair.”
She sat across from me.
Lorenzo stood near the fireplace with Leo.
The baby had been examined again.
Stable.
Fed.
Sleeping.
Alive.
I kept reminding myself of that.
Rosa placed the leather folder on the table.
“This is everything Nicholas gave me three days before he died.”
I reached for it.
Lorenzo stopped me.
“You're injured.”
“My eyes work.”
He released the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Bank transfers.
Hospital documents.
Names.
Several pages had handwritten notes.
Nick’s handwriting.
Seeing it almost broke me.
I touched one sentence.
Hunter cannot know until I can prove it.
My eyes filled.
“What was he trying to prove?”
Rosa pointed to a photograph.
A woman leaving St. Catherine’s through a rear entrance.
Rebecca.
My mother.
My aunt.
Whatever she was.
The date stamp was June eighteenth.
The night my daughter was born.
“Why was she there?”
“We don't know.”
I studied the image.
Rebecca wore a gray coat.
She carried a large black handbag.
A man walked beside her.
His face was partly turned away.
Lorenzo leaned closer.
“Halpern.”
Dr. Aaron Halpern.
My obstetrician.
The missing doctor.
My stomach twisted.
“There are more.”
Rosa turned the page.
Another photograph.
Rebecca entering a private medical transport vehicle.
Another.
The van arriving at a waterfront property.
The image quality was poor.
A sign near the driveway read:
BELLHAVEN RECOVERY CENTER.
Lorenzo grabbed the page.
“I know that property.”
“Who owns it?”
“Technically? A foundation.”
“Actually?”
He looked at his mother.
“Marco.”
Silence.
My blood went cold.
“You said you know where my baby is.”
Rosa nodded.
“Bellhaven.”
I stood.
Pain ripped through my shoulder.
Dr. Patel pushed me back down.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“You were shot ninety minutes ago.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
“Everybody apparently cares what happens to my body except when somebody cut my daughter out of it and stole her.”
Nobody answered.
Good.
I pointed at the photo.
“If she is there, I am going.”
Lorenzo crossed his arms.
“Absolutely not.”
I laughed.
“You really enjoy that word.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I'll crawl.”
“Hunter.”
“My baby spent three weeks somewhere without me.”
His expression softened.
“She might not be there anymore.”
“Then I want to be there when we find out.”
Rosa spoke.
“Let her go.”
Lorenzo turned.
“Mother.”
“She'll go whether you give permission or not.”
I looked at Rosa.
For the first time, I liked her.
Lorenzo muttered something in Italian.
Rosa answered in Italian.
They argued for thirty seconds.
I understood nothing.
Finally, Lorenzo looked at me.
“You stay in the armored vehicle until we secure the property.”
“Fine.”
“You do exactly what I say.”
“No.”
“Hunter.”
“I'll do what makes sense.”
Rosa smiled.
“She really does look like Catherine.”
Lorenzo glared at both of us.
Twenty minutes later, I was wearing one of Rosa’s black coats over my bandaged shoulder.
Dr. Patel came with us in case my daughter needed medical care.
Leo remained at the mansion with a carefully selected pediatric team and four guards Lorenzo apparently trusted with his life.
Leaving him frightened me.
That surprised me.
I'd known Leo only days.
But feeding him had connected something inside me.
I kissed his forehead before leaving.
“Stay hungry,” I whispered.
Lorenzo heard.
His face tightened with emotion.
Then we left.
Bellhaven Recovery Center sat near Oyster Bay overlooking the Long Island Sound.
From the road, it looked like a luxury rehabilitation retreat.
Stone buildings.
Trees.
Water.
Privacy.
At 1:38 a.m., Lorenzo’s vehicles stopped half a mile away.
His men moved first.
No sirens.
No lights.
Only shadows.
I sat inside the SUV with Rosa and Dr. Patel.
My shoulder throbbed.
My hands were ice-cold.
Every minute felt like an hour.
Then Lorenzo’s voice came through the radio.
“Main building secure.”
I grabbed the door handle.
Rosa stopped me.
“He said main building.”
“I heard him.”
“There may be others.”
“Then they can catch up.”
I opened the door.
Rosa sighed and followed.
Lorenzo saw me approaching and looked furious.
“I told you—”
“Later.”
His jaw tightened.
“Fine.”
The front doors had been forced open.
Inside, Bellhaven didn't look abandoned.
Lights were on.
Beds were made.
Medical equipment was running.
But no patients.
No staff.
We moved down a corridor.
Dr. Patel examined a treatment room.
“Neonatal supplies.”
My chest tightened.
Small diapers.
Formula.
Blankets.
Bottles.
A warming bed.
My daughter had been here.
I knew it.
Then I heard something.
A cry.
Faint.
From upstairs.
I froze.
“Did you hear that?”
Everyone stopped.
Again.
A baby.
I ran.
Pain tore through my shoulder.
Lorenzo shouted behind me.
I didn't care.
I climbed the stairs.
The cry came from behind a white door.
I pushed it open.
A nursery.
Three bassinets.
One empty.
One containing a sleeping infant boy.
The third—
A baby girl wrapped in yellow.
My entire world stopped.
“Baby?”
My voice broke.
I approached slowly.
She turned her head toward me.
Dark hair.
Tiny mouth.
A hospital band around her ankle.
I made a sound I had never heard from myself before.
Half scream.
Half sob.
I lifted her.
Dr. Patel rushed behind me.
“Careful.”
“My baby.”
“I know.”
“My baby.”
I held her against my chest.
Three weeks disappeared.
The operating room.
The empty hospital room.
The grief.
The silence.
The milk stains I hid beneath my uniform.
She was warm.
Alive.
My daughter.
Her cheek pressed against my skin.
I sobbed into her hair.
“I'm sorry.”
Dr. Patel checked her breathing while I held her.
“She looks stable.”
Lorenzo entered.
He stopped.
His niece.
Nick’s daughter.
His face crumpled for one second before he controlled it.
I looked at him.
“She has his hair.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Rosa entered last.
She stared at the child.
Something strange crossed her face.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Lorenzo noticed.
“Mother?”
Rosa didn't answer.
She approached.
Touched my daughter’s tiny foot.
Then whispered:
“Hello, Ava.”
My heart stopped.
I looked at her.
“What did you call her?”
Rosa froze.
I had never told anyone at the mansion my daughter’s name.
Not Lorenzo.
Not Lydia.
Not Dr. Patel.
Not even Nick’s voicemail had mentioned it.
I tightened my hold.
“How do you know her name?”
Rosa looked at me.
Before she could answer, a voice came from behind us.
“Because she was here when the baby arrived.”
We turned.
Dr. Halpern stood in the doorway.
A gun in his hand.
Pointed at Rosa.
Lorenzo immediately reached for his weapon.
Halpern pressed the muzzle to Rosa’s head.
“Don't.”
Everyone froze.
My daughter began crying.
Halpern looked at me.
“Hunter.”
“You stole my baby.”
His face twisted.
“No.”
“Then what do you call this?”
“I kept her alive.”
“Where is Rebecca?”
That question changed him.
He looked toward the hallway.
“Your aunt made a terrible mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She tried to undo what she started.”
My blood went cold.
“What did she start?”
Halpern smiled sadly.
“Hunter, who do you think introduced Marco Bellini to the hospital?”
I stared.
“No.”
“Rebecca.”
“No.”
“She didn't come to St. Catherine’s to steal your daughter.”
“Then why?”
“To steal Leo.”
Lorenzo’s face went deadly still.
Halpern continued.
“But when she realized your baby had been targeted too, she turned against Marco.”
I could barely breathe.
“Where is she?”
Halpern looked directly at me.
“If Marco finds her before we do, you'll lose the only person alive who knows who ordered Sophia Rossi’s car bomb.”
A shot exploded.
Halpern jerked backward.
Rosa screamed.
Blood appeared on his chest.
He collapsed.
Nobody in our room had fired.
Lorenzo spun toward the window.
Outside, across the dark lawn, someone lowered a rifle.
Marco Bellini.
May you like
He looked straight at us.
Then ran.
