Chapter 6 - THEY TOOK HER AGAIN
There are moments when fear becomes too large for the body.
The heart beats.
The lungs continue working.
People speak around you.
But something inside simply stops.
Leah was gone.
Again.
I had found my daughter only hours earlier.
Now someone had taken her.
Damian made six phone calls in less than three minutes.
Roadblocks.
Airports.
Private fields.
Traffic cameras.
Ports.
He gave orders with terrifying calm.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
Gabriel sat in another SUV behind us, guarded by two of Damian’s men.
Dr. Warren stared at the floor.
I could not sit still.
“Who was at the house?”
“Rosa. Four guards inside. Six outside.”
“And Salvatore got through all of them?”
“He didn’t force his way in.”
I looked at Damian.
“What does that mean?”
“He was allowed inside.”
“By who?”
Damian did not answer.
The meaning became clear.
Someone in his organization had betrayed him.
When we reached the mansion, the front doors were open.
One guard lay near the entrance with blood on his shirt.
Another sat against the wall holding his arm.
Rosa was being treated by paramedics.
I ran to her.
“Rosa!”
Her eyes opened.
“Miss Elena.”
“Where is Leah?”
Tears filled Rosa’s eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“What happened?”
“Mr. Salvatore came.”
“Did Leah know him?”
“Yes.”
Of course she did.
To Leah, Salvatore was family.
“He said Mr. Damian had asked him to take Leah somewhere safe.”
Damian stood behind me.
Rosa looked at him.
“I believed him.”
“What happened next?”
“Leah didn’t want to go.”
My chest tightened.
“She kept asking for Mama.”
Rosa began crying.
“I tried to stop him.”
“He hit you?”
“No.”
She looked ashamed.
“Anthony did.”
Damian went completely still.
“Anthony?”
His security chief.
The man who had stood beside Damian in the restaurant.
The man who had given orders.
The man who had protected Leah for years.
Rosa nodded.
“He told the guards Mr. Salvatore had authorization.”
Damian turned toward one of his men.
“Find Anthony.”
“He’s missing.”
“Family?”
“Wife and son left their home two hours ago.”
Damian’s eyes became black.
“He planned this.”
I stood.
“Where would Salvatore take Leah?”
Nobody answered.
I turned toward Gabriel as he entered under guard.
“Tell me.”
Gabriel looked around the damaged foyer.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”
I crossed the room and struck him.
Again.
His wounded shoulder made him stumble.
Damian’s guards moved.
Damian stopped them.
I pointed at Gabriel.
“No more fragments. No more secrets. Tell me everything.”
Gabriel looked at Damian.
Then at me.
“Salvatore needs Leah alive.”
“For the trust?”
“Initially.”
“What now?”
“Now he needs her because she can destroy him.”
“How can a two-year-old destroy anyone?”
Gabriel looked toward Damian.
“Because Leah is the proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Vittorio Caruso was never Damian’s biological father.”
Silence.
Damian’s jaw hardened.
“We already suspected the database might be wrong.”
“It wasn’t wrong.”
Gabriel continued.
“Damian’s biological father was Vittorio’s older cousin, Luca Romano.”
Damian stared at him.
“My mother had an affair?”
“No.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“You were adopted inside the family.”
Damian laughed once.
Cold.
“Try again.”
“Your mother lost a baby late in pregnancy. Vittorio needed an heir. Luca’s wife died giving birth to you.”
I looked at Damian.
His entire identity was being dismantled in real time.
Gabriel kept speaking.
“Vittorio raised you as his son. Legally. Publicly. Completely.”
“And Bianca?”
“Bianca was Vittorio’s biological daughter.”
“And Elena?”
“Also Vittorio’s.”
Damian understood.
“So Elena and Bianca were half-sisters.”
“Yes.”
“But I’m not related to Elena biologically.”
“Correct.”
My thoughts moved quickly.
“Then Warren’s test could show Damian as Leah’s father without incest.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
That was when I knew.
“No.”
He looked away.
“No.”
I stepped toward him.
“Gabriel.”
Damian stared.
“What is she saying?”
I looked at Gabriel.
“You’re not Leah’s father.”
Silence.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
That was the answer.
My knees weakened.
I turned toward Damian.
He looked completely still.
“No.”
Gabriel spoke quietly.
“Elena was unconscious for almost two days after the birth.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Damian’s voice sounded lethal.
Gabriel looked at him.
“No. I am not Sofia’s biological father.”
I covered my mouth.
Everything inside me became nausea.
I remembered the months before the pregnancy.
Gabriel traveling constantly.
Our marriage strained.
Then one night.
A charity event in Geneva.
Too much champagne.
An argument.
I had left the ballroom.
Damian had been there.
Hadn’t he?
A memory appeared.
A hotel terrace.
A stranger.
Dark suit.
Blood on his cuff.
He had asked if I was okay.
I had laughed.
We had talked for almost an hour.
I never knew his name.
Then another memory.
The elevator.
A kiss.
My stomach dropped.
Damian was staring at me.
Recognition entered his face too.
“Geneva,” he whispered.
I could barely stand.
“You were at the Helvetia Foundation gala.”
“Yes.”
“Two years and nine months ago.”
He nodded slowly.
I remembered waking the next morning in a hotel suite.
Alone.
Ashamed.
Confused.
Gabriel and I had reconciled weeks later.
When I discovered I was pregnant, I had assumed the baby was his.
Damian looked stunned.
“You were married.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I never told you my name.”
“You left before I woke up.”
“I was ashamed.”
Gabriel looked between us.
“The timing matched.”
I turned on him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I tested the baby.”
I could barely process the cruelty.
“You knew Damian was her father.”
“I knew the DNA matched Caruso records.”
“And you never told me.”
“I panicked.”
“Why?”
“Because if Damian learned he had a biological child, everything changed.”
Damian stepped toward him.
“You stole my daughter.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I saved your daughter from Salvatore.”
“You stole her from both parents.”
This time I did not step between them.
Damian punched Gabriel.
Then again.
Gabriel fell.
Damian grabbed him.
“Where would Salvatore take her?”
“I don’t know.”
Damian pressed the gun against his jaw.
“Wrong answer.”
“I don’t!”
Gabriel shouted.
“But Thomas might.”
I stared.
“Thomas works for Salvatore.”
“He used to.”
“What changed?”
“Thomas learned Salvatore planned to kill Leah after transferring the trust.”
“So he turned?”
“Not exactly.”
Gabriel wiped blood from his mouth.
“Thomas wants the money for himself.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful.”
Damian’s phone buzzed.
A security analyst approached.
“We found traffic footage.”
He displayed a tablet.
A dark sedan leaving the mansion.
Salvatore sat in back.
Beside him was Leah.
She was crying.
Then another figure entered the frame.
Anthony.
Damian’s security chief.
The sedan turned south.
“Follow the route,” Damian ordered.
“We did.”
The analyst hesitated.
“The vehicle disappeared near St. Catherine’s.”
I frowned.
“The hospital?”
“No.”
Damian’s expression changed.
He knew the name.
“What is St. Catherine’s?” I asked.
“An old convent outside the city.”
“Why would Salvatore go there?”
Damian looked toward Gabriel.
Gabriel’s face had gone pale.
I understood immediately.
“You know.”
Gabriel did not answer.
I grabbed his shirt.
“What is there?”
He looked at me.
“The records.”
“What records?”
“Births. Transfers. Identities.”
His voice dropped.
“Children Salvatore moved through private clinics for years.”
My blood turned cold.
“Leah wasn’t the first.”
“No.”
Damian loaded his weapon.
“How many?”
Gabriel looked toward him.
“Dozens.”
The room went silent.
May you like
Damian’s face became something I never wanted directed at me.
“Then tonight,” he said, “we bring them all home.”
