Chapter 10 - The Room Beneath the Chapel
The Vitale estate had a chapel.
That alone would have surprised me twenty-four hours earlier.
What surprised me more was the tunnel beneath it.
Rosa unlocked the entrance behind a carved wooden panel.
Stone steps descended into darkness.
Alessandro carried a flashlight.
Enzo carried a gun.
I carried Rex because Leo had insisted his dinosaur was lucky.
“This tunnel saved you?”
I asked.
“Yes.”
“Sofia brought you through here?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro’s answers had become shorter since Chloe’s revelation.
We reached a narrow underground room.
Old shelves lined the walls.
Dust covered everything.
Rosa touched a faded blanket.
“I have not been down here since that night.”
I looked around.
“What are we looking for?”
“Anything Sofia left.”
Rosa opened a wooden cabinet.
Empty.
Alessandro examined the stone walls.
I studied the floor.
My grandmother had taught me sewing.
Not because I liked it.
Because she believed everyone should know how to repair what they owned.
When hiding spare needles, she always used the same trick.
She tucked them into cracks behind baseboards.
I crouched.
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking like Sofia.”
I ran my fingers along the lowest stones.
One shifted.
Enzo helped pull it free.
Behind it sat a tin box.
My heart slammed.
Inside was a child’s photograph.
A handwritten letter.
And half of a medal.
Alessandro picked up the photograph.
Two boys stood beside Sofia.
On the back, she had written one line.
ONE SON MUST NEVER KNOW THE OTHER LIVED.
Alessandro’s hand tightened.
I opened the letter.
The paper was fragile.
The handwriting unmistakably hers.
If Lucia is dead and both boys are threatened, take Matteo to Saint Agnes.
Do not tell Dominic.
Do not tell Vittorio.
Do not tell Alessandro until the Green Eye is found.
The Green Eye contains the proof.
Protect Matteo from his own blood.
I looked up.
Alessandro had gone white.
“She took him.”
He spoke like the words hurt.
“Sofia took Matteo.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
“She saved both of you.”
“But why tell everyone he was kidnapped?”
Enzo answered.
“Because whoever attacked the house would keep searching if they knew he lived.”
Alessandro stared at the letter.
“My father spent the rest of his life looking for him.”
I saw the anger.
The grief.
The betrayal.
“She must have believed telling him would get Matteo killed.”
His eyes met mine.
“That does not make it easier.”
“No.”
I looked at the photograph.
“What is Saint Agnes?”
Rosa whispered.
“An orphanage.”
“It closed twenty years ago.”
Enzo was already using his phone.
Then he stopped.
His gaze hardened.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Saint Agnes had a fire.”
“When?”
Enzo looked at me.
“Three years ago.”
Again.
Three years.
Elena.
Bellandi.
Saint Agnes.
All burning back toward the same moment.
Alessandro took the photograph.
“Find every survivor.”
A sound came from the stairway.
Small feet.
Leo stood at the top.
“Papa?”
Alessandro turned.
Leo held something in his hand.
A photograph.
“Rosa said this lady was Mara’s grandma.”
My breath caught.
“Where did you get that?”
“In Mama’s room.”
Alessandro froze.
Leo came down the stairs.
He handed me the photograph.
My grandmother stood beside Elena Vitale.
The picture had been taken less than four years ago.
Less than a year before Sofia supposedly died.
May you like
On the back, Elena had written five words.
SHE FINALLY TOLD ME EVERYTHING.
