Chapter 5 - The Ghost In The Clinic
Luca stared at the photograph.
The rain hammered against the bedroom window, the only sound in the suffocating silence of my mother’s destroyed house.
“That’s impossible,” Luca whispered, his voice cracking. The ruthless mafia boss was suddenly gone, replaced by a man looking at a ghost. “Elena and I… that was six years ago. Before she ever met Victor. We broke up. She left Chicago.”
“She came back, Luca,” my mother said softly, wiping the blood from her forehead. “Eighteen months ago, she came to my clinic. She was terrified. She said Victor found out about the affair she had right before they got married. He found out the child wasn't his.”
I stared at my mother, my head spinning. “Mom, what child? You told me you took the bribe to pay for my college.”
“I lied, Emily,” my mother sobbed, reaching for my hand. “I didn’t take Vanessa’s money. Vanessa found out Elena was pregnant with Luca's child. Vanessa wanted the baby dead, so there would be no heirs to challenge her claim when she married Luca.”
Luca dropped the photograph. It fluttered to the carpet.
“Where is he?” Luca demanded, his voice suddenly sharp, desperate. “Where is my child?”
My mother looked down at her hands.
“I couldn’t let Vanessa hurt him. But I couldn’t keep him here either. Victor’s men were always watching. So… I did the only thing I could think of.”
She looked up, her eyes wide with fear.
“I gave him to Isabella.”
The room spun.
“Isabella?” Luca repeated, stepping back. “My sister? My sister has my son?”
“She doesn’t know it’s your son,” my mother said quickly. “Eighteen months ago, Isabella started volunteering at the children’s ward at the hospital. I arranged for the baby to be placed in her care as an anonymous ward of the state. She fell in love with him. She sponsored his foster placement at a private facility.”
I remembered.
Isabella was always leaving the mansion on Sunday afternoons. She said she was studying for medical school at the library. But sometimes, I’d see her coming back with faint stains of baby food on her expensive coats.
“That’s why Victor was forcing Isabella to marry him,” I breathed, the pieces finally clicking together in my mind. “Victor knew Isabella was caring for the child. If he married Isabella, he would gain legal custody of the boy.”
“And he could quietly dispose of the only true Moretti heir,” Luca finished, his eyes burning with a terrifying realization.
The unconscious man on the floor groaned, shifting in the shattered glass.
Luca grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him halfway up the wall.
“Where did Victor’s men go?” Luca roared. “Where are they taking the boy?”
The man spat blood onto the floor and laughed weakly.
“You’re too late, Moretti. They aren’t taking the boy. They’re taking the girl.”
Luca froze. “What?”
“Victor’s backup team didn’t come here for the kid,” the man gasped, smiling through broken teeth. “They went to the hospital. To get the mother.”
Luca dropped the man.
“Elena,” Luca whispered.
He turned to me, his expression harder than stone.
“Emily, stay here with your mother. My guards will protect you.”
“No,” I said immediately.
Luca stopped at the door. “It’s too dangerous.”
“My mother is the only one who knows the layout of the secure wing at Pine Ridge,” I argued, grabbing my coat. “And I speak fluent Italian. If Victor’s men are from his Roman syndicate, you won’t understand their radio chatter. You need me.”
Luca studied my face for two seconds.
He didn’t argue.
“Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, the black SUV tore through the heavy iron gates of the Pine Ridge Sanctuary.
The clinic sat on a secluded, heavily wooded estate on the edge of the city. It looked more like a gothic castle than a hospital.
As we pulled up to the front entrance, my heart sank.
The glass front doors were shattered. The security guard was lying unconscious on the steps.
“They’re inside,” Luca said, drawing his weapon.
We rushed through the broken doors into the dimly lit reception area.
“Which way?” Luca asked my mother.
“Third floor. Maximum security wing,” she whispered, trembling as we moved past overturned chairs and scattered files.
We took the stairwell, moving quickly and silently.
When we reached the third floor, the heavy steel door was propped open with a chair.
Down the long, sterile hallway, we saw three men in dark suits. They were dragging a frail, thrashing woman out of Room 402.
She was wearing a faded hospital gown. Her dark hair was matted, and she looked desperately thin, but I recognized her from the photograph.
It was Elena.
“Help me!” Elena screamed, fighting against the men holding her arms.
“Shut her up!” one of the men snapped in Italian.
Before Luca could step into the hallway, I saw the man reach into his jacket and pull out a syringe.
“They’re going to sedate her!” I whispered urgently to Luca.
Luca didn’t hesitate.
He stepped around the corner and fired two suppressed shots.
Both rounds hit the ceiling directly above the men, raining plaster down on their heads.
The men cursed in Italian, dropping Elena to the floor and raising their weapons.
A fierce firefight erupted in the narrow hallway. The deafening sound of gunfire echoed off the tile walls. Luca pushed me and my mother behind a heavy metal medicine cart, returning fire with lethal precision.
One of Victor’s men went down, clutching his leg.
The other two realized they were outgunned. They abandoned Elena, sprinting toward the fire escape at the end of the hall.
Luca didn’t chase them.
He holstered his weapon and ran to the woman lying on the floor.
Elena was shaking violently, covering her head with her hands.
“Elena,” Luca whispered, dropping to his knees.
He gently reached out and touched her shoulder.
She flinched, but when she looked up and saw his face, the terror in her eyes slowly gave way to disbelief.
“Luca?” she choked out, her voice raw and unused.
“I’m here,” Luca said, his voice breaking. He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Elena sobbed into his chest, clutching his shirt.
Then, she pulled back, her eyes wide with a sudden, frantic panic.
“Luca, the baby,” she cried, grabbing his lapels. “Vanessa… she took my baby.”
“I know,” Luca said softly. “He’s safe. Isabella has him.”
Elena shook her head violently.
“No,” Elena gasped. “No, Luca, you don’t understand.”
She reached into the pocket of her hospital gown and pulled out a small, braided rosary.
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“Isabella has the boy,” Elena whispered, her voice trembling with absolute terror. “But what about the girl?”
TITLE: The Twins In The Dark
