"This is my house."
"And I am your son."
For a long moment, neither moved.
Then Vittorio stood.
"Five minutes."
He walked out through the private corridor.
Lorenzo waited until the door closed.
"Now talk."
Elena took a breath.
"My mother's name was Sofia Moretti. She worked here when she was young."
"When?"
"Twenty-seven years ago."
Lorenzo looked toward the photograph.
"My mother was alive then."
"Yes."
"How did they know each other?"
"I don't know everything. My mother never told me the whole story."
"Why not?"
"Because she was afraid."
Lorenzo stared at her.
"Of my father?"
Elena did not answer immediately.
Then she nodded.
"My mother said the De Luca family had taken something from her. She said they had taken a child and made the world believe the child was dead."
Lorenzo looked at the photograph again.
The little girl stood beside Margaret.
She was no more than two years old.
"Who is that?"
"I believe it's your sister."
He looked at Elena.
"I don't have a sister."
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
Lorenzo walked away.
He reached the fireplace and rested one hand against the stone mantel.
For eighteen years, he had accepted the story.
His mother had been ill.
There had been complications.
The family had protected him from unnecessary suffering.
He remembered the funeral.
The closed coffin.
His father's refusal to let him see her.
He had been twelve years old.
Old enough to understand death.
Young enough to believe his father.
"Why would they hide a child?" he asked.
Elena lowered her eyes.
"Because she was inconvenient."
"That isn't an answer."
"My mother wrote that Margaret had discovered something about the family. Something that involved your grandfather, your father, and a woman named Sofia."
Lorenzo turned.
"Your mother."
"Yes."
"What did she discover?"
Elena reached into the pocket of her apron and removed a folded piece of paper.
"I think you should read this."
It was a photocopy of a handwritten letter.
The paper had yellowed.
The handwriting was elegant and familiar.
Lorenzo began reading.
My dearest Sofia,
If anything happens to me, you must protect the children.
Vittorio knows the truth now. He knows that the old agreement was never legitimate, and he knows that the first child is entitled to the family name.
He will do anything to prevent the truth from reaching the council.
Do not trust the people who promise to help you.
Especially not Matteo's father.
I am sorry I brought you into this.
Margaret.
Lorenzo read it twice.
Then he looked at Elena.
"Who is Matteo's father?"
"Your uncle, according to my mother."
Lorenzo's face changed.
His uncle, Alessandro Bellini, had died twenty years earlier.
The family story said he had betrayed the organization and disappeared.
Nobody had ever explained why.
"What old agreement?"
Elena shook her head.
"I don't know."
"What happened to the first child?"
"I don't know that either."
Lorenzo looked toward the door.
His father was waiting outside.
And suddenly, the most frightening possibility was no longer that Elena might be lying.
It was that she might be telling the truth.
***
Vittorio was in the library when Lorenzo entered.
The old man stood beside a cabinet containing rare books and several family photographs.
One photograph showed Vittorio and Margaret on their wedding day.
He was young, handsome, and smiling.
She looked happy.
Lorenzo had always wondered whether the smile had been genuine.
"Sit," Vittorio said.
"No."
"Then listen."
Lorenzo remained standing.
"Who was my mother's first child?"
The Don closed the cabinet.
"There are things you do not understand."
"Then explain them."
"Your mother was a complicated woman."
"She was your wife."
"She was also a danger to this family."
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
"Be careful."
Vittorio turned.
"You think I wanted what happened? You think I enjoyed burying the woman I loved?"
Lorenzo said nothing.
"Your mother believed that blood gave people rights. She believed the family should be governed by law, not by the strength of whoever held the title."
"That sounds reasonable."
"Not in our world."
"What happened to the child?"
Vittorio looked toward the window.
"She died."
"Where is the body?"
The old man remained silent.
Lorenzo took a step forward.
"Where is the body?"
"She was very young."
"That isn't an answer."
"Your mother became unstable after the birth. She believed people were conspiring against her. She began making accusations."
"What accusations?"
"That my brother had stolen money. That the council had falsified documents. That the family was hiding an heir."
Lorenzo looked at him.
"Was she wrong?"
Vittorio's silence was answer enough.
"Who was the child?"
"I told you. She died."
"Then why did you keep her photograph?"
Vittorio looked at the desk.
There was a framed picture beside the lamp.
Margaret was holding a little girl.
Lorenzo approached it.
The child had dark hair and a small gold pendant around her neck.
The same pendant Elena had described finding in her mother's box.
He touched the frame.
"Who was she?"
Vittorio closed his eyes.
"Her name was Isabella."
Lorenzo turned.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"Because the last time I saw her, she was alive."
The words seemed to surprise even Vittorio.
Lorenzo stood motionless.
"Say that again."
The old man looked at his son.
"Your sister was taken from the house when she was three."
"By whom?"
Vittorio looked toward the door.
"By someone I trusted."
"Who?"
"Alessandro Bellini."
Lorenzo stared at him.
"Matteo's father?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he believed the child had a stronger claim to the family than I did."
Lorenzo felt the room shifting around him.
"And you let him take her?"
"I searched for years."
"You told me she died."
"I believed that was safer."
"For whom?"
Vittorio's voice broke.
"For her."
Lorenzo looked at the photograph.
Then he remembered Elena's words.
The first child was never buried.
"How does Sofia Moretti fit into this?"
Vittorio's expression hardened again.
"She was the nurse."
"And?"
"She helped Alessandro remove Isabella from the estate."
Lorenzo shook his head.
"Why would my mother trust her?"
"Because Sofia believed she was protecting the child."
"Was she?"
Vittorio did not answer.
Lorenzo picked up the photograph.
For the first time, he noticed the gold pendant around Isabella's neck.
It was identical to the one Elena had found.
"Where is the original?"
"Which original?"
"The pendant."
Vittorio looked at him.
Then he said something that changed everything.
"Your mother gave it to the child before she disappeared."
***
Elena waited in a guest room on the eastern side of the mansion.