Chapter 6: The Daughter Nobody Knew
Vittorio stared at the photograph.
His hands stopped moving.
His breathing stopped.
The picture showed a young woman.
Dark hair.
Bright eyes.
Standing beside his father.
A woman he had never seen.
A woman who looked strangely familiar.
Daniel watched him carefully.
“Now you understand.””
Vittorio looked up.
“No.””
His voice was quiet.
“No, I don’t.””
Daniel leaned against the desk.
“Your father had another child.””
The room felt smaller.
Impossible.
Vittorio had spent his entire life knowing his family history.
Or at least believing he did.
His father.
His mother.
Antonio.
Himself.
There had never been another name.
“Why would my father hide this?””
Daniel smiled.
“Because powerful men are good at hiding the things that make them human.””
Vittorio looked back at the photograph.
“What was her name?””
Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
“Isabella.””
The name felt unfamiliar.
But somehow painful.
“Where is she?””
Daniel looked away.
“That depends.””
“On what?””
“On whether you want the truth.””
Vittorio stepped closer.
“I want everything.””
Daniel nodded.
“Then you need to understand Bianca was never trying to take your company.””
Vittorio frowned.
“What?””
“She was trying to force you to open the family records.””
“What records?””
Daniel pointed toward the old photograph.
“The ones your father left behind.””
Vittorio looked at the envelope.
His father’s handwriting.
His father’s secret.
For years, he had believed his father built an empire and left it to him.
Now he wondered what else had been buried.
“What does Lucy have to do with this?””
Daniel’s expression changed.
“She doesn’t.””
Vittorio studied him.
“You’re lying.””
Daniel smiled slightly.
“You always were observant.””
Before Vittorio could respond, the office door opened.
Emma stood there.
“Vittorio.””
Her face was pale.
“Lucy is gone.””
The world stopped.
“What?””
“I checked her room. She’s not there.””
Vittorio ran.
He didn’t think.
He didn’t breathe.
He moved.
The hallway felt endless.
“Lucy!””
No answer.
Her bedroom door was open.
The window was unlocked.
Vittorio felt his heart collapse.
Then he saw something on the bed.
Her notebook.
Open.
A single sentence written on the page.
Daddy,
I found the person from my drawing.
Vittorio grabbed the notebook.
“What drawing?””
Emma pointed.
The last page.
The one Lucy had drawn earlier.
The man outside the door.
The man she said told Bianca she wasn’t important.
Except now there was something new.
A second person.
A woman.
Standing beside him.
Underneath, Lucy had written:
She said she knew Mommy.
Vittorio froze.
Lucy’s mother.
The woman who died two years ago.
The woman everyone said was gone.
Behind him, Daniel quietly entered the room.
He saw the drawing.
And for the first time…
he looked afraid.
“You know her.””
Vittorio turned.
“Who?””
Daniel didn’t answer.
He stared at the drawing.
“The woman beside him.””
“Who is she?””
Daniel whispered:
“Isabella.””
The name hit harder than before.
Because it meant one thing.
Lucy hadn’t been kidnapped randomly.
May you like
Someone had taken her because of a secret from the past.
A secret involving Vittorio’s dead wife.
