The Blood That Bound Us

PART 2 — THE SECRET THEY BURIED

“If Luca Mancini discovers Elena is his daughter, the people who killed her mother will come back to finish what they started.”

I read the note twice.

Then I looked at Marco.

“Who killed Sofia?”

“We’re investigating, boss. But there’s something strange. Six months ago, Sofia was involved in a hit-and-run accident. The police ruled it accidental.”

I stared at him.

“Do you believe that?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.”

I turned toward Elena. My daughter. A seventeen-year-old girl who had grown up without knowing her father was alive.

“From this moment forward, nobody gets near her without my permission. Put armed guards outside her room. Nobody leaves this hospital without being checked.”

Marco nodded.

“And find out everything about Sofia’s last six months.”

Before he could answer, my phone vibrated.

An unknown number.

A photograph appeared on the screen.

It showed Elena sleeping in her hospital bed, taken only minutes earlier.

Beneath it was a message.

You should have let the girl die, Mancini. Sofia made the same mistake seventeen years ago.

My blood turned cold.

I called Marco.

“Lock down the entire hospital. Someone is inside.”

He immediately reached for his weapon.

But before we could move, the lights went out.

A second later, emergency alarms began ringing throughout the corridor.

“Boss!” Marco shouted.

I rushed toward Elena’s bed.

A nurse stood beside her, preparing to disconnect one of the machines.

“Step away from my daughter!”

She froze.

Then she reached into her pocket.

I caught her wrist before she could pull out the syringe hidden inside her coat.

Two security officers rushed into the room and restrained her.

The woman struggled, screaming, “You don’t understand! They said they’d kill my son!”

I leaned closer.

“Who sent you?”

She began crying.

“A woman named Victoria. She said the girl was supposed to die tonight.”

“Victoria who?”

The nurse looked directly at me.

“Victoria Reynolds.”

The surname hit me like a bullet.

Reynolds.

Sofia’s former employer.

And the woman who had once been engaged to my older brother.

I stepped back, my mind racing.

Seventeen years ago, Victoria had disappeared from Chicago after my brother’s mysterious death.

Now she was back.

And she knew about Elena.

I looked at my unconscious daughter.

“Find Victoria Reynolds,” I told Marco. “I want her alive.”

Then I added quietly:

“She has seventeen years of explaining to do.”