Chapter 10 — The Woman Who Walked Into the Trap
Chapter 10 — The Woman Who Walked Into the Trap
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The laboratory hummed around us.
Machines continued running.
Monitors blinked.
Somewhere behind the walls, ventilation fans turned with a low mechanical growl.
But all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
Three children.
Not two.
Three.
I turned toward my mother.
“Who is that woman?”
She was staring at the dead screen.
Her lips trembled.
“I don't know.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“You do.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You recognize her.”
“No.”
“You knew there were three.”
“I knew there might be.”
Alessandro turned sharply.
“Might be?”
My mother flinched.
“You said there were two.”
“I said there were two that I knew about.”
I stepped toward her.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
“I swear to you, Anna, I never saw that child.”
“Then why were you afraid?”
She didn't answer.
Because the answer was already in her face.
She knew something.
And whatever it was, it frightened her more than Lorenzo did.
A siren suddenly screamed.
Red lights flooded the laboratory.
Matteo rushed in.
“Boss!”
“What?”
“The east entrance has been breached.”
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
Alessandro turned toward the corridor.
“Get everyone upstairs.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“They're coming for the laboratory.”
“They're coming for the records.”
“And the children.”
Michael's expression hardened.
“Exactly.”
I looked at the screens.
“Where are Emma and Eva?”
Matteo pointed toward a tracking monitor.
“We have one signal.”
“Which one?”
“Eva.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
He enlarged the map.
A red dot moved beneath the city.
“Underground.”
Alessandro looked at Michael.
“Can you trace it?”
Michael nodded.
“But it's moving.”
“How fast?”
“Very.”
I understood.
“They're transporting her.”
Alessandro turned toward me.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Anna.”
“I know that look.”
“What look?”
“The one that says you're going somewhere dangerous without me.”
He stared at me.
“That's exactly what I'm doing.”
I shook my head.
“My daughter is down there.”
“Our daughter.”
The words stopped me.
Alessandro's expression softened.
“Our daughter,” he repeated.
I nodded.
“Then I'm coming.”
We entered the tunnel beneath the laboratory.
The passage was old.
Older than the mansion.
Older than the laboratory itself.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
Rust covered the pipes.
The air smelled of mold and gasoline.
Michael led.
Alessandro followed.
I stayed between them.
Daniel remained behind with my mother and Matteo.
After ten minutes, we reached a fork.
Michael stopped.
“Three routes.”
“Which one?”
He looked at the tracker.
“Left.”
We moved.
Then the signal disappeared.
Michael cursed.
“What happened?”
“Jammed.”
Alessandro looked around.
“By whom?”
Michael pointed ahead.
A metal door had been installed recently.
“Someone knew we'd come.”
Alessandro examined it.
“Trap?”
“Probably.”
I stepped forward.
“Then we don't have time.”
He grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
I pulled away.
“My daughter is on the other side.”
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
“No.”
“You can't stop me.”
“I can.”
“You're not my boss.”
He stared at me.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“But I'm your brother.”
The word still felt strange.
Brother.
A man I had spent days learning to trust.
A man who had existed my entire life without my knowing.
I swallowed.
“I can't lose another child.”
He looked at me.
“You won't.”
Then he opened the door.
The room beyond was empty.
A chair stood in the center.
On it was a single white envelope.
I approached.
Alessandro raised his hand.
“Don't touch it.”
I stopped.
Michael inspected it.
“No wires.”
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Standing beside Emma.
Taken that morning.
On the back:
COME ALONE.
I stared.
“Who took this?”
Michael looked at the photograph.
“Someone inside the estate.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn't alone.”
He looked at me.
“Exactly.”
I understood.
The photograph wasn't taken from a security camera.
It had been taken by someone standing close to me.
Someone I trusted.
We returned to the laboratory.
My mother was gone.
Daniel was unconscious.
Matteo was bleeding from his forehead.
I ran toward him.
“What happened?”
“Someone attacked us.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is my mother?”
He pointed toward the exit.
“She left.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“That's the trap.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She was supposed to leave.”
“Why?”
“To lead us somewhere.”
Michael looked at the photograph.
“Lorenzo knows she'll go.”
I understood.
My mother wasn't the target.
She was bait.
And I was supposed to follow her.
We found her car three miles from the estate.
The driver's door was open.
The engine was running.
The driver's seat was empty.
My mother's scarf lay on the ground.
I picked it up.
It was still warm.
“She was here.”
Michael crouched beside the tire tracks.
“Two vehicles.”
“Where did they go?”
He pointed toward the woods.
“North.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“Stay in the car.”
“No.”
“Anna.”
“I know where she's going.”
He frowned.
“Where?”
“The old clinic.”
Michael's eyes widened.
“The laboratory.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“The first clinic.”
The place where Emma and Eva had been created.
The place where my mother had hidden the original records.
The place Lorenzo had spent decades trying to erase.
Alessandro understood.
“That's where he wants us.”
“Yes.”
Michael looked toward the forest.
“It's a trap.”
I opened the car door.
“I know.”
Alessandro stared at me.
“You're still going.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother is there.”
He sighed.
“Then we're going together.”
The old clinic was abandoned.
Its windows were boarded.
Its walls were covered in vines.
A faded sign hung above the entrance.
ST. MARY'S MATERNITY CENTER.
My mother had once brought me here.
I remembered nothing.
We entered.
The hallway was dark.
Dust covered the floor.
A child's drawing hung crookedly on one wall.
A yellow sun.
Three stick figures.
A woman.
Two little girls.
And a third child.
I stopped.
“That's not possible.”
Michael looked at it.
“Someone has been here recently.”
Alessandro pointed toward the floor.
Fresh footprints.
Small.
Child-sized.
I followed them.
They led to a room.
The door was open.
Inside was an old hospital bed.
My mother sat on it.
Her wrists were tied.
Lorenzo stood behind her.
And beside him was a woman.
The same woman from the laboratory screen.
She was holding the third baby.
Lorenzo smiled.
“You came.”
I stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
He laughed.
“You walked into the trap.”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
Alessandro rolled into the room.
Michael stood behind him.
Lorenzo shook his head.
“You brought everyone.”
“I brought enough.”
The woman holding the baby looked at me.
Her eyes were cold.
Then I recognized her.
My blood froze.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Hello, Anna.”
I stared at her.
“Who are you?”
She answered:
“Your mother's first daughter.”
I couldn't breathe.
My mother looked at me.
“That's impossible.”
The woman smiled.
“My name is Sofia.”
She looked at the baby.
“And this is my daughter.”
I stared at the child.
“Who is she?”
Sofia smiled.
“Your niece.”
The room became silent.
Alessandro looked at her.
“You're my sister?”
Sofia nodded.
“Older than you.”
Michael stared.
“I thought you died.”
“You thought wrong.”
“How?”
“Father hid me.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Because Sofia was the first successful heir.”
Alessandro looked toward the baby.
“Then who is the child?”
Sofia's smile disappeared.
“The final one.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Sofia looked at me.
“She wasn't created by Lorenzo.”
My mother looked terrified.
“She was created by us.”
“Us?”
“Me and your mother.”
I couldn't understand.
Sofia continued:
“We discovered what Lorenzo was doing.”
“We tried to stop him.”
“So we created our own heir.”
Michael frowned.
“Why?”
“To destroy his bloodline.”
I stared at the baby.
The child opened her eyes.
Green.
Again.
My mother's voice broke.
“She was supposed to be hidden.”
“Why wasn't she?”
Sofia looked at Lorenzo.
“Because someone betrayed us.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Your mother.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
Sofia's eyes filled with anger.
“You gave her to him.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“You gave him my daughter.”
“I had no choice.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“You always have a choice.”
I looked at the baby.
She was tiny.
Peaceful.
Unaware of any of this.
Three children.
Three possible heirs.
Three lives destroyed by adults obsessed with power.
I stepped forward.
“Give her to me.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
“She's a baby.”
“Exactly.”
“She doesn't belong to any of you.”
Sofia's eyes hardened.
“She belongs to the bloodline.”
“No.”
I looked at Alessandro.
Then Michael.
Then my mother.
“No child belongs to a bloodline.”
Lorenzo laughed.
“You finally understand.”
I looked at him.
“Understand what?”
“The only way to end the Moretti empire is to destroy its heirs.”
My heart stopped.
Sofia looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
Lorenzo raised his weapon.
“I no longer need them.”
The room froze.
Sofia's face went pale.
“Father.”
Lorenzo aimed at the baby.
I moved.
So did Alessandro.
A shot exploded.
The woman screamed.
The baby began crying.
Alessandro crashed into Lorenzo.
Michael tackled Sofia.
I grabbed the baby.
She was tiny.
Warm.
Terrified.
I held her against my chest.
“It's okay.”
Her cries became louder.
Then another gunshot.
I turned.
Alessandro was on the floor.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Alessandro!”
He looked at me.
“Run.”
I couldn't move.
“Run!”
Michael grabbed my arm.
“Go!”
I ran.
The baby cried against my shoulder.
Behind me, the old clinic erupted into gunfire.
I reached the corridor.
Then I heard a child's voice.
“Mama!”
I stopped.
Emma.
Somewhere inside.
My heart broke.
I turned back.
Alessandro shouted:
“Anna, NO!”
But I was already running toward the voice.
Because it was my daughter.
And no trap in the world could keep a mother from answering when her child called for her.
I found Emma in a storage room.
She was alone.
Her wrists were untied.
She ran toward me.
“Mama!”
I dropped beside her.
“Emma!”
She hugged me.
I cried into her hair.
“Where's Eva?”
She pointed down the hall.
“She's with the bad man.”
“Which man?”
She whispered:
“Grandpa.”
My blood froze.
Lorenzo.
I grabbed Emma's hand.
“Come on.”
We ran.
Then the lights went out.
A voice came from behind us.
“Anna.”
I turned.
Lorenzo stood at the end of the corridor.
He was bleeding.
But he was smiling.
“You brought the child.”
I stepped backward.
Emma hid behind me.
The baby cried in my arms.
Lorenzo looked at both children.
Then he smiled.
“Perfect.”
I raised my chin.
“You're not taking them.”
He shook his head.
“I don't need to.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
A timer appeared.
00:59
My blood ran cold.
“What is that?”
“Your choice.”
“Choice?”
“You can save one.”
The timer began counting down.
00:58
00:57
Emma squeezed my hand.
“Mama?”
I looked at her.
Then at the baby.
Then toward the hallway where Eva was still trapped.
Three children.
One mother.
One minute.
And Lorenzo had designed the entire nightmare so that I would have to choose.
But he had made one mistake.
He assumed I would play by his rules.
I looked directly at him.
“No.”
His smile faded.
“I don't choose.”
I grabbed Emma.
Held the baby tighter.
And ran toward the fire alarm.
May you like
Because if Lorenzo wanted to turn his empire into a prison—
I was going to burn the prison down.
