Chapter 6
Chapter 6: The Fourth Folder
Grace did not sleep.
Neither did Dominic.
By midnight, the hospital had become a fortress.
Matteo's people controlled the entrances, security had sealed the pediatric wing, and every staff member assigned to Leo's care had been verified twice.
None of it made Grace feel safer.
Because the danger was no longer outside.
It had already been inside.
Someone had used Dr. Hale's identification.
Someone had attempted to access Leo's records.
Someone knew about the medal.
And Carlo Bellini had disappeared after warning them not to open a folder that apparently did not exist.
Grace sat in the hospital cafeteria with a cup of untouched coffee.
Dominic sat opposite her.
“You should eat.”
“You should be in bed.”
“I am not the one pretending coffee counts as breakfast.”
“You're avoiding the question.”
He looked at her.
“What question?”
“Your mother.”
Grace's voice softened.
“Do you remember her?”
Dominic was silent for several seconds.
“I remember pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“A piano.”
Grace waited.
“A red dress.”
She felt something tighten inside her chest.
“My mother had a red dress.”
Dominic nodded.
“She wore it when she played.”
“How old were you?”
“Six.”
“You remember that?”
“I remember being told not to enter the music room.”
“Why?”
“My father was angry.”
“At her?”
“I don't know.”
Grace looked at him.
“Did she play often?”
“When I was very young.”
“Then she disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“My father said she died.”
Dominic's eyes lowered.
“My father said she left.”
Grace stared.
Two families.
Two versions of the same woman.
And perhaps neither was true.
“Did you ever see her after she left?”
“No.”
“Did you ever ask?”
“Children in my family weren't encouraged to ask questions.”
Grace almost laughed.
“Apparently, neither were children in mine.”
The cafeteria door opened.
Vanessa entered.
She looked exhausted.
“Leo is awake.”
Grace stood immediately.
“What happened?”
“He asked for his mother.”
Grace followed her.
Dominic pushed himself upright.
“I'm coming.”
Grace turned.
“You're not.”
“Grace—”
“You almost collapsed walking down the corridor.”
“I didn't.”
“You leaned against a wall.”
“For balance.”
“You need rest.”
“I need my son.”
The words stopped her.
Grace looked at him for a long moment.
“Fine.”
He smiled slightly.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me. If you fall, I'm leaving you on the floor.”
“I believe you.”
They entered Leo's room together.
Leo was sitting up.
His eyes were red from sleep.
“Where's Mom?”
Grace sat beside him.
“We're still looking.”
“Is she hurt?”
“We don't know.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Will you find her?”
Dominic didn't hesitate.
“Yes.”
Leo seemed satisfied.
Then he reached under his pillow.
“I have something.”
He pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Grace opened it.
It was a drawing.
A woman.
A little boy.
A man.
And another woman standing behind them.
Grace recognized Elena.
The man was Dominic.
The boy was Leo.
The fourth figure looked familiar.
“Who's this?”
Leo pointed.
“Grandma Evelyn.”
Grace's breath caught.
“How do you know?”
“Mom showed me pictures.”
“Did you ever meet her?”
“No.”
“Then why did you draw her?”
“Because Mom said Grandma was still helping us.”
Grace stared at the drawing.
“Helping you how?”
“She said Grandma left something behind.”
“What?”
Leo shrugged.
“She said it was a promise.”
Dominic looked at Grace.
“What kind of promise?”
Leo thought.
“Something about the river.”
Grace immediately remembered the medal.
Saint Christopher.
A child.
A river.
The inscription.
She reached into her bag.
“Leo, I need to ask you something.”
He nodded.
“Did your mother ever tell you about a place called Bell House?”
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“What is Bell House?”
Leo answered simply.
“The house where Grandma hid.”
Grace felt cold.
“Where is it?”
Leo shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Did Elena ever take you there?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you who lived there?”
“She said no one.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Grace.”
Grace looked at her.
“Your mother may have had a second house.”
Vanessa's voice was quiet.
“My father kept records of properties that were never publicly connected to the Bellini or Moretti families.”
“Where?”
“His private archive.”
“Which is now missing.”
Vanessa nodded.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“We need Carlo.”
Matteo entered before Dominic could answer.
“We found something.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
A security photograph showed a man leaving the hospital through the underground parking area.
His face was obscured.
But his clothes were familiar.
Hospital scrubs.
And on his wrist was a distinctive silver watch.
Grace recognized it.
“Dr. Hale.”
Matteo shook his head.
“No.”
He zoomed in.
The watch was older.
More expensive.
A family crest was engraved on the back.
Dominic's face hardened.
“That belongs to my father.”
Grace looked at him.
“Vittorio?”
“Yes.”
“How could someone have his watch?”
“My father died fifteen years ago.”
Matteo zoomed in further.
The man had entered the parking garage carrying a black case.
The timestamp was only twenty-three minutes old.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“He's still here.”
“Who?”
“The man using Hale's identity.”
Matteo shook his head.
“No. He left.”
“How?”
“Private elevator.”
“Where does it lead?”
“The old surgical wing.”
Grace remembered something.
The abandoned wing had been closed for renovation for months.
She looked at Dominic.
“Why would someone go there?”
He didn't answer.
Vanessa did.
“Because there is an archive beneath it.”
Everyone looked at her.
“My father told me never to go there.”
Grace stood.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Dominic grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
She looked at his hand.
He released her.
“I'm sorry.”
“You're right.”
His eyes widened.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
She walked toward the door.
“We're taking you with us.”
The old surgical wing smelled of dust and disinfectant.
The lights flickered overhead.
Matteo walked first.
Grace stayed between him and Dominic.
Vanessa followed.
The elevator opened into a corridor that had been sealed for years.
At the end was a metal door.
There was no sign.
No lock.
Just a keypad.
Dominic looked at Vanessa.
“Do you know the code?”
“No.”
Grace studied it.
“Try your father's birthday.”
Vanessa did.
Nothing.
“Vittorio's?”
Nothing.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“Your mother's?”
He shook his head.
“My father never used sentimental dates.”
Grace thought of the medal.
Saint Christopher.
A child crossing a river.
“Try 0612.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Why?”
“My mother's birthday.”
Vanessa entered it.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside were shelves.
Hundreds of boxes.
Each labeled with a name.
Grace's breath caught.
Moretti.
Bellini.
Bennett.
Names from three generations.
Matteo moved down the first row.
“Someone has been here.”
Dust was disturbed.
Several boxes were missing.
One shelf had been emptied entirely.
Grace found a box marked E.B.
She opened it.
Photographs.
Letters.
Medical records.
A marriage certificate.
Her mother's handwriting.
Dominic stood beside her.
Grace lifted the first photograph.
Evelyn was standing beside a younger Vittorio.
She looked happy.
Not frightened.
Not trapped.
Happy.
Dominic stared.
“I've never seen this.”
Grace turned the photograph over.
There was a date.
Thirty-four years earlier.
And another name.
Samuel Hale.
Dominic froze.
“The doctor.”
Grace nodded.
Her mother's secret was not only connected to Vittorio.
It was connected to the man who had treated Dominic for years.
They opened the next document.
It was a medical record.
Patient: Evelyn Moretti.
Grace's hands shook.
“Moretti.”
Dominic stared.
“My mother was legally recognized.”
“For how long?”
Grace looked at the dates.
“Two years.”
Then came the second shock.
The record listed a child.
Patient: Female infant.
Mother: Evelyn Moretti.
Father: Thomas Bennett.
Grace stopped breathing.
There was another document beneath it.
A birth certificate.
She read the name.
“Grace Evelyn Bennett.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“My father knew.”
Grace nodded.
“He knew everything.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Matteo raised his hand.
Everyone became silent.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
Then a man's voice spoke.
“You shouldn't have opened that.”
Grace recognized it.
Dr. Hale.
The door began to close.
Matteo moved first.
He pushed it open.
A man stood in the corridor.
Not Dr. Hale.
An older man.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
And around his wrist—
Vittorio Moretti's watch.
Dominic stared at him.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“Someone your father trusted.”
Grace stepped forward.
“What happened to Elena?”
The man's smile disappeared.
“She made the mistake of believing truth was enough.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Grace didn't believe him.
“You know.”
The man looked at the box in her hands.
“You found the records.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know why she is missing.”
Grace opened the final document.
It contained one sentence.
Evelyn Moretti did not die in 1998.
Grace looked up.
The man was already running.
Matteo chased him.
Dominic gripped the wall.
Grace stood frozen.
Her mother had supposedly died twenty-eight years ago.
But the record said otherwise.
May you like
And if Evelyn had survived—
then every story Grace had ever been told about her family had been built on a lie.
