Chapter 3
Sophia had never done that.
Until the morning she disappeared.
Because I had taught her, finally, that even I had limits on the truth I wanted.
“I should have listened,” I said.
“Yes.”
No mercy.
No cruelty either.
Just truth.
I nodded.
“Tell me now.”
Sophia pulled the visitor’s chair across from mine and sat.
Her gaze moved to Elena.
“When I first noticed money missing from Harbor Relief, I thought it was an accounting error. Small amounts. A few thousand here, eight thousand there. Payments marked as medical assistance that didn’t match any family in our records.”
“You told me millions were missing.”
“They were. I just didn’t see the full amount at first.”
She twisted her wedding ring finger.
The ring itself was gone.
I remembered finding it beside our bed.
I had taken it as proof that she had ended us.
Now I wondered whether leaving it behind had meant something else.
“I started comparing old statements,” she continued. “Invoices, transfers, grant records. Someone had been creating duplicate vendor accounts. Money went from Harbor Relief into fake consulting companies, then moved again.”
“To Mateo.”
“Some accounts led to him.”
“Some?”
She nodded.
“Others led somewhere I didn’t understand.”
I looked down at Elena.
“To Luca?”
Sophia was silent.
That told me enough.
My daughter stirred.
I shifted her instinctively, and Sophia’s expression changed for just a second.
Not forgiveness.
But maybe surprise.
I lowered my voice.
“You said Mateo came here for another child.”
Sophia leaned back.
“Luca has a son.”
I stared at her.
“A son.”
“His name is Gabriel.”
“How old?”
“Ten.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Ten.
Luca had supposedly died eleven years ago.
Which meant—
“He was born after Luca’s death.”
Sophia nodded.
“Or after the date everyone believed Luca died.”
I leaned forward.
“Where is the boy?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know he exists, but you don’t know where he is?”
“I knew where he was until three weeks ago.”
My hand tightened around the edge of Elena’s blanket.
Sophia noticed.
“Dom.”
I loosened my grip immediately.
“What happened three weeks ago?”
“He disappeared from the family he was living with.”
“What family?”
She looked toward the door.
Then back at me.
“The Martins.”
The name meant nothing.
“Who are they?”
“Daniel and Rachel Martin. They live outside Milwaukee. Rachel is Luca’s—”
Sophia stopped.
“My brother’s what?”
She took a breath.
“Wife.”