INICIAR SESIÓNDante’s POVValentina looked at me as though she no longer knew who I was.I couldn’t blame her.The photograph in Helena’s hand showed me holding a newborn outside a hospital. Valentina lay unconscious in the bed behind us, and the note on the back carried her signature.I AGREED TO GIVE HER AWAY.I had never seen that photograph before.But I remembered the hospital.I remembered the blood on my hands, the doctors refusing to answer my questions, and a nurse telling me that Valentina needed rest. I remembered being taken into a separate room and shown a baby I was told hadn’t survived.Most of all, I remembered the woman who had approached me afterward.My mother.She had looked me in the eyes and told me there was nothing left to save.I had believed her.That was the mistake I had spent years trying to correct.“Valentina, listen to me.”She shook her head.“Did you know about the photograph?”“No.”“Did you know about the baby?”I hesitated.Her face changed.“Dante.”“I knew you
Valentina’s POVThe Ferraro estate had been abandoned for twenty years, but someone had recently been there.I noticed the lights first.Three floors of the old mansion stood in darkness, except for a single window on the upper level. A faint yellow glow spilled through the curtains, making the place look less abandoned than forgotten.The iron gates hung open.Dante parked several metres from the entrance and switched off the engine.Neither of us spoke immediately.I stared at the house, remembering what Adrian had told us.Don’t trust the woman who looks like Valentina. Both of them.I had no idea what that meant.One woman with my face was already enough to make me question everything I knew about myself. Now there were apparently two.Dante reached across the console and took my hand.“Whatever happens inside, stay close to me.”I looked at him.“You know I can’t promise that.”His jaw tightened.“Valentina.”“If one of our children is in danger, I’m going to help them. I’m not s
Valentina’s POV“Which Valentina are you taking home?”Helena’s question kept playing in my head.I barely heard the children crying around me. All I could see was the woman lying on the floor, blood spreading beneath her white coat.She had my face.My name.And a birth certificate claiming she had been born six years before me.I looked at Dante.He was kneeling beside Adrian, pressing a hand against the wound in his father’s chest. Serena was shouting for someone to find a medical kit, while Emilia tried to gather the frightened children away from the open chambers.Nobody was looking at me.Nobody seemed to know what to do.I turned toward the woman.“Can you hear me?”Her eyelids fluttered.I dropped beside her and pressed my hands against the wound.“Stay with me. Please.”She caught my wrist.Her grip was surprisingly strong.“Don’t let them close the doors.”“Who shot you?”Her eyes moved toward the ceiling.“Helena.”A burst of static came from the speakers.Then Helena laugh
Dante’s POVFor several seconds, nobody moved.Seven children stood behind the glass chambers, each wearing the same silver bracelet. Some looked frightened. Others stared at us with the strange stillness of children who had been taught not to ask questions.Then the little girl who looked like Valentina pressed both palms against the glass.“Mommy?”Valentina made a sound beside me.I caught her arm before she could rush forward.“Wait.”She turned on me, tears filling her eyes. “Dante, look at her.”“I see her.”“No, you don’t understand. She has my face.”I understood more than I wanted to.The girl’s dark hair fell across her forehead exactly as Valentina’s did when she woke up. Even the small birthmark beneath her left ear matched the one my wife had carried since childhood.But there was something else.The boy standing two chambers away had my eyes.Not similar eyes. Mine.He studied me without blinking, his little fingers curled around the edge of his blanket.I had spent year
Dante’s POV“Seven?”The word barely left my mouth.The little girl nodded.“There are seven.”Valentina was still staring at her.She looked like she had forgotten how to breathe.I understood.Six years of searching.Six years of believing we had finally found the children Helena had taken.And now a little girl was standing in front of us, telling us there were more.Seven.I looked into the room behind her.It was dark.Too dark.I reached for my weapon.“Stay behind me.”Valentina didn’t listen.She stepped forward.“What’s your name?”The girl looked at her.“Lily.”Valentina froze.I felt her hand tighten around mine.“Lily?”The girl nodded.“That’s what Mommy called me.”Valentina’s eyes filled with tears.“But the other girl…”“She isn’t Lily.”My stomach tightened.The little girl looked toward the hallway.“Helena changed her name.”“Why?”“Because she didn’t want you to find me.”Valentina knelt in front of her.“Who is the other girl?”Lily frowned.“I don’t know her rea
Valentina’s POV“Please don’t let them take my daughter again.”The words seemed to hang in the air.Dante didn’t move.Neither did I.His face had gone completely blank.Then he whispered the only word that mattered.“Mom?”No answer.He stepped toward the ventilation shaft.“Mom!”This time, a woman’s voice came through.“Dante.”He closed his eyes.I had never heard anyone say his name that way.Not like a business partner.Not like a husband.Not like a son.It was the voice of someone who had spent years missing him.Dante looked at his father.“You said she was alive.”His father nodded.“I told you.”“Where is she?”“Above us.”Dante looked at the ceiling.“Then get her.”His father moved toward the stairs.I followed.So did Adrian, Eva, Alessandro, and Clara.The babies remained in the nursery with two members of the security team who had finally made their way down the corridor.I didn’t want to leave them.But something told me we had reached the center of everything.We cl







