Chapter 5 - THE LETTER FROM ITALY
The letter arrived the next afternoon.
I recognized my grandmother's handwriting immediately.
My hands shook as I opened it.
My precious Sophia,
If you are reading this, I am gone.
I am sorry I could not tell you the truth while I was alive.
Your mother was Isabella Ricci.
She loved you before you were born.
She loved you so fiercely that she risked everything to keep you safe.
The night she disappeared, she placed you in my arms and begged me to take you away.
She said powerful men were searching for Daniel and that they would use you to force her silence.
I promised to protect you.
I changed our names.
I moved us away from the Ricci estate.
And I told you your mother had died because I believed the truth would put you in danger.
Forgive me, my darling.
There is one more thing.
Your mother left something for you.
It is hidden inside the old music box.
You know the one.
The one that plays your favorite lullaby.
I love you more than life.
Nonna.
I sat motionless.
The music box.
A small wooden box decorated with painted lemons.
My grandmother had given it to me when I turned eighteen.
It sat on my dresser.
I rushed into the bedroom.
The box was exactly where I'd left it.
I opened the lid.
A familiar melody began playing.
A slow Italian lullaby.
I had heard it thousands of times.
I turned the box over.
Beneath the velvet lining was a small brass latch.
I pressed it.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside lay a folded sheet of paper.
And a tiny silver key.
The paper contained a handwritten message.
Sophia,
If you find this, it means Giulia kept her promise.
I am sorry I could not raise you.
I wanted to.
Every day.
But loving you meant letting you go.
Please remember that.
Your mother, Isabella.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
For twenty-eight years, I had believed my mother abandoned me through death.
Now I understood she had made a choice.
A terrible choice.
A choice made out of love.
Then I noticed the number engraved on the silver key.
17\.
And beneath it, three letters.
R.E.S.
I stared.
Because those initials matched the name of a private storage company Alessandro had mentioned.
May you like
Ricci Estate Storage.
The company that had supposedly closed after his father's death.
