Chapter 3 - THE SISTER I NEVER KNEW EXISTED
I handed Luca back to his father.
The baby immediately began crying.
Dante tried to soothe him.
Nothing worked.
His little face turned red.
His fists tightened.
I watched helplessly.
Finally, Dante looked at me.
"Please."
The word sounded foreign coming from him.
I hesitated.
Then took Luca again.
He settled instantly.
Dante closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he looked like a man struggling to remain standing.
My manager approached nervously.
"Miss Valdez, perhaps you should finish your shift."
Dante turned.
"She's finished."
I frowned.
"Excuse me?"
He looked at me.
"I need to speak with you."
"I need my paycheck."
"I'll compensate you."
"No."
His eyebrows lifted.
I adjusted Luca against my shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere with a stranger because he says so."
Dante studied me.
Then nodded.
"Fair enough."
He took a business card from his pocket.
"Call me when you're ready."
I went home after midnight.
My apartment was small, cold, and located above a laundromat in Queens.
I had lived there for three years.
Everything I owned fit into two rooms.
I placed my keys on the counter and stared at Dante's card.
Then I called the only person who might know the truth.
My adoptive mother.
Rosa Valdez.
She answered on the third ring.
"Elina? Is everything okay?"
I swallowed.
"Mom, did I have a sister?"
Silence.
Then I heard something fall.
"Mom?"
Her voice trembled.
"Who told you that?"
I sat down.
"Answer me."
Rosa began crying.
And just like that, I knew.
She told me the truth in fragments.
I had been adopted when I was three.
My birth mother had died shortly after giving birth to twins.
The girls had been separated because the family arranging their care claimed no household could take both children.
One girl had been placed with Rosa.
The other had gone to a wealthy family in Connecticut.
Rosa had been told the adoption was closed.
She had never known where my sister went.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Rosa sobbed.
"I was afraid you'd think I wasn't your real mother."
I closed my eyes.
"Mom, you raised me."
She cried harder.
"That doesn't change."
After the call, I sat alone in the dark.
Somewhere in the world, I had had a twin sister.
She had grown up.
Fallen in love.
Had a baby.
And died.
Before I ever knew she existed.
My phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
This is Dante. I know you have questions. So do I.
I stared at the message.
Then typed:
Did Isabella know about me?
His reply came almost immediately.
Yes.
I stopped breathing.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
And three days before she died, she told me she had finally found you.
