Chapter 6 - THE CHILD WITH TWO NAMES
Margaret DeLuca told us the story slowly.
Lucia Gallo had given birth to a daughter in June 1999.
The child was named Isabella.
Salvatore believed the baby had died shortly after birth.
But Lucia had arranged for the child to be taken away.
Why?
Because Salvatore had become involved in a violent dispute with a rival organization.
Lucia feared the child would be used as leverage.
Pietro Rossi helped her.
He arranged transportation.
Documents.
A safe place.
"But what happened to Isabella?" Dante asked.
Margaret looked at me.
"I don't know."
I felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment.
So I wasn't Isabella.
But my grandfather had helped hide her.
And somehow, I'd inherited the evidence.
Margaret continued.
"Years later, Pietro returned to Chicago with a little girl."
Dante looked at me.
"That's you."
I nodded.
Margaret studied me.
"Your grandfather told everyone your parents died in a car accident."
"They did."
Margaret hesitated.
"Perhaps."
My stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
She looked at me gently.
"I don't know whether the story was true."
I left the meeting feeling as though the ground beneath my life had shifted.
Dante walked beside me.
"Nora."
I stopped.
"What?"
"We'll find out."
I looked at him.
"Why do you care?"
He considered.
"Because my mother disappeared."
He glanced toward the photograph in my hand.
"And because your grandfather may have been the only person who knew why."
That evening, I received an anonymous text.
Stop asking about Isabella Gallo.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
A second message arrived.
Pietro kept you alive once. He cannot do it again.
