Because Sophia had already carried too much of other people’s secrets.

“Did Luca contact you?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“July thirteenth.”

The day before Sophia vanished.

“He came to Harbor Relief just before closing. I thought he was one of the dockworkers.”

“What did he want?”

“To warn me.”

“About Mateo?”

“Yes.”

“Why you?”

“Because he believed you wouldn’t listen to him.”

That hit differently.

I stared at my brother’s photograph.

“He believed I’d listen to you.”

Sophia’s eyes filled with something I couldn’t identify.

“He was wrong.”

I lowered my head.

There was nothing useful I could say.

After a moment, she continued.

“Luca told me Mateo had been using Harbor Relief accounts to move money for years. Not just steal it. Hide it.”

“From whom?”

“You.”

I looked up.

Sophia nodded.

“He said Mateo had been building a financial network separate from yours.”

“For what purpose?”

“He wouldn’t tell me everything. He said the less I knew, the safer I was.”

“That sounds like Luca.”

A faint, sad smile touched Sophia’s lips.

“You two are more alike than either of you would enjoy hearing.”

For one brief second, something familiar passed between us.

Then it disappeared.

“What happened after he warned you?”

“I asked him why he was alive.”

“And?”

“He said because eleven years ago someone convinced him that disappearing was the only way to protect your family.”

My skin went cold.

“Mateo?”

Sophia nodded.

I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.

Elena startled.

Immediately I stopped.

Her face wrinkled.

A tiny cry escaped her.

Every muscle in my body froze.

Sophia reached for her.

I hesitated.

Then carefully passed Elena back.

Sophia held her against her shoulder and whispered softly until the baby quieted.

I stood by the window, ashamed of how naturally anger had controlled the room.

Even now.

Even here.

I forced myself to sit again.

“Explain.”

Sophia watched me for a moment.

“Luca believed there was going to be an attempt on your life eleven years ago. Mateo showed him documents, recordings, names. He convinced Luca that the people involved would target anyone close to you.”

“I remember.”

“You do?”

“There were rumors. Nothing happened.”

“Because Luca disappeared.”

I frowned.

Sophia continued.

“Mateo convinced him the threat was connected to him. That if Luca vanished, the people behind it would believe your family had fractured and back away.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It did to a frightened twenty-six-year-old who thought his brother was about to be killed.”

I looked again at Luca’s photograph.

I remembered the last conversation we had before his supposed death.

He had called me from a pay phone just before midnight.

Asked if I trusted Mateo.

I had laughed.

Luca had gone quiet.

Then he said, “You trust people like locks, Dom. Once they work, you stop checking the door.”

I had told him he sounded drunk.

Three days later, police found a burned car near the river.

Luca’s watch was inside.

So was blood matching his type.

No body was ever recovered.

For years I had told myself the river had taken him.

Now the memory felt different.

Arranged.

Prepared.

“Mateo staged Luca’s death.”

“That’s what Luca believes.”

“Why?”

“He thought it was to protect you.”

“And now?”

Sophia lowered Elena into the crib.

“Now he thinks Mateo needed him gone.”

I stared at her.

“Why?”

“Because Luca knew about something called Northstar.”

I frowned.

“What is Northstar?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sophia.”

“I don’t.”

She stood again.

“That is the part Luca refused to explain. He said Northstar was older than Harbor Relief. Older than your marriage. He said if Mateo realized he had contacted me, Gabriel would be in danger.”

“So Luca vanished again?”

“No.”

Sophia looked at me.

“He went to find proof.”

“And left his wife and son alone?”

“He believed they were safe.”

“But Gabriel disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“Then Mateo came here.”

“Yes.”

I looked at the photograph message.

Your brother wants his daughter back.

The words suddenly seemed wrong.

Not just threatening.

Deliberately wrong.

I read them again.

“Luca doesn’t have a daughter.”

Sophia’s gaze sharpened.

“No.”

“Then why would Mateo send this?”

“That’s what frightened me.”

I stood.

This time slowly.

“Maybe Mateo didn’t send it.”

Sophia stared at me.

“My phone shows his number.”

“Numbers can be copied.”

“You think someone else sent it?”

“I think whoever sent it wanted me to believe Luca is here for Elena.”

Sophia went still.

“Why?”

“To make me distrust him before we ever speak.”

Her eyes moved toward the crib.

I felt the same thought arrive for both of us.

Mateo had spent months showing me photographs.

Building a story.

Giving me just enough evidence to reach the conclusion he wanted.

Sophia left you.

Sophia betrayed you.

Sophia has another man.

Now someone was doing the same thing again.

Luca wants your daughter.

I picked up my phone.

“Don’t call Mateo,” Sophia said.

“I’m not.”

I dialed another number.

Viktor answered on the second ring.

“Boss?”

“Where is Mateo?”

A pause.

“He was in the sedan downstairs.”

“Was?”

Another pause.

“He stepped out about ten minutes ago.”

“Where did he go?”

“Said he needed coffee.”

I looked at Sophia.

“Find him. Quietly. Don’t approach him. Don’t tell anyone.”

“You think there’s a problem?”

“I think I don’t know who the problem is.”

Viktor understood.

“I’ll call you.”

I ended the call.

Sophia looked surprised.

“What?”

“Four months ago, you would have told him to bring Mateo upstairs.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Four months ago, I would have demanded answers before understanding the question.

“I’ve had a bad anniversary,” I said.

A small sound escaped her.

Almost a laugh.

It vanished quickly, but hearing it hurt.

I had missed that sound.

I had missed everything.

Another knock came at the door.

Sophia immediately moved between the crib and the entrance.

I stepped forward.

“Who is it?”

“The nurse.”

I opened the door only slightly.

She stood outside with a hospital security officer.

“The cameras came back online,” she said. “We didn’t find anyone unauthorized on the maternity floor.”

“Then what caused the alarm?”

“We’re checking.”

The security officer glanced at me.

“Sir, we need to confirm your visitor authorization.”

Sophia answered before I could.

“He can stay.”

I looked at her.

She avoided my eyes.

The nurse stepped inside.

“There’s one more thing. Someone asked for Sophia at the emergency entrance about twenty minutes ago.”

“Who?”

“A woman.”

Sophia’s face changed.

“What woman?”

“She wouldn’t give her name. She asked whether a patient named Sofia Marin was still here.”

That was the false name Sophia had used.

“Description?” I asked.

“Late thirties, maybe early forties. Brown coat. Dark hair.”

Sophia gripped the crib rail.

“Was she alone?”

“As far as security could tell.”

“Did she leave?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Sophia.

“You know who it was.”

“I think so.”

“Who?”

She hesitated.

“Rachel Martin.”

Luca’s wife.

I stared at her.

“Why would she come here?”

Sophia grabbed her phone from the bedside table.

“I called her this morning.”

“Why?”

“Because she sent me a message last night.”

She opened it and handed me the screen.

It contained only one sentence.

I FOUND SOMETHING IN GABRIEL’S ROOM. CALL ME.

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“What did she find?”

“She wouldn’t say over the phone. She wanted to meet.”

“At the hospital.”

Sophia nodded.

“She said she was already coming to Chicago.”

“Why didn’t she come upstairs?”

“I don’t know.”

The nurse left to check security footage.

I handed Sophia back the phone.

“When did Gabriel disappear?”

“October twenty-third.”

“And nobody called the police?”

“The Martins did.”

“Under his real name?”

“Gabriel Martin. Luca isn’t legally listed as his father.”

I paced slowly.

“What did police find?”

“Nothing. He left school normally. A neighbor saw him walking toward home. After that, nothing.”

“Was Luca there?”

“No.”

“Where was he?”

“No one knows.”

I stopped.

“So Luca disappeared around the same time as his son.”