Chapter 21 - THE SISTER IN THE HOUSE
Her name inside the estate was Rebecca Sloan.
Her real name was Sofia Costello.
Forty-one.
Born between Luca and Damian.
Older than Damian.
Younger than Luca.
She had worked quietly as a private administrative contractor for six months.
No one remembered hiring her directly.
The paperwork came through Bellweather.
Of course.
Harris found her room empty.
Clothes gone.
Computer wiped.
Passport false.
One object remained.
A childhood photograph.
Luca and Damian beside a lake.
Between them stood a little girl.
Luca stared.
Memory moved.
A summer.
A child.
Someone called Sophie.
He had believed she was a cousin.
Then she disappeared.
“How old were you?”
Elena asked.
“Ten.”
“You remember her?”
“Barely.”
Damian entered.
He saw the photograph.
Then stopped.
“Sophie.”
“You remember.”
“She lived with us for a year.”
Luca looked at him.
“Why did we think she left?”
“Father said her parents moved.”
“She was our sister.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Luca looked toward Teresa’s secure video call.
His mother appeared on screen.
“You knew.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why was she adopted?”
“Enzo believed daughters were vulnerabilities.”
Luca stared.
“He gave away his own child.”
“Yes.”
“You allowed it.”
“I fought.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
Teresa looked broken.
“Sofia was raised by the Sloan family.”
“They were connected to Bellweather.”
“Did she know who she was?”
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“Twenty-one.”
“How?”
“Enzo contacted her.”
“Why?”
“To use her as trustee.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“Did she hate us?”
Teresa did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“Did she work with Vale?”
“Sometimes.”
“Pierce?”
“Yes.”
“Did she order the maintenance dose?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Where is she?”
Teresa looked toward the camera.
“If she left the estate, she is either running or preparing.”
“For what?”
“Her entire life has been built around being the child Enzo discarded.”
“She may believe Bellweather belongs to her.”
“Does it?”
“Legally?”
“No.”
“Emotionally?”
Teresa’s expression darkened.
“She may think so.”
Sofia contacted Luca that night.
No threat.
No disguise.
A video call.
She appeared inside an ordinary motel room.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
Costello eyes.
Luca saw their mother in her immediately.
“You found the picture.”
“Yes.”
“Did it make you remember me?”
“Some.”
“That’s generous.”
“Sofia.”
She smiled bitterly.
“Interesting hearing you say it.”
“Come back.”
“No.”
“We need to talk.”
“We are.”
“You were in my house.”
“Yes.”
“You directed Pierce to Maya’s room.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I needed him caught near her.”
Luca froze.
“What?”
“He was becoming dangerous.”
“You framed him.”
“I exposed him.”
“You endangered Maya.”
“No.”
“She was downstairs.”
“You knew?”
“I knew her schedule.”
Luca’s anger rose.
“You do not use my daughter as a piece on a board.”
Sofia laughed.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The Costello man.”
“Everything belongs to you.”
“Your house.”
“Your daughter.”
“Your truth.”
“You were inside my home.”
“Our home.”
The correction landed.
Sofia continued.
“I slept in that east wing before Damian was born.”
“Then Father erased me.”
“He erased you from us.”
“You let him.”
“I was ten.”
“Mom wasn’t.”
Luca said nothing.
Sofia’s face hardened.
“She chose survival.”
“Then Enzo found me.”
“He paid for school.”
“He taught me finance.”
“He told me why he gave me away.”
“What reason?”
“That he loved me enough to keep me clean.”
Luca almost laughed.
“Did you believe that?”
“For a while.”
“Then?”
“I learned what he did to you.”
“You knew?”
“Before Damian.”
“Did you help?”
Sofia paused.
“Not at first.”
Luca’s stomach tightened.
“Later?”
“I approved payments.”
“For Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Maintenance dosing.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Another sibling.
Another betrayal.
“Why?”
“Because Vale told me stopping would kill you.”
“Did you verify?”
“I tried.”
“You signed anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Then you are responsible.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
Luca had not expected that.
Sofia leaned closer to the camera.
“But I am also the reason you are alive.”
“That is what everyone says.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Pierce wanted Transition completed when Nicholas turned eighteen.”
“What did that mean?”
“Luca declared medically incompetent.”
“Damian discredited.”
“Nicholas installed as heir.”
“And me?”
“Permanent institution.”
Luca stared.
“Maya changed that.”
“Yes.”
“Because her existence broke proxy authority.”
“Yes.”
“Who arranged Elena’s hiring?”
“I did.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“To destroy Bellweather.”
Luca felt the room shift.
“You brought Maya here intentionally.”
“Yes.”
“The rent increase?”
“Me.”
“The employment agency?”
“Me.”
Elena, listening nearby, became furious.
“You made us homeless.”
Sofia looked toward her.
“I made the apartment unaffordable.”
“That is called making us homeless.”
“I knew the estate job paid triple.”
“You manipulated my life.”
“Yes.”
“Why not just tell Luca?”
Sofia looked at him.
“Because I did not know who around him would kill Maya first.”
Elena stared.
“So you pushed us into the lion’s den instead.”
“I pushed you into the only place with enough security to survive the reveal.”
Luca hated that the logic was not entirely absurd.
He hated more that Sofia had still chosen for them.
“Where are you?”
“Not important.”
“It is to me.”
“You don’t get to become my brother because a test file says we share parents.”
Luca flinched.
Maya had said almost the same thing differently.
Relationships could not be ordered into existence.
“What do you want?”
“Bellweather dissolved.”
“I’m doing that.”
“No.”
Sofia shook her head.
“You are freezing accounts.”
“I want every dollar identified.”
“Every victim paid.”
“Every medical patient compensated.”
“Every family Enzo hurt given records.”
Luca stared.
“That will destroy the legitimate companies too.”
“Maybe.”
“Thousands of employees.”
“Then protect employees.”
“Not the name.”
Luca thought.
“What do you want personally?”
Sofia smiled sadly.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“The lake house.”
Luca blinked.
“What?”
“The small one on the north shore.”
“Why?”
“Mom took me there before Enzo sent me away.”
“It’s the only place I remember being somebody’s daughter.”
Luca’s anger softened.
Barely.
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Then meet me.”
“Why?”
“Because I am tired of learning my family through surveillance footage.”
Sofia looked away.
Then back.
“Tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“The baseball diamond.”
Luca stared.
“Why there?”
She smiled faintly.
“Because I used to watch you play.”
The call ended.
Sofia arrived at dusk.
Alone.
Harris hated it.
Luca allowed no weapons near the field.
Maya watched from the porch.
Elena beside her.
Damian stood near first base.
Nicholas farther away.
A strange family assembled from secrets.
Sofia entered through the hedge.
Not the gate.
Luca noticed.
“So that was you.”
“What?”
“The gap.”
She touched the leaves.
“I asked the gardener to leave it.”
Maya whispered from the porch.
“She made my door.”
Luca looked at Sofia.
“Why the hedge?”
“Because gates make children ask permission.”
She walked onto the field.
Damian stared.
“Sophie.”
Sofia’s expression changed.
“No one’s called me that in thirty years.”
“I remember your red bicycle.”
She laughed unexpectedly.
“You broke it.”
“You rode it down the stairs.”
“You dared me.”
For one second they were siblings.
Then time returned.
Luca moved toward them.
Sofia looked at his chair.
“Can you stand?”
“A little.”
“Show me.”
Luca raised an eyebrow.
“You sound like Maya.”
Sofia looked toward the porch.
“She sounds like Teresa.”
“No.”
Luca smiled.
“She sounds like herself.”
That answer pleased Sofia.
Then Harris came running.
The moment vanished.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Vale escaped transport.”
Everyone stared.
“How?”
“Vehicle collision.”
“Inside help?”
“Likely.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Sofia became pale.
“He’ll come here.”
“Why?”
“Maya.”
“No.”
“Not for blood.”
“Then why?”
Sofia looked at the baseball field.
“Because Vale never needed Maya alive for Transition.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“What?”
“He only needed her identity verified.”
“Then what does he want now?”
Sofia looked at him.
“To erase the heir.”
Elena grabbed Maya.
Security moved.
Then the estate lights died.
Again.
Across the lake, a single red light appeared.
A laser point.
It moved across the porch.
Toward Maya.
Luca shouted.
“DOWN!”
May you like
And for the first time in twelve years, he forgot he could not walk.
He pushed himself out of the chair.
