Another Name

The first thing Elena heard was Salvatore Bellini’s cane tapping the courthouse tile, sharp as a metronome. A man in a dark coat stepped out of the side corridor with two guards behind him and stopped when he saw Sofia asleep against Damian’s shoulder.

Damian shifted at once, one hand over the child’s back.

“Not here,” he said.

Salvatore’s mouth barely moved. “Then where? She’s my granddaughter.”

Elena turned before she could stop herself. Sofia’s hair had fallen across her cheek. The girl looked small enough to vanish in a winter coat.

Miriam came up beside Elena with a folder tucked under her arm. “We are not doing this in the hallway.”

No one argued with that tone.

They moved into the little conference room across from the courtroom. A space meant for lawyers and coffee cups, not family wreckage. Damian set Sofia on the bench with her rabbit and kept his hand near her knee until she settled. Elena stood with her arms crossed tight over her chest.

Salvatore didn’t sit. “Luca Bellini was the father,” he said. “My son knew the boy in secret. He never told me the child was born.”

Elena stared at him. “Luca?”

“He was dead before anyone could explain it,” Miriam said, opening her folder. “Vance confirmed the hospital file. Your child’s paternity wasn’t just a Caruso issue.”

Damian looked up at that. “You knew?”

“I knew there was another name in the sealed record,” Miriam said. “Not enough to put it in front of a judge yet.”

Elena’s hand went to her throat. Another man. Another family. Another reason they had all been told lies.

Salvatore took one slow breath. “If the Bellinis are in this, I want my granddaughter protected.”

“She already is,” Damian said.

The old man glanced at him, then at Sofia. “By who?”

Damian did not answer right away. When he did, his voice stayed level. “By Elena first.”

That got everyone quiet.

A phone buzzed in Miriam’s pocket. She looked at the screen, then at Elena. “One more thing. Vance gave up a name before he lawyered up. He says Carlo Moretti didn’t vanish. Carmela had him moved.”

Elena’s knees locked.

“Moved where?” she asked.

Miriam shut the folder. “If he’s right, we’re going to find a body.”