Chapter 5 - LAKE GENEVA
No one answered Emma’s question.
Not because they lacked theories.
Because there were too many.
She stared at the photograph until the highway lights blurred.
Peter is not her father.
Claire had spent twenty-eight years calling him Dad.
Emma had spent seventeen years wondering why a father could abandon his child without explanation.
Now maybe Peter had never been her biological father.
That should not have changed anything.
Love is not blood.
But secrets distort even true memories.
Luca said quietly, “We find Claire first.”
Emma nodded.
She hated that he was right.
The old Bellini hotel sat outside Lake Geneva behind locked gates and winter trees.
Built in the 1920s.
Closed for renovation six years ago.
Never reopened.
Vanessa gave Daniel the service code.
“Your father kept it active?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“He brought people here.”
“What people?”
“Lawyers. accountants.”
“And women he wanted hidden?”
Vanessa glared.
“No.”
Emma watched her.
Vanessa was afraid.
Not for herself.
For what they might find.
The gate opened.
Snow began falling.
The hotel looked like a dark ship.
Broken sign.
Boarded windows on one wing.
The lobby still had marble floors beneath dust sheets.
Luca’s team entered first.
No gunfire.
No guards.
Too quiet.
Emma stayed beside Luca.
Vanessa behind them with Daniel.
The basement stairs smelled damp.
At the bottom, three doors.
Archive.
Mechanical.
Wine storage.
Vanessa pointed.
“Archive.”
Locked.
Daniel forced it.
Inside were filing cabinets and shelves.
No Claire.
Emma’s heart sank.
Then they heard coughing.
Mechanical room.
Emma ran.
Her mother sat on the floor behind a boiler.
Wrists bound.
Oxygen cannula missing.
Face pale.
“Mom!”
Claire looked up.
“Emma?”
Emma dropped beside her.
“Oh my God.”
Luca cut the restraints.
Daniel found the oxygen tank dumped behind a crate.
Within minutes, Claire’s breathing eased.
She grabbed Emma’s hand.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that runs in the family.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Not now.”
“Emma.”
“Later.”
Claire looked at Luca.
Then Vanessa.
Her expression changed.
“You brought her.”
Vanessa stiffened.
Emma asked, “Who took you?”
“Caleb.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“What did he want?”
“The ledger.”
“Did you give it to him?”
Claire looked at her daughter.
“No.”
“Where is it?”
“Not here.”
“Mom.”
“Emma, please.”
“No more.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You don’t understand.”
“That sentence is banned.”
Even Luca almost smiled.
Claire looked at the photograph in Emma’s hand.
Her face collapsed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your closet.”
“You weren’t supposed to find it.”
“Clearly.”
Emma handed it to her.
“Who is my father?”
Claire stared at the handwriting.
Then started crying.
“Mom.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not an answer.”
Claire looked toward Luca.
Then away.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Silence.
Luca stopped breathing.
Emma stared at her mother.
“What?”
“Gabriel was your father.”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Emma stood too quickly.
The room tilted.
Luca caught her.
She shoved him away.
“No.”
Her mind rejected everything.
Gabriel Moretti.
Luca’s dead brother.
Her father.
That would make Luca—
Her uncle.
Not blood uncle exactly? Gabriel and Luca shared parents. Yes.
Luca was her biological uncle.
Emma stepped backward.
Luca’s face had gone completely blank.
Vanessa whispered, “Oh.”
Emma turned on her.
“You knew?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
Claire said, “Victor knew.”
Emma laughed in disbelief.
“Of course he did.”
Claire looked at Luca.
“Salvatore knew too.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“My father knew Emma was Gabriel’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“And my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone except us.”
Claire started crying harder.
“I was married to Peter.”
Emma looked at her.
“Did he know?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he stay?”
“Because he loved you.”
The answer struck deeper than anything else.
Peter had not abandoned her.
He had stayed for eleven years raising another man’s child.
Then disappeared because of secrets tied to that man.
Emma sat down again.
“Tell me.”
Claire nodded.
She had worked for Bellini Development.
Gabriel came looking for evidence against Victor.
At first, Claire refused.
Then they began meeting.
Talking.
It became an affair.
Emma closed her eyes.
Peter knew something was wrong.
Eventually Claire confessed.
He was devastated.
But when she became pregnant, he stayed.
“He said a baby shouldn’t pay for adult mistakes.”
Emma cried silently.
Peter Collins.
The man whose blood she did not carry.
The father who taught her to ride a bicycle.
Who packed her lunches.
Who built a cardboard castle every Christmas.
He had stayed.
Then Gabriel discovered Victor was planning to use the accounts to pressure Moretti properties.
Gabriel wanted the ledger.
Claire copied it.
Peter helped hide it.
“What happened to Peter?” Emma whispered.
Claire shook.
“He went to meet Gabriel.”
“When?”
“The night he disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel said he had a way to end it.”
“And?”
“Peter never came home.”
“What about Gabriel?”
“He disappeared too.”
Luca said, “Seven years later Gabriel returned.”
Claire looked at him.
“You know?”
“Enzo told me.”
Claire’s face tightened at the name.
“Enzo is alive?”
“Yes.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Apparently nobody dies in this family.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“Did Gabriel know about me?”
“Yes.”
“Did he see me?”
“A few times.”
“The photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he stay?”
“Because Victor threatened you.”
Again.
Always threat.
Always silence.
Emma asked the question she dreaded.
“Did Gabriel love me?”
Claire cried.
“Yes.”
“Did he love you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love Peter?”
Claire looked at her.
“Also yes.”
Emma shook her head.
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s messy.”
“It’s cruel.”
“Yes.”
Claire did not defend herself.
That helped.
Luca walked toward the archive door.
“I need a minute.”
Emma looked at him.
The man she had been working for eleven months.
The man whose sleeve she had grabbed.
The man she had trusted tonight.
Her uncle.
He looked as shaken as she felt.
He left.
Vanessa watched him go.
Then whispered to Emma:
“You need to know something.”
Emma laughed.
“Do I?”
“Gabriel didn’t die because of Victor.”
Claire looked sharply at her.
“What?”
Vanessa continued.
“My father had him held.”
“Where?”
“This hotel.”
Luca stopped in the doorway.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Seven years ago.”
Luca returned.
“What happened?”
“Gabriel was kept downstairs for three days.”
Claire went pale.
“No.”
“You knew?” Luca asked.
“I found out afterward.”
“What happened to him?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He escaped.”
“Then?”
“My father ordered Caleb to find him.”
“And did he?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“What happened?”
Vanessa looked toward Claire.
“Gabriel came to see her.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“No.”
Vanessa nodded.
“The night Peter disappeared.”
Emma stared.
“My father and Gabriel were together?”
“Yes.”
Luca’s voice sharpened.
“Then what happened?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with something Emma had never seen before.
Shame.
“Caleb followed them.”
“Where?”
“To the river project.”
Claire whispered, “No.”
Vanessa looked at Emma.
“There was a fight.”
“Who?”
“Caleb. Gabriel. Peter.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“And?”
“Peter was shot.”
The room vanished.
Emma heard only that.
Peter was shot.
“By who?”
Vanessa looked at Luca.
Then Claire.
Finally Emma.
“Gabriel.”
Emma stared.
“No.”
“Vanessa,” Luca warned.
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Why would Gabriel shoot Peter?”
“He didn’t mean to.”
Emma’s hands shook.
“What happened?”
“Caleb had the gun. Peter grabbed him. Gabriel tried to help.”
She swallowed.
“The gun fired.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Peter Collins.
Her real father in every way that mattered.
Killed accidentally during a fight involving her biological father.
“And Gabriel?”
“Caleb shot him next.”
Claire made a sound like something breaking.
Luca went completely still.
“So Gabriel died that night.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where are the bodies?”
Her silence lasted too long.
“Vanessa.”
She looked toward the basement floor.
Emma understood.
“Oh God.”
Vanessa whispered:
“They’re still here.”
Emma looked at the basement floor until the tiles seemed to move beneath her feet.
Claire reached for her.
Emma stepped away.
Not because she hated her mother.
Because if Claire touched her, Emma knew she would fall apart.
“Did you know where Peter was buried?” she asked.
Claire's face collapsed. “No.”
“Did you ever look?”
“For years.”
“How?”
“Private investigators. Missing-person databases. hospitals. shelters.”
“And Gabriel?”
“I thought he was dead too.”
Vanessa said quietly, “Victor made sure people believed both men had disappeared for their own reasons.”
Emma turned on her. “You keep saying your father did things as if that makes you less responsible.”
Vanessa flinched.
“You knew enough to help him.”
“Yes.”
“You knew enough to threaten me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew enough to sign my boss's dog up to die.”
Vanessa's eyes filled. “Yes.”
Emma stared at her. “Then stop hiding behind your father.”
Silence.
Luca watched Emma with something in his expression she could not name.
Pride, maybe.
Or recognition.
Claire whispered, “Peter would have liked hearing you say that.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“That doesn't make any of this easier.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Claire nodded, tears slipping down her face.
“Okay.”
For once, nobody tried to explain her pain to her.
Nobody told her to calm down.
Nobody told her the truth was complicated.
They simply stood with it.
Then the first forensic officer arrived at the basement doorway and asked everyone to move back.
Emma looked down at the floor one last time.
May you like
If Peter was beneath it, she would bring him home.
This time, no one would bury the truth with him.
