Chapter 6 - The Silver Locket
|
Dante’s words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. "You don't exist."
I pulled my hand away from Leo’s crib, stepping back from Dante’s overwhelming presence. "What are you talking about? Of course I exist. I have a social security number, a bank account, an apartment lease..."
"All created exactly five years ago," Dante interrupted, stepping forward, trapping me between his massive frame and the changing table. "Before that, Alina Valdez is a ghost. No birth certificate. No school records. No dental files. You are a manufactured identity. Who made you?"
My heart hammered in my throat. My mother had always told me we moved a lot when I was young, that she had lost our papers in a house fire. I had never questioned it. I had blindly trusted the woman who raised me.
"I don't know," I stammered, genuinely terrified. "My mother... she handled all our paperwork. She said we lost everything in a fire in Chicago."
"Your mother is a liar," Dante stated coldly. His eyes dropped to my chest, narrowing sharply as they locked onto the cheap silver locket I always wore. It was the only thing my mother had given me before she vanished.
Before I could react, Dante’s hand shot out. He grabbed the locket, his strong fingers wrapping around the metal.
"Where did you get this?" he demanded, his voice suddenly vibrating with a furious, barely contained rage.
"Let go of me!" I cried, trying to push his chest, but he was like a wall of solid granite. "My mother gave it to me! It's mine!"
Dante didn't let go. He pressed a hidden catch on the side of the locket—a catch I had never known existed. The silver pendant popped open.
Inside wasn't a picture of me, or my mother.
May you like
Inside was a tiny, perfectly preserved photograph of Dante Rosselli, looking ten years younger, smiling next to a beautiful woman with dark hair and striking gray eyes.
"That is my wife," Dante whispered, all the blood draining from his face. He looked from the photograph to me, his eyes wide with a horrifying realization. "You have Isabella's locket. How do you have Isabella's locket?"
