CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LETTER UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS
The Letter Under the Floorboards
The clock on Ava's bedside table blinked 3:17 a.m. in glaring red digits.
She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, her heart refusing to settle.
Luca was her brother. She had seen the mark—an A, just like hers, inked by nature onto his skin. There was no denying it now.
But the happiness twisting inside her was poisoned by something else.
Why had Tanya and Marco never told her? Why did they look scared instead of happy when she revealed it?
She threw off her blanket and swung her legs onto the cold wooden floor, restless, pacing the small space of her room.
She couldn't breathe here.
She needed answers.
Her foot hit something — a dull, hollow thunk under the floorboards.
Ava froze.
She crouched down and ran her fingers along the floor, heart pounding. One of the planks was loose.
She dug her nails underneath, lifting it gently until it popped up with a soft creak.
And there, stuffed between the beams, was a yellowed envelope. Dusty, brittle.
Her name was scrawled on the front in a handwriting she hadn't seen since she was five years old.
Her mother's handwriting.
Hands trembling, Ava pulled it out and unfolded the letter inside.
My darling Ava,
If you ever find this, know that I love you more than anything in this world. They will tell you stories. They will say they are saving you. But not everyone who smiles is a friend. Trust your heart. Trust your blood. Stay hidden until it's safe.
Find your brother. Protect each other.
When you turn twenty-three, the truth will belong to you again.
Forever in my heart,
Mama.
Tears blurred Ava's vision. She clutched the letter to her chest.
There was something else folded inside — a faded photograph.
Two toddlers, no older than three, sat side by side on a grassy lawn.
She recognized herself immediately — the wild curls, the tiny sneakers.
And next to her — a little boy.
Alex. Luca.
Her brother.
Her blood.
The truth her mother had tried to preserve was finally cracking through the lies.
She dropped to her knees by her bed, clutching the letter, the photo, everything.
Her mind raced.
The trust fund.
The inheritance.
Her mother had known — she had tried to warn her.
Wiping her face, Ava grabbed her laptop, heart pounding.
She searched. And kept searching.
And there it was — buried deep in legal databases.
Ava Anjello — beneficiary of the Anjello Estate Trust. Locked until her twenty-third birthday.
Estimated value:
$47.3 million.
Managed by LCD Holdings.
Lucien Crane Du Callian's company.
A sick, cold feeling settled in her gut.
Lucien had been watching her. Controlling her.
And maybe—just maybe—Tanya and Marco had helped him.
By the time the sun rose, Ava was in the kitchen, letter and photo laid out on the table.
Tanya and Marco stumbled in, yawning, pretending like it was just another morning.
"Sit down," Ava said, her voice flat.
They paused, exchanging a nervous glance.
Marco sat first. Tanya followed, wringing her hands.
She pushed the letter toward them.
"This was under my floorboards."
Tanya went pale. Marco shifted uncomfortably.
"Who paid you to keep me quiet?" Ava demanded.
"Who paid you to keep me from finding out about Luca? About my family?"
Silence.
Tanya's lip trembled.
"We were trying to protect you," she said finally.
Her voice cracked. "We… we didn't have a choice."
Marco spoke up, rough and low.
"People like Lucien… you don't say no to them."
Tanya's eyes filled with tears.
"He made sure you were safe. That's all that mattered."
Safe. Hidden.
Like a bird locked in a golden cage.
Ava stood, chair scraping back hard against the floor.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
She grabbed the letter and the photo and fled to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Her world was a crumbling lie.
Everyone she trusted had betrayed her.
Except maybe one person.
Luca.
She curled up against her bed, staring at the ceiling.
The letter lay beside her, whispering its secrets.
She traced her finger over the faded ink.
Find your brother. Protect each other.
"I will, Mama," she whispered.
"I swear I will."
The Letter Under the Floorboards
The walls of her room seemed to close in on her.
Ava couldn't sit still. Couldn't breathe.
Tanya's tearful apology, Marco's stony silence — it wasn't enough.
They knew something.
And whatever it was, it was worse than just keeping her in the dark.
She sat at her desk, the glow of her laptop illuminating her sleepless face.
She started digging harder this time. Deeper.
Public records, financial statements, old news articles, anything that connected Tanya, Marco, and Lucien Du Callian.
Hours passed.
And then, tucked away in a dusty court record from almost eighteen years ago, she found it.
A sealed financial settlement.
Payout: $250,000.
Payer: LCD Holdings.
Recipients: Marco and Tanya Martinez.
Subject: "Private guardianship and relocation assistance."
Her blood ran cold.
They hadn't just "fostered" her. They had been paid to hide her.
Her hands shook as she clicked through another file, barely able to believe what she was seeing.
Another payment.
This time to an anonymous intermediary — someone acting "on behalf of LCD Holdings" — for the purchase and "private guardianship" of a minor male child.
Date: two weeks after the fire.
Recipient: "Adoption agent."
Child: Name sealed.
But she didn't need the name.
She already knew.
Luca.
Lucien hadn't just taken him.
He had bought him.
Trafficked him like a possession.
And Tanya and Marco had known.
They had smiled and tucked her into bed every night while her brother grew up a prisoner, raised under Lucien's thumb.
Her heart broke open inside her chest.
The betrayal was so deep, she didn't know if she would ever trust anyone again.
She stumbled back from her desk, breathing hard.
Ava snatched her jacket off the chair. She needed air.
She needed to think.
The photo and her mother's letter she folded carefully into her pocket.
As she slipped out the door into the cold night, one thing was clear in her mind:
She couldn't stay here anymore.
They weren't her real family.
Luca was.
And now, she would stop at nothing to bring him home.