Chapter 6 - THE BOY WHO WASN'T HIS SON
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
"What does that mean?"
Luca sat across from me.
"I don't know everything yet."
"Then tell me what you do know."
He explained that Isabella had been protecting a child whose identity was connected to a criminal investigation.
When she disappeared, Luca had taken legal guardianship of Leo.
The boy had been too young to understand.
Over time, Luca became the only father Leo remembered.
"You're not his biological father?" I whispered.
"No."
"Does he know?"
"He knows I'm his dad. That's what matters to him."
I thought about Leo's nightmares.
His fear of abandonment.
His desperate need for reassurance.
"Why did you never tell me?"
"Because the fewer people who knew his history, the safer he was."
I looked at the photograph of my mother.
She had died five years earlier after a long illness.
She had never mentioned Isabella.
Or Leo.
"Why would my mother be involved?"
Luca hesitated.
"She worked as a pediatric nurse at the hospital where Leo was born."
My heart began pounding.
"You're telling me she knew his biological parents?"
"Possibly."
Then he slid another document toward me.
A birth certificate.
The mother's name had been redacted.
The father's information was blank.
But the date of birth was clear.
And the hospital was the same one where my mother had worked.
I stared at the document.
"Who erased her name?"
"Someone with access to the original records."
Before he could say more, his phone rang.
Marcus.
Luca listened.
His expression changed.
"Where?"
A pause.
"Keep him there."
He ended the call.
"Sebastian has been arrested for questioning."
I stood.
"About Leo?"
"About the warehouse."
Within hours, the news spread through Chicago.
Shaw Medical was under federal investigation.
Financial records had revealed payments to shell companies linked to the trafficking operation.
Sebastian claimed he knew nothing.
His father blamed former employees.
Vanessa disappeared.
And someone leaked photographs of me entering Luca's mansion.
By evening, social media was filled with accusations.
MAFIA BOSS MARRIES EX-WIFE OF INVESTIGATED BUSINESSMAN.
FORMER HOUSEWIFE AT CENTER OF CASTELLANO-SHAW FEUD.
Sebastian's family accused me of manipulating Luca into destroying their business.
I wanted to hide.
Instead, I remembered what Leo had told me.
Little heroes don't give up.
The following morning, I called an attorney.
Not Luca's attorney.
My own.
I wanted to examine the divorce agreement Sebastian had forced me to sign.
I wanted to know whether his family had hidden assets.
And I wanted answers about my mother's connection to Isabella.
That afternoon, my attorney called.
"Nora, we found something."
"What?"
"Your ex-husband transferred a substantial amount of money into an account using your name."
My blood ran cold.
"How much?"
"Eight million dollars."
I gripped the phone.
"I've never had eight million dollars."
"I believe you."
May you like
Then she added:
"But the federal government may not."
