Chapter 4 - The Name I Was Never Supposed to Have
I read the bracelet again.
Then a third time.
NERISSA MORETTI.
“That's impossible.”
Luca closed the apartment door behind him.
“Mr. Moretti believes your mother changed your identity shortly after your birth.”
“Why?”
“He hasn't figured that out yet.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe I'm secretly related to the most dangerous man in Chicago because someone found an old bracelet?”
“No,” Luca replied. “I expect you to understand that someone is willing to kill your sister over whatever your mother left behind.”
Sasha stepped closer.
“Why would anyone want to hurt us?”
Luca looked at her.
“Because your mother knew something.”
He placed another photograph on the kitchen table.
It showed three people outside a hospital.
My mother.
Alessandro's father, Vittorio Moretti.
And a woman wearing the same sapphire necklace.
Vivienne's mother.
My fingers trembled.
“Who is she?”
“Isabella DeLuca,” Luca answered. “Vivienne's mother.”
I stared at the photograph.
My mother stood between the two families, holding a baby.
Me.
“What happened?”
“Eighteen years ago, there was an incident at St. Catherine's Hospital. Two newborns were involved in a disappearance. One was reported dead. The other was supposedly adopted.”
I felt sick.
“Two newborns?”
Luca nodded.
“Your mother disappeared shortly afterward.”
Sasha looked between us.
“Are you saying Nerissa was switched at birth?”
“We don't know.”
I picked up the bracelet.
“Take me to Alessandro.”
Luca hesitated.
“Your sister stays here with security.”
“No. Sasha comes with me.”
“Nerissa—”
“I've spent my entire life being told to stay quiet, keep my head down, and be grateful for whatever little I have. I'm done.”
Luca studied me for a moment.
Then he nodded.
The drive back to the Langham took twenty minutes.
Alessandro was waiting in a private suite on the twenty-third floor.
He wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Without his jacket, he looked slightly less untouchable.
But his eyes were still frightening.
He looked at the bracelet.
“Where did you find it?”
“My mother's notebook.”
He opened a drawer and removed a thick folder.
Inside were hospital records, newspaper clippings, and photographs.
One document had been marked in red.
PATERNITY TEST — VITTORIO MORETTI / INFANT FEMALE.
The results showed a ninety-nine percent probability of a biological relationship.
I stared at the paper.
“Your father was my father?”
Alessandro didn't answer immediately.
“He was supposed to be.”
“What does that mean?”
“He died believing he had only one child.”
He looked at me.
“Me.”
My chest tightened.
“Then what am I?”
“That's what we need to establish.”
He placed another document before me.
A handwritten note from my mother.
Vittorio, if anything happens to me, protect my daughters. The girl they call dead is alive. And the woman you trust most knows why.
I read it twice.
“My mother had two daughters?”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“Apparently.”
I turned toward Sasha.
“She never told us.”
Sasha's eyes filled.
“Maybe she was trying to protect us.”
A knock interrupted us.
Vivienne entered without waiting.
Her silver dress had been replaced by a white coat, and the sapphire necklace rested against her throat.
She looked at me.
Then at the bracelet.
Her face lost all color.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother.”
Vivienne laughed nervously.
“That's absurd.”
Alessandro stepped between us.
“You recognize it.”
“I recognize a hospital bracelet.”
“You recognize the name.”
Vivienne's eyes flashed.
“Alessandro, this is getting out of control. Your father is dead. Elena is dead. Why are we digging through old ghosts?”
“Because someone threatened Nerissa's sister.”
Vivienne looked toward Sasha.
Then she said something that made the room go silent.
“Perhaps her sister shouldn't have been born either.”
I lunged forward.
Alessandro caught my arm before I could reach her.
His expression became terrifying.
“Repeat that.”
Vivienne swallowed.
“I didn't mean—”
“Get out.”
“Alessandro, I'm your fiancée!”
“Not anymore.”
She stared at him.
“You can't end an engagement because of some bakery girl.”
“I can end it because I choose to.”
Vivienne's eyes filled with hatred.
She turned toward me.
“You have no idea what your mother did.”
“Then tell me.”
Vivienne leaned closer.
“She didn't save you, Nerissa. She stole you.”
Then she walked out.
Alessandro released my arm.
I looked at him.
“Tell me the truth. Was I kidnapped from another family?”
He opened the folder again.
“There is one more document.”
He placed a hospital discharge record in front of me.
The mother's name had been blacked out.
But the baby's original name was visible.
ISABELLA MORETTI.
My eyes widened.
“Isabella?”
Alessandro nodded slowly.
“My father's first daughter.”
And suddenly, I understood why Vivienne had been so afraid.
Because if that document was real, I wasn't simply an unknown member of the Moretti family.
May you like
I was the child who had been declared dead.
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