Chapter 4 - The Maid With the Wrong Birthday
Emily Carter had spent her entire life believing she was an ordinary woman.
By sunrise, she would discover that even her birthday was a lie.
She reached into the metal box.
Beneath Elena Moretti's letters lay a small photograph of two newborn girls wrapped in matching white blankets.
One wore a pink ribbon around her wrist.
The other wore blue.
On the back, someone had written two names.
Vanessa.
Evelyn.
Emily stared at the second name.
"Who's Evelyn?"
Margaret began shaking.
"Emily, sweetheart—"
"Mom."
Emily's voice sharpened.
"Why do I look like that baby?"
Vanessa stepped closer.
The photograph showed two infants with dark hair and delicate features.
It was impossible to establish their identities from the image alone.
But something about Margaret's reaction frightened everyone.
Luca looked at her.
"Margaret. Tell us."
The older woman sat down heavily.
"Emily wasn't born on March seventeenth."
Emily stopped breathing.
"Yes, I was."
"No."
"Mom, I have a birth certificate."
"I know."
"You were there."
Margaret covered her face.
"I was there when they brought you to me."
The room went silent.
Emily stepped backward.
"Who brought me?"
"Elena."
Vanessa gripped the table.
Luca stared at Margaret.
"You're saying Emily is Catherine Vale's second daughter?"
Margaret nodded.
"I raised her as my own."
Emily looked as though someone had struck her.
"All these years?"
"Sweetheart, I loved you from the moment I held you."
"That isn't what I asked."
Margaret's tears fell onto the table.
"I know."
Emily turned away.
Her entire childhood suddenly felt unfamiliar.
The birthday parties.
The photographs.
The stories about her father, who had supposedly died before she was born.
Had any of it been real?
"Who was my father?" she asked.
Margaret shook her head.
"I don't know."
Emily laughed once.
A small, broken sound.
"You don't know."
"No."
"You lied about my birthday, my name, and my mother, but you don't know who my father was?"
Margaret reached toward her.
Emily stepped away.
"Don't."
Vanessa remained motionless.
For years, she had felt like an outsider.
Now she was standing three feet from a woman who might be her twin sister.
"Emily," she whispered.
Emily looked at her.
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"I don't know what to say."
"Neither do I."
Luca placed the photograph on the table.
"We need independent DNA testing."
Margaret nodded.
"Yes."
"Until then, nobody makes assumptions."
Vanessa looked at him.
"You still think this could be another lie?"
"I think someone has spent twenty-eight years manipulating records, identities, and people. I'm not trusting a photograph."
Emily folded her arms.
"For once, I agree with him."
By eight that morning, Luca had arranged for a private medical team to collect samples.
The results would take time.
He also ordered a complete forensic examination of the adoption records.
But there was a larger problem.
Daniel Mercer.
Whoever he was, he had known about the portrait.
He had known Vanessa would return.
And he had apparently known exactly how to destabilize Luca's family.
At ten, Marcus entered the mansion's library.
"We found Mercer."
Luca stood.
"Where?"
"In Manhattan. He has an office registered under a consulting company."
"Bring him in."
Marcus hesitated.
"Boss, there's something you should see first."
He handed Luca a tablet.
On the screen was a security photograph.
Daniel Mercer stood outside a restaurant.
Beside him was a tall silver-haired man in an expensive charcoal suit.
Luca recognized him immediately.
His father's former attorney.
Richard Bellamy.
Bellamy had handled Antonio's estate after his death.
He had also prepared Luca and Vanessa's prenuptial agreement.
Luca felt anger rise in his chest.
"How recently was this taken?"
"Last night."
"Before the shooting?"
"Two hours before."
Luca studied the photograph.
Bellamy had attended family dinners.
He had advised Luca during difficult business negotiations.
He had even congratulated Vanessa when the engagement was announced.
"Bring Bellamy here," Luca said.
Marcus nodded.
"And Mercer?"
"Find out where he goes. Don't let him know we're watching."
Across the mansion, Vanessa sat alone in the conservatory.
She was staring at the engagement ring on her finger.
Luca found her there.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she asked, "Are you going to make me leave?"
He looked at her.
"I don't know."
She nodded slowly.
"I suppose that's fair."
"Vanessa."
She turned.
"I loved you before I knew any of this."
Luca's expression tightened.
"I know."
"And if we're related—"
"Don't."
She stopped.
He sat across from her.
"We don't know what happened. We don't know who your parents were. We don't even know whether those records are genuine."
"But you can't look at me the same way."
Luca said nothing.
That silence hurt more than any answer.
Vanessa removed her engagement ring.
She placed it on the table between them.
"I won't ask you to pretend."
Luca stared at the diamond.
Six months earlier, he had slipped it onto her finger overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
He had believed he was beginning a family.
Now he was trying to understand whether his father had destroyed one.
"Keep it," he said.
Vanessa shook her head.
"Not until we know."
She stood.
At the doorway, she paused.
"Luca, there's something I haven't told you."
He looked up.
"Another secret?"
Her eyes filled with shame.
"Daniel Mercer didn't find me."
Luca frowned.
"What?"
"I contacted him."
"Why?"
"Because someone sent me a photograph of you."
Luca went still.
"Of me?"
Vanessa nodded.
"You were a little boy. Maybe five years old. Standing beside Antonio."
"And?"
"There was another child in the picture."
She swallowed.
"A girl."
Luca stared at her.
"Who?"
Vanessa whispered, "Me."
May you like
Then she added the detail that changed everything.
"On the back, your mother had written, Luca and Vanessa. Our children."
