Chapter 6 - Two Birth Certificates
Dominic did not sleep.
At dawn, he sat in his father's private study, reading the letter until every word seemed carved into his mind.
Two babies.
One hospital.
A missing doctor.
And a mother who had spent twenty years locked behind a blue door.
He called a trusted physician to examine Margaret and arranged for Lily and Elena to remain in a secure guest suite. He also ordered a full search of the old clinic records.
By nine that morning, Marcus had found the name of the hospital's former administrator.
She was eighty-three years old and living in a retirement community outside Boston.
Her name was Evelyn Shaw.
Dominic and Elena drove there together, accompanied by two security officers.
Elena carried her mother's letter in her handbag.
“You don't have to come,” Dominic told her.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because if my mother risked her life to preserve this information, I won't let it disappear again.”
He respected the answer.
Evelyn received them in a small sitting room filled with photographs of grandchildren. When she heard the name Antonio Moretti, her hands began to shake.
“I wondered when someone would come.”
Dominic sat opposite her.
“What happened the night I was born?”
Evelyn stared at him for a long time.
“Your mother delivered a healthy boy shortly after midnight. Another woman delivered a boy less than an hour later. Both births were recorded in the same private maternity ward.”
“Who was the other woman?”
Evelyn's eyes moved toward Elena.
“Catherine Carter.”
Elena gripped the edge of her chair.
“My mother?”
“Yes. Catherine was a nurse at the hospital. She was young, frightened, and unmarried. The second baby was premature, and the family paying for his treatment insisted the records remain private.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Who was the family?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Antonio Moretti.”
The silence that followed seemed to swallow the room.
Dominic shook his head.
“My father was paying for Catherine's child?”
“He was paying for both babies. He ordered the hospital to create separate records. I was told it was to protect the families from a scandal.”
“Was I switched with the other child?”
Evelyn looked stricken.
“I don't know. I never saw the original birth records after the fire.”
“Then why did you say two babies?”
“Because one record listed a boy born to Margaret Moretti. The other listed a boy born to Catherine Carter. But the identification bracelets were destroyed before the paperwork was finalized.”
Elena stood abruptly.
“No. My mother never told me she had a son.”
“She may not have known what happened,” Evelyn said. “Catherine was transferred out of the ward before the second baby was discharged.”
Dominic felt as if the ground had disappeared beneath him.
If the records had been altered, his entire identity could be built on a lie.
He asked Evelyn whether she had kept copies.
She shook her head.
“Not the complete files. But I saved one page when I realized someone was removing documents.”
She opened a small safe and removed an envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten transfer record.
Two infant identification numbers.
Two names.
One had been crossed out.
Beside the second was a note:
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED BY A. MORETTI. DESTINATION: PRIVATE RESIDENCE.
Dominic recognized the signature.
His father.
Elena stared at the paper.
“Where did the second baby go?”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“I was told he died.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Who told you?”
“Frank Bellini.”
The same attorney whose voice had come through the hidden room's telephone.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Do you have any proof the baby died?”
“No.”
“Then you don't know.”
Evelyn nodded, tears filling her eyes.
“I have regretted that night for twenty-six years.”
On the drive home, Elena remained silent.
Dominic finally spoke.
“If the records were altered, I will find the truth.”
She looked out the window.
“And if the truth destroys your family?”
He answered without hesitation.
“Then it destroys the lie, not the family.”
For the first time, Elena looked at him without the guarded expression she had worn since the dinner.
When they returned to the mansion, Marcus was waiting at the entrance.
“Boss, we found the house manager.”
“Where?”
“In his car, outside the north gate. He's alive, but he's been beaten.”
Dominic hurried to the garage.
The manager lay in the back seat, barely conscious. A paramedic was already treating him.
He clutched a torn envelope in his fist.
Dominic gently opened it.
Inside was a photograph of two newborn boys lying in hospital bassinets.
One wore a silver identification bracelet.
The other wore gold.
On the back, someone had written two names.
DOMINIC MORETTI.
NICHOLAS CARTER.
Elena's face went white.
“My mother never had a son named Nicholas.”
The wounded manager opened his eyes.
He looked directly at Dominic.
“Because,” he whispered, “your father took him.”
May you like
Then his eyes rolled back, and the paramedic shouted for help.
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