Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Saved Her
The mansion had become a fortress.
Security guards watched every entrance. Isabella and Noah were moved into adjoining bedrooms, and Elena refused to let either child out of her sight.
Luca spent the night studying his father's documents.
Margaret Collins had received regular payments from the family trust for more than twenty years.
She had also been listed as the emergency guardian of any children born to Luca.
It made no sense.
“Why would my father trust a nurse with my children?” Luca asked Dominic.
Dominic examined the documents.
“Maybe she wasn't just a nurse.”
They discovered that Margaret had worked for the Moretti family long before joining St. Catherine's.
She had been the personal caregiver of Luca's mother.
And she had disappeared shortly after his mother's death.
Luca remembered something.
His father had always said his mother died from a sudden illness.
But when Luca was a boy, he had once overheard his parents arguing about a baby.
He had been told never to ask questions.
Now he wondered whether that baby had been him.
Elena listened quietly.
“Find Margaret,” she said.
“We will,” Luca promised.
The next afternoon, a package arrived at the mansion.
There was no return address.
Inside was a small cassette recorder and a handwritten letter.
Elena recognized the handwriting immediately.
It belonged to Margaret.
She pressed play.
“Dear Elena, if you're hearing this, then the truth has finally begun to surface. I am sorry for what happened. I wanted to protect you, but I made a terrible mistake.”
The recording continued.
Margaret revealed that Elena's accident had not been random.
Vanessa had discovered the pregnancy and feared that Luca would never marry her if Elena survived.
But Margaret also admitted that she had made a deal with Luca's father years earlier.
The old man had wanted control over the next generation of the Moretti family.
He had arranged for Margaret to monitor Elena's pregnancy.
When the accident occurred, Margaret had been ordered to keep Elena away from the mansion until the trust could be activated.
She claimed she had eventually disobeyed him.
But she had hidden something else.
“Your daughter was never the only baby born that night,” Margaret said. “There was another child. And the second child was not the one you think.”
Elena frowned.
Luca leaned closer.
“What does that mean?”
The recording crackled.
Then Margaret spoke again.
“Noah is your son. Isabella is your daughter. But there was a third infant.”
The room went silent.
Elena stared at the recorder.
“That's impossible.”
Margaret's voice became strained.
“Your husband's father had another child before Luca. A child he believed had died at birth. That child was raised under another name.”
Luca stood abruptly.
“My father had another son?”
“Yes,” Elena whispered.
Margaret continued.
“He is alive. And he has been waiting for the Moretti inheritance to become available.”
The recording stopped.
Luca looked at Dominic.
“Find every birth record connected to my father.”
Before Dominic could leave, the mansion's security system sounded.
A guard's voice came over the intercom.
“Mr. Moretti, there's a woman at the front gate.”
“Who?”
“She says her name is Margaret Collins.”
Luca and Elena exchanged a look.
The front doors opened.
An elderly woman entered, leaning heavily on a cane.
Her eyes filled with tears when she saw Elena.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered.
Elena stepped forward.
“Why did you keep me away from my children?”
Margaret lowered her head.
“Because I was afraid of what would happen if you came home.”
Luca's voice turned cold.
“Who is the third child?”
Margaret looked directly at him.
May you like
Then she said the words that shattered everything.
“Your older brother.”
