Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Delivered the Truth
Luca wanted to leave immediately.
Marco refused to let him go alone.
“It's a trap.”
“It's my daughter.”
“We don't even know if the girl is really Sophia.”
Luca slammed his hand against the desk.
“Then we'll find out.”
He sent Marco to trace the number while he ordered the security team to prepare two vehicles.
Before he could leave, Emily stepped into his path.
“Please take me with you.”
“No.”
“I know the nurse.”
“You have a child at home.”
“And you have a daughter who may be in danger.”
Luca studied her.
Emily wasn't trembling anymore.
She looked frightened, but there was something else in her expression.
Determination.
“Why would a stranger involve herself in this?”
Emily hesitated.
“Because I know what it feels like to be told that your child doesn't belong to you.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Explain.”
“My son was born prematurely. The clinic told me he had died. I was shown a medical certificate, but I never saw his body.”
Luca slowly lowered his phone.
“When was this?”
“Eight years ago.”
“And what happened afterward?”
“Margaret Hayes helped me find him. She said there had been an administrative mistake. Daniel was alive, but another family had been preparing to adopt him.”
“Who?”
Emily looked down.
“I never learned their names.”
Luca's face hardened.
“Did Richard Rowan have anything to do with that clinic?”
Emily nodded.
“His foundation funded it.”
For the first time, Luca understood why the photograph had been hidden in the wedding dress.
The gift hadn't been sent merely to expose Vanessa.
It had been sent to expose an entire operation.
At the hospital, the security team found the location of the phone.
It was an abandoned medical facility outside the city.
Luca and Emily entered through a side entrance.
The building smelled of dust and disinfectant.
A single light flickered at the end of the corridor.
“Margaret?” Emily called.
A door opened.
An older woman emerged.
Her face was pale, her hair almost entirely gray.
When she saw Emily, she covered her mouth.
“Emily Carter?”
Emily rushed toward her.
“Where is Daniel?”
Margaret began crying.
“He's safe. He's with my sister.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“Because they found out I helped you.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Where is my daughter?”
Margaret looked at him.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she pulled a folder from beneath her coat.
Inside were hospital records, photographs, and handwritten notes.
“Seven years ago, Elena Moretti came to me. She was pregnant and terrified. She told me that her husband had enemies inside his own organization.”
“My enemies?”
“Not all of them were outside your family, Mr. Moretti.”
Luca stared at her.
Margaret continued.
“Your wife discovered that Richard Rowan and someone close to you were arranging illegal adoptions through a private clinic. They were using vulnerable mothers and falsifying death certificates.”
“And Sophia?”
“Elena gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She asked me to hide her until she could expose the people involved.”
“Why didn't she come home?”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she was followed.”
She handed Luca a second photograph.
Elena stood beside a black car.
Behind her was a man Luca recognized immediately.
His younger brother.
Anthony Moretti.
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Anthony was dead.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No. He wasn't.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Anthony had supposedly been killed in a warehouse explosion six years earlier.
Luca had identified his watch and buried his brother.
“Where is he?”
Margaret looked toward the dark corridor.
“He came here three days ago.”
A noise echoed behind them.
A door slammed.
Marco's voice came through Luca's earpiece.
“Boss! We have company!”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Luca grabbed Emily and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
Margaret dropped the folder.
When Luca looked back, she was gone.
Only her coat remained on the floor.
And on top of it was a small envelope.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
The name read:
SOPHIA MORETTI.
The date of birth matched Elena's final hospital record.
May you like
But beneath the child's name was another name.
Mother: Vanessa Rowan.
