Chapter 6 - The Truth Behind the Birthday Cake
Luca returned to the mansion carrying the photograph.
Elena was sitting beside the fireplace.
When she saw the image, she began crying.
“Where did you get that?”
“From Gabriel.”
She covered her face.
“Then he's alive.”
“Yes.”
Luca placed the photograph in front of her.
“Tell me the truth. Who was the child in your arms?”
Elena stared at it for a long time.
Then she spoke.
“Your father had a plan.”
Thirteen years earlier, the Moretti family had been fighting a succession war.
Luca's father, Anthony, believed his empire would collapse if the wrong heir inherited it.
He had discovered that the family fortune was tied to a secret trust established by the Bellini family.
The trust could only be inherited by a direct descendant of Marcus Bellini.
Anthony's wife, Elena, had given birth to twins.
But one of the children had a different biological father.
Marcus Bellini.
Anthony had discovered the affair before the boys were born.
He decided to use the children.
He would raise Luca as his own son and conceal Gabriel's identity. Gabriel would become a bargaining chip against the Bellini family.
But Vanessa had discovered the truth.
She was working as a nurse at the hospital.
She and Gabriel had fallen in love.
When she became pregnant, Anthony ordered the hospital to falsify her records.
He claimed Sofia was the child of a deceased patient.
Then he took her away.
Elena had been forced to sign the documents.
“I watched him take my granddaughter,” she whispered. “And I did nothing.”
Luca stared at her.
“What happened to Gabriel?”
“Anthony told me he died in a fire.”
“Was there a fire?”
“Yes. In the old family kitchen.”
Elena looked toward the hallway.
“The night before his funeral, I smelled chocolate.”
Luca frowned.
“What?”
“Your father had ordered a cake. Gabriel loved chocolate cake. It was his birthday.”
Her voice broke.
“I saw him eating a slice. Then he collapsed.”
Luca felt sick.
“Was he poisoned?”
Elena nodded.
“I thought he was dead.”
“Then what happened?”
“Your father took him away. I never saw his body.”
Luca stepped backward.
The cake had not been a random warning.
It was the symbol of the night his brother had disappeared.
And someone had deliberately brought it back.
***
Later that evening, Emily entered the study.
“Mr. Moretti, there's a visitor.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“She says you knew her as Aunt Isabella.”
Luca frowned.
His father had mentioned an Aunt Isabella only once.
She had supposedly died before Luca was born.
The woman entered.
She was in her sixties, wearing a dark coat and carrying a leather handbag.
She looked at Elena.
“Hello, sister.”
Elena's face went white.
“Isabella?”
The woman nodded.
Then she turned toward Luca.
“Your father told everyone I was dead.”
“Who are you?”
“Your mother's older sister.”
She placed a folder on the desk.
Inside were bank transfers, medical records, and photographs.
“Your father didn't just hide Gabriel. He hid the truth about your birth.”
Luca looked at the documents.
A DNA report.
His biological father was listed as Marcus Bellini.
But the second result was stranger.
Gabriel's DNA was not a match to Marcus.
Luca looked up.
“Then who was Gabriel's father?”
Isabella took a deep breath.
“Anthony Moretti.”
Luca froze.
The twins had different fathers.
His entire understanding of his family had been wrong.
Isabella continued.
“Anthony knew the boys were not both his. He used that secret to control everyone.”
She opened another document.
It was a death certificate.
Gabriel Moretti.
Date of death: thirteen years ago.
But the signature was dated two days before the supposed death.
Luca stared.
“Someone signed this before he died.”
Isabella nodded.
“Because the death was planned.”
Then she placed one final photograph on the desk.
It showed Anthony Moretti standing beside a man in a hospital corridor.
The man wore a doctor's coat.
Luca recognized him immediately.
Dr. Reed.
But the person standing beside the doctor was even more shocking.
Richard Moretti.
And in Richard's arms was a baby.
A baby with the same scar as Gabriel.
May you like
Isabella whispered:
“Your uncle raised your brother.”
