Chapter 8 - THE CHILD WHO WAS TAKEN FIRST
Isabella struggled to speak.
“I was unconscious for hours after the delivery. When I woke up, Lucas was beside me. Adrian said the second baby had died before I could hold her.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You had twins?”
“I never saw the second baby. I asked for the medical report, but Adrian said the hospital had already handled everything.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I was exhausted, frightened, and alone. Vanessa told me you had signed papers refusing custody. Matteo told me you wanted no part of either child.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“They built a different lie for each of us.”
Anthony placed the photograph beside the original DNA report.
“We're checking the clinic and the names in the file. There's a lead in Wisconsin.”
“Go,” Dominic ordered. “Take the best team. Find that child.”
Before Anthony could leave, Lucas woke.
He looked at the photograph and frowned.
“That's the lady from Mommy's old picture.”
Isabella knelt beside him.
“Which lady, sweetheart?”
“The one who came to the room when I was little.”
Dominic crouched.
“You remember her?”
Lucas nodded.
“She gave me a red toy car. She said I had a sister who would find me someday.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Lucas thought for a moment.
“Grace.”
The name matched the photograph's handwritten note.
Grace Bennett.
A former nurse at the clinic.
Anthony found her address by noon.
She lived in a modest house outside Milwaukee, under a different surname. When Dominic and Isabella arrived, the curtains were drawn, and a car sat abandoned in the driveway.
Dominic knocked.
No answer.
He tried the handle.
Unlocked.
Inside, the house had been ransacked. Drawers lay open. Papers covered the floor.
On the kitchen table sat a single cup of cold coffee and a note.
YOU'RE TOO LATE.
Dominic's security team searched the property.
In the basement, they found a hidden room filled with medical files, photographs, and old newspapers. One clipping reported that a newborn girl had been found outside a church three years earlier and placed in foster care.
The child's name was Grace Bennett.
Her date of birth matched Lucas's.
A second document showed that Grace had been adopted by a couple who had recently moved to Boston.
Dominic felt a painful rush of hope.
Then he found a photograph of Vanessa standing outside the same church.
On the back was a message written in red ink.
SHE KNOWS WHERE THE GIRL IS.
Dominic called Anthony.
“Find Vanessa. Alive.”
“Understood.”
They returned to Chicago with the files.
Emily was still in the hospital, where doctors had decided to keep her under observation. Dominic visited her before heading to the police station to give a formal statement.
She looked exhausted but relieved to see him.
“Did you find your wife?”
“Yes.”
“And Lucas?”
“He's with her.”
Emily smiled faintly.
“Then something good came out of all this.”
Dominic sat beside her.
“You helped save him.”
“I just did what anyone should do.”
“No,” he said quietly. “Most people would have looked away.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I'm not a hero, Mr. Moretti. I'm just tired of seeing people hurt.”
For a moment, Dominic wanted to tell her that she would never have to work another day in her life. But he realized that what she needed was not a grand promise from a powerful man.
She needed safety, respect, and the freedom to choose her own future.
“I'll make sure you and your baby are protected,” he said. “After that, you decide what comes next.”
Emily nodded.
That evening, a detective contacted Dominic.
Vanessa had been spotted at a private airport.
She was preparing to leave the country.
Dominic arrived just as she reached the security gate.
“Vanessa!”
She turned.
For a moment, her face showed relief.
Then she saw the police officers behind him.
“You have to help me,” she pleaded. “Matteo is going to kill me.”
Dominic's expression remained cold.
“Where is the girl?”
Vanessa began to cry.
“She's alive.”
“Where?”
“In Boston. But you don't understand. Matteo never wanted Lucas. He wanted the girl.”
Dominic felt his stomach tighten.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked toward the officers, then back at him.
“Because your father wasn't the only one who knew about the twins.”
She leaned closer.
“Your mother knew, too.”
Dominic froze.
His mother had died when he was twelve.
Vanessa whispered the words that shattered his remaining certainty.
May you like
“Your mother gave birth to a third child, Dominic. And Matteo has spent his entire life searching for him.”
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