Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO BURIED THE TRUTH
For several seconds, Luca couldn't move.
His father, Vittorio Moretti, had been dead for eleven months.
The family had buried him in a private cemetery outside Chicago, beneath a stone monument bearing the Moretti crest. Hundreds of people had attended the funeral. Politicians had offered condolences. Rival families had sent flowers. Luca had stood beside the grave and promised himself he would never become the kind of man who confused power with cruelty.
Now his father's voice was speaking from a recorder hidden beneath the floor of Elena's conservatory.
“You were never supposed to keep both of them.”
Luca played the recording again.
The sentence was unmistakable.
“Marco, find out who had access to my father's private archives before he died.”
“Yes, boss.”
“And find Dr. Nathaniel Shaw.”
Marco hesitated.
“Shaw died six months ago.”
“Then find his family, his former staff, his financial records. I want everything.”
Vanessa sat on a bench, her face pale.
Clara remained near the doorway with Sophia. The little girl had become unusually quiet, watching Luca with the solemn expression of a child who sensed that the adults were frightened but didn't understand why.
“Daddy,” she whispered, “is Grandpa in trouble?”
Luca crouched beside her.
“No, sweetheart. Grandpa can't hurt you.”
“Then why are you angry?”
He looked at the recorder.
“Because I don't know what happened before you came home.”
Sophia thought about that.
“Maybe the other baby knows.”
The simplicity of the words nearly broke him.
He kissed her forehead and asked Clara to take her upstairs.
As Clara lifted Sophia into her arms, Vanessa suddenly stood.
“Luca, we need to talk alone.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“You've had years to talk.”
“I was afraid of your father.”
The room fell silent.
Luca turned slowly.
“Explain.”
Vanessa pressed her hands together.
“Vittorio controlled everything. He decided who could enter the hospital, who could speak to Elena, and who would handle the paperwork. After Elena died, he told everyone that one baby had been stillborn.”
“Everyone?”
“Your family. The doctors. The people who needed to know.”
“And you?”
“I was twenty-four. I was working for your mother then. I had no power.”
“But you had enough power to sign a genetic testing request and hide the results.”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“Because I recognized the name on the original file.”
“What name?”
She looked at the photograph.
“Grace Bell.”
Luca had never heard the name before.
“Who was she?”
“A nurse who worked the maternity ward the night Elena delivered. She disappeared shortly afterward. Your father told the family she had stolen medication and fled the state.”
“Did she?”
“I don't know.”
Luca moved closer.
“Why would she contact Sophia?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Because she's alive.”
The answer landed hard.
“You've seen her?”
“Not personally. Three weeks ago, I received a package at my apartment. It contained a photograph of a young woman and a letter claiming that Elena had given birth to twins. The woman said she was the second child.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the letter threatened to expose you. It claimed your father had arranged an illegal adoption and that your family had paid to keep the truth buried.”
Luca stared at her.
“You thought hiding a DNA test would protect me from a scandal?”
“I thought if the claim was false, I could make it disappear before it destroyed our future.”
“Our future?”
Vanessa's voice cracked.
“I love you.”
Luca looked at her ring.
“You loved the future you imagined with me. That's not the same thing.”
She flinched.
Before she could answer, Marco returned with a tablet.
“Boss, we found a financial transfer.”
“From whom?”
“Your father's charitable foundation. The payment went to a private children's clinic in Connecticut, four days after Elena's delivery. The recipient was listed as Grace Bell.”
Luca took the tablet.
The payment had been repeated every year for six years.
One transfer had been made only two weeks earlier.
The recipient account was active.
“Get me the address.”
Marco did.
It belonged to a small residential property outside Hartford.
Luca ordered a car.
Then his phone rang.
The number was unknown.
He answered.
A woman's voice spoke quietly.
“Mr. Moretti, if you've found the freezer box, then Vanessa has already failed.”
“Who is this?”
“My name is Grace Bell.”
Luca's grip tightened.
“Where is the second baby?”
Silence.
Then Grace said, “She's alive. But before you come looking for her, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“Your daughter wasn't the only child your father took from that hospital.”
Luca stared at the screen.
“What do you mean?”
Grace's voice trembled.
May you like
“Someone else was born that night. A boy. And your father paid to make sure nobody ever found him.”
END OF CHAPTER 4
