Chapter 5 - THE GIRL BEHIND THE NAME GRACE
Luca drove to Connecticut before sunrise.
He took Marco, two trusted guards, and no one else. Vanessa remained at the estate under security supervision, while Clara stayed with Sophia. Before leaving, Luca had instructed the household physician to examine Clara again. The doctor confirmed that she needed rest and monitoring, not another trip down the basement stairs.
Luca had also ordered every freezer, cabinet, and locked room in the estate searched.
Nothing else had been found.
That bothered him.
A secret involving two babies, a dead wife, and his father's money should have left more than a few scattered clues.
Unless someone had spent years cleaning up after Vittorio.
Grace Bell's address led to a modest white house on a quiet residential street. There were flowerpots beside the steps and a child's bicycle leaning against the fence.
Luca expected a frightened old nurse.
Instead, a woman in her early sixties opened the door with a photograph in her hand.
Her face was lined with exhaustion, and her gray hair was pulled into a loose knot.
“You came alone enough,” she said.
“I brought two men.”
“Your father brought twelve the last time he came here.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“He came here?”
“Six years ago. He wanted to know whether I'd told anyone about the babies.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“That I had.”
Grace stepped aside.
Inside, the house was warm and cluttered. Children's drawings covered the refrigerator. A framed photograph showed a young woman standing beside a teenage boy with dark hair and a crooked smile.
Luca noticed the photograph immediately.
“Who are they?”
Grace turned it face down.
“People who deserve to live without the Moretti name hanging over them.”
“I'm not my father.”
“That's what every powerful man says before he asks for something.”
Luca accepted the rebuke without answering.
Grace led him into a small sitting room and placed two files on the table.
The first contained the original delivery records.
The second contained a photograph of Elena holding two newborn girls.
Luca stared at it.
There was no question now. Two babies had been born. Both were alive when the photograph was taken.
“What happened after this picture?”
Grace sat opposite him.
“Elena had a severe hemorrhage. The doctors were trying to save her, and your father arrived before she was moved to intensive care. He had already arranged a private adoption for one child.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed the second baby would complicate your inheritance.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“My inheritance?”
“Your father had a business arrangement with another family. The child was supposed to be raised elsewhere, under a different name. The adoption was legal on paper, but the consent forms were forged.”
“Who was the other family?”
Grace looked at the photograph.
“The Bellamys. Wealthy, politically connected, and desperate for a child.”
Luca recognized the surname. The Bellamys owned a pharmaceutical company with contracts across the Northeast.
“Did they raise my sister?”
“I don't know. The child was moved again before I could find out.”
“You told me she's alive.”
“I told you one of the missing children is alive.”
Luca leaned forward.
“You said a boy was taken, too.”
Grace's face changed.
“That part isn't in the files.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because I delivered him.”
She opened the second file and removed a hospital photograph of a newborn boy.
His bracelet read MALE INFANT—UNIDENTIFIED.
Beneath the photograph was a birth record bearing Elena's name, though the handwriting was different from the other documents.
Luca studied it.
“That can't be right. Elena delivered twins.”
“Your father altered the records. He claimed the boy was born to another patient and died shortly afterward.”
“Was he Elena's child?”
Grace held his gaze.
“I believe he was.”
“Believe?”
“I never saw a DNA report. I saw Elena holding him. I heard her call him by a name.”
“What name?”
Grace's lips trembled.
“Michael.”
Luca sat back.
His father had not merely hidden a daughter.
He might have hidden a son.
A knock sounded at the front door.
Grace stiffened.
Marco's hand moved toward his jacket.
Luca signaled for him to wait, then approached the window.
A young woman stood on the porch.
She had dark hair, pale skin, and Elena's unmistakable green eyes.
In her hands was a small envelope.
Grace closed her eyes.
“Oh, God.”
Luca opened the door.
The young woman looked at him for a long moment.
Then she said, “You look exactly like the man who stole my family.”
“Who are you?”
She placed the envelope against his chest.
“My name is Anna Bellamy.”
Luca's heart pounded.
“Are you Elena's daughter?”
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
“I was told I was adopted. I was told my biological mother died giving birth to me.”
She looked past him at Grace.
“But last week, I learned that my entire life was built on a lie.”
Luca opened the envelope.
Inside was a DNA report.
At the bottom, a result confirmed a strong biological relationship between Anna and Sophia.
But before he could speak, Anna pointed at the last page.
“There is one more result,” she whispered. “And if it's correct, Sophia isn't the only child your father stole.”
The report identified a second genetic match.
May you like
A living male.
END OF CHAPTER 5
