Chapter 8 - THE FIANCÉE'S LAST LIE
Luca returned to the estate with Michael beside him and a single order for Marco.
“Until I know who sent that photograph, nobody gets near Clara or Sophia without being checked by you personally.”
Marco nodded.
“I'll put trusted men at the hospital, too.”
“Good. And no one tells Clara about the threat until the doctor confirms she's stable.”
Michael stood near the doorway, studying the mansion's grand staircase.
“So this is where you grew up.”
“Yes.”
“Must have been nice.”
Luca heard the bitterness beneath the words.
“It wasn't always.”
“I'm sure.”
Michael turned away before Luca could respond.
The two men were connected by blood, but blood had not given them a shared childhood. Luca had grown up learning how to command people. Michael had grown up learning how to avoid being discarded.
Neither knew how to bridge the distance between them.
Then Sophia came running down the hallway.
“Daddy!”
Luca caught her before she could collide with his legs.
She looked past him at Michael.
“Who are you?”
Michael seemed suddenly uncomfortable.
“I'm Michael.”
Sophia considered him.
“Are you one of Daddy's friends?”
He glanced at Luca.
“Something like that.”
Sophia held up her stuffed rabbit.
“Clara says sometimes people who are strangers can become family.”
Michael looked at the little girl for a long moment.
“Clara sounds like a smart person.”
“She is. She makes pancakes with chocolate chips, even when Mrs. Vanessa says they're not healthy.”
Luca almost smiled.
Then Sophia asked, “Are you the baby who got lost?”
Michael went completely still.
Luca knelt beside his daughter.
“Sweetheart, who told you that?”
“The hospital lady. She said my sister was lost, and then she said maybe my brother was lost, too.”
Michael's face drained of color.
“Who was the hospital lady?”
Sophia thought carefully.
“She had a scar on her hand. And she smelled like oranges.”
Luca and Michael exchanged a look.
Grace had a scar across her left hand.
But she had not been near Sophia that day.
Someone else had visited the estate.
Before Luca could question the child further, Marco appeared.
“Boss, Vanessa wants to speak with you. She says she'll tell us everything if you guarantee her protection.”
“Protection from whom?”
“She wouldn't say.”
Luca left Sophia with Michael and entered the library.
Vanessa sat in a chair near the window. Her face was pale, and her engagement ring lay on the table before her.
For the first time since Luca had known her, she looked older than her years.
“You said you wanted to tell me the truth,” he said.
“I do.”
“Then start with the hospital.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“My father worked with Vittorio for years. He handled private transactions, legal arrangements, and payments that couldn't appear in the company's books. When Elena became pregnant, my father learned she was carrying twins.”
“How?”
“He had access to the hospital's financial records. He knew which doctors owed money and which nurses could be pressured.”
“And you knew?”
“I learned the truth after the delivery. My father told me one baby had died and the other had been brought home. He said it was necessary to protect the Moretti inheritance.”
Luca's voice hardened.
“Protect it from a child?”
“From a legal challenge. Vittorio believed the family trust could be divided if both children were publicly acknowledged. He wanted you to remain the sole heir.”
“That was his excuse. What was yours?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I was in love with you.”
The words were almost a whisper.
“I thought if I stayed close to your family, I could make things right eventually. I told myself I was gathering information. I told myself I could protect the child who had been taken.”
“But you never did.”
“No.”
“Instead, you hid Sophia's test results.”
“Because the report identified a discrepancy in the maternal DNA. I thought it meant someone had substituted a sample. I was afraid that if you discovered the truth, you would destroy everything connected to my father.”
“You mean the fortune you hoped to marry into.”
Vanessa flinched.
“Yes.”
Luca stared at her.
At last, she looked directly into his eyes.
“I know what I did was wrong. I should have told you everything. I should never have ordered Clara to carry that box. I was frightened, and I made everyone else pay for it.”
“Why was Clara involved?”
“Because the delivery driver refused to hand the box to me after he recognized my name from the laboratory's restricted list. I told Clara it was ordinary medical equipment. I thought I could hide it in the basement until I found a way to destroy the evidence.”
“You put my daughter's life at risk.”
“I know.”
“You put Clara's baby at risk.”
“I know.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say now?”
Vanessa reached into her handbag and placed a small key on the table.
“Because this opens my father's private storage unit. He kept the original hospital records there, along with the second death certificate.”
Luca picked up the key.
“Who signed it?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I don't know. I never saw the original.”
“Then why did you tell me it existed?”
“Because my father showed it to me once. He said that if the missing child ever came looking for her family, the certificate would prove she had no legal claim.”
Luca stared at the key.
“Where is the storage unit?”
“An old commercial building in downtown Chicago.”
He called Marco.
“Get a team ready. We're going now.”
Vanessa rose.
“Luca, please. I want to come with you.”
“No.”
“If my father left something there, I may be the only person who can identify it.”
He studied her face.
“You'll come with us. But understand something: if you lie again, no engagement ring, family connection, or declaration of love will protect you from the consequences.”
Vanessa nodded.
They reached the storage building just after midnight.
The unit was unlocked.
Inside, they found boxes of legal documents, old photographs, and a locked steel cabinet. Marco opened it with the key Vanessa provided.
The original hospital records lay inside.
So did a handwritten confession from Arthur Sterling.
Luca unfolded the paper.
I agreed to the transfer of Infant B. I was told the child would be raised safely and that the records would be corrected when the family situation stabilized.
I later learned that the arrangement was not temporary.
Vittorio ordered me to sign a false death certificate. He threatened to destroy my family if I refused.
The confession ended with a name.
DR. EVELYN BROOKS.
Luca stared at the page.
The laboratory director had been involved from the beginning.
His phone rang.
It was Clara's doctor.
“Mr. Moretti, Clara is awake. She's asking for you.”
“Is she all right?”
“She and the baby are stable. But there's something else.”
Luca's grip tightened.
“What?”
“Someone visited her room an hour ago claiming to be a hospital administrator. She left before security could verify her identity.”
“Did Clara see her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
The doctor paused.
“Clara says the woman looked exactly like your late wife.”
Luca felt the room tilt.
“That isn't possible.”
“I know. But Clara insists the woman had Elena's face.”
Then the doctor added one more detail.
The visitor had left a message.
May you like
TELL LUCA THAT THE FIRST BABY WAS NEVER THE ONE HE THOUGHT.
END OF CHAPTER 8
