Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO SOLD HER SILENCE
Luca turned Boston upside down looking for my mother.
Every hospital.
Every private residence.
Every property controlled by the Varenna family.
Nothing.
For two days, I barely slept.
I was terrified for my mother.
Terrified for my baby.
And terrified that the man I loved would eventually discover something about me that made him walk away.
On the third morning, Marco entered the breakfast room.
"We found her."
I stood immediately.
"Where?"
"An apartment in South Boston. She's alive."
Luca grabbed his coat.
"I want a car ready."
When we arrived, my mother was sitting beside a window.
Her wrists were bruised.
But she was conscious.
The moment she saw me, she began crying.
"Evelyn."
I hugged her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She held my face.
"Because I was ashamed."
Luca remained near the doorway.
My mother looked at him.
"There's something I need to confess."
He crossed his arms.
"Go ahead."
She reached beneath her coat and removed a small envelope.
Inside was a laboratory report from twelve years earlier.
It wasn't Luca's fertility test.
It was a paternity test.
My mother explained that she had discovered it among the papers left by Luca's father.
The report named a child.
But the father's name had been blacked out.
"Why would your father have this?" Luca asked.
"Because the child was born in the hospital during the same week as your accident."
I looked at her.
"Who was the mother?"
My mother hesitated.
Then she said:
"Victoria."
Luca went still.
"Daniel?"
My mother shook her head.
"No."
She looked at me.
"The child was taken from the hospital shortly after birth. Victoria was told the baby had died."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"Where is the child now?"
My mother opened the envelope again.
Inside was a photograph.
A newborn wrapped in a white blanket.
And around the baby's wrist was a small silver bracelet.
I recognized it immediately.
It was identical to the one Luca kept locked inside his father's old watch box.
Luca took the photograph.
His face turned pale.
"That's my father's bracelet."
My mother nodded.
"Your father believed the child was still alive. He spent years searching."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because he discovered that Salvatore had arranged the transfer."
Luca looked at Victoria's name on the report.
"Who raised the child?"
My mother looked toward the door.
"Someone close to the family."
At that moment, Marco entered.
He held a tablet.
"We have a problem."
Luca turned.
"What?"
"Salvatore just released a statement to the press."
He showed us the screen.
A photograph of Luca and Victoria had been published.
The headline read:
BOSTON MAFIA HEIR HID SECRET CHILD FROM NEW WIFE — FAMILY PATERNITY SCANDAL EXPLODES.
Below it was another photograph.
This one showed me leaving the hospital.
The caption read:
PREGNANT WIFE'S BABY MAY NOT BE VARENNA HEIR.
My phone began ringing.
Then Luca's.
Then Marco's.
Within minutes, every news outlet in Boston was repeating the same story.
But the worst part wasn't the headlines.
It was the video that appeared next.
Salvatore stood in front of a camera.
He looked directly into the lens.
"My nephew has been deceived. His wife is carrying a child whose origins are uncertain. And the woman he believes is innocent has been hiding the truth."
Then he held up a photograph.
A photograph of my mother.
Standing beside Luca's father.
With a newborn baby in her arms.
May you like
And underneath it, he announced:
"The woman who gave birth to Luca Varenna's first child is still alive."
