Chapter 5 - The Daughter They Tried To Erase
The message on Andrew’s phone changed everything.
I didn’t know who sent it.
I didn’t know why Andrew looked afraid.
But I knew one thing.
For the first time since I met him, Andrew Whitman looked powerless.
The perfect politician’s son.
The man who controlled conversations.
The man who always had an explanation.
He stood in the middle of the clinic room staring at his phone like it had shown him something impossible.
“Who sent that?” Alessandro asked.
Andrew didn’t answer.
“Andrew.”
The warning in Alessandro’s voice filled the room.
Andrew slowly lowered the phone.
“It doesn’t matter.”
A dangerous silence followed.
Because everyone knew that when someone said something didn’t matter, it usually meant it mattered more than anything.
I looked at him.
“What did the message say?”
Andrew’s eyes moved to mine.
For a second, I saw something I had not seen in years.
Fear.
Not guilt.
Not regret.
Fear.
“Nothing.”
I almost laughed.
“Nothing made you look like that?”
He looked away.
And that was when I knew.
Whatever secret existed between the Whitmans and Alessandro Moretti was bigger than my marriage.
Bigger than the argument that sent us into the rain.
Bigger than Lily.
Maybe even bigger than all of us.
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Give me the phone.”
Andrew immediately tightened his grip.
“No.”
That single word changed the atmosphere.
Because Andrew had just refused the most feared man in Chicago.
And he did it because whatever was on that screen scared him more.
Alessandro noticed too.
“Interesting.”
Andrew looked at him.
“What?”
“You’re more afraid of that message than you are of me.”
Nobody spoke.
Andrew’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
Alessandro’s expression remained cold.
“I know exactly what I’m dealing with.”
“No.”
Andrew looked toward Lily.
“You don’t.”
My heart sank.
Again.
Everything came back to my daughter.
“Stop looking at her like that.”
My voice surprised everyone.
Including me.
Andrew turned.
“What?”
I stepped between him and Lily.
“You don’t get to look at her like she’s a problem anymore.”
His face changed.
“Grace—”
“No.”
My voice shook.
But I continued.
“You lost that right when you left us outside.”
For a moment, Andrew looked like he wanted to say something.
Then he looked at Alessandro.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
Alessandro didn’t answer.
Andrew smiled slightly.
A cruel smile.
“The great Alessandro Moretti.”
He looked around the room.
“Always two steps ahead.”
Then he pointed toward Lily.
“But not this time.”
Alessandro’s eyes became colder.
“Explain.”
Andrew hesitated.
And that hesitation told me something.
He didn’t want to tell us.
He had no choice.
“My father didn’t care about having a son because of the family name.”
The room went silent.
I looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
Andrew looked at Lily.
“Seven years ago, Jonathan discovered something about his bloodline.”
My confusion grew.
“His bloodline?”
Andrew nodded slowly.
“There was another child.”
My breath caught.
Another child.
The words from the phone call came back.
She’s not the first child they tried to hide.
Alessandro stepped forward.
“Who?”
Andrew looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
That surprised me.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
His voice became bitter.
“My father spent years hiding it.”
“Why?”
Andrew laughed quietly.
“Because that child was proof that everything my family built was a lie.”
I looked at Alessandro.
He was listening carefully.
Too carefully.
Like he already suspected something.
“Where did the bracelet come from?” Alessandro asked.
Andrew’s face changed.
“What bracelet?”
The room froze.
Because Andrew didn’t know.
Or he was pretending.
Alessandro took the bracelet from the table.
The same one with the words written on the back.
Protect my daughters.
Andrew stared at it.
And for the first time, genuine shock appeared on his face.
“Where did you get that?”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Answer my question first.”
Andrew looked at the bracelet.
His voice became quieter.
“That was supposed to be destroyed.”
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
Andrew looked at me.
And I saw something I hated.
Pity.
“I’m sorry, Grace.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Because I didn’t want his apology.
I wanted answers.
“What was supposed to be destroyed?”
Andrew didn’t answer.
Alessandro grabbed his attention.
“Who wrote those words?”
Andrew looked at the bracelet again.
Then at Lily.
Then at me.
“Your wife.”
I froze.
“What?”
Andrew swallowed.
“Not you.”
My heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
He looked away.
“Seven years ago, before you met me, there was another woman.”
I felt dizzy.
“Another woman?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Andrew didn’t respond.
Alessandro’s voice became sharper.
“Name.”
Andrew looked at him.
And said:
“Isabella.”
The room went completely silent.
Alessandro’s face changed.
Not slightly.
Completely.
Like someone had reached inside him and pulled out a memory he had buried.
I noticed.
“You know that name.”
He didn’t answer.
“Alessandro.”
His hands tightened.
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
“I know that name.”
Andrew watched him carefully.
“You knew her.”
Alessandro looked away.
“How?”
Andrew smiled sadly.
“Because she was the reason my father became afraid.”
I looked between them.
“Who was Isabella?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Alessandro finally spoke.
“She was someone who disappeared.”
The way he said it told me everything.
Not someone who left.
Someone who was taken.
Andrew continued.
“She had a daughter.”
My eyes moved to Lily.
No.
Impossible.
My baby.
My newborn daughter.
How could she be connected to a woman from seven years ago?
Andrew saw my expression.
“Not Lily.”
I exhaled.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“The child was before Lily.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“What happened to her?”
Andrew looked at the door.
Like he was checking whether someone was listening.
Then he whispered:
“My father erased her.”
A cold feeling moved through the room.
“Erased?”
Andrew nodded.
“Records changed. Names disappeared. People were paid.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved to Alessandro.
“Because that child belonged to someone Jonathan Whitman could never control.”
Silence.
Then Alessandro understood.
I saw it happen.
His face lost all emotion.
“Who was the father?”
Andrew didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Because Alessandro already knew.
“No.”
The word came from him quietly.
But it sounded like pain.
Andrew looked at him.
“Yes.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“What?”
He didn’t move.
“What is happening?”
Andrew stared at him.
“The child Jonathan tried to erase was yours.”
Nobody breathed.
The room disappeared around me.
Alessandro Moretti.
The feared man.
The man who saved us.
The man who had looked at Lily with such protection.
Had a past he never told anyone.
A daughter.
A missing child.
A secret connected to my husband’s family.
Then Alessandro’s phone rang.
He looked down.
The screen showed a name.
His expression changed.
Because the person calling was the same woman who had warned me.
The woman who knew the truth.
The woman who was supposed to be dead.
Alessandro answered.
But before he could speak, a broken voice came through the phone.
“Alessandro…”
Everyone froze.
The woman whispered:
“She found the child.”
A pause.
May you like
Then:
“And she’s coming for Lily.”
