Chapter 4 - The Third Child
Nobody moved.
The baby in Sofia's arms was perhaps four months old.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same age.
Damian looked from the child to his twins.
“Sofia.”
His sister was crying.
“Don't.”
“Whose baby is that?”
“Please.”
“Whose?”
The infant startled.
I crossed the room.
“Lower your voice.”
Damian ignored me.
Sofia held the baby tighter.
“His name is Matteo.”
Damian's face emptied.
“Where did you get him?”
“I didn't get him anywhere.”
“Then explain why he looks like my sons.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Because he is their brother.”
The truth arrived in pieces.
Samuel Reed had been born Samuel Moretti.
Damian's older half brother.
Their father had thrown Samuel out of the family at twenty-three after Samuel refused to participate in the family business.
He changed his surname.
Went to medical school.
Built a life.
Damian hadn't seen him in eighteen years.
Natalia found him accidentally while seeking fertility treatment.
At first, she didn't know who he was.
Then she discovered the connection.
She kept going to him because he was one of the best fertility specialists in Illinois.
“And the embryos?” Damian asked.
Sofia shook her head.
“They were yours.”
Damian looked at me.
I understood.
His paternity wasn't the secret.
Something else was.
“What happened to the third baby?” I asked.
Sofia looked down at Matteo.
“Nothing.”
Damian went still.
“Explain.”
“Natalia carried three babies.”
“Records say she delivered two.”
“Records were changed.”
“Why?”
Sofia's voice cracked.
“Because somebody wanted one.”
Damian's expression became terrifying.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You've been hiding my son for four months and you don't know?”
“I was protecting him!”
“From whom?”
“From whoever killed Natalia.”
Silence.
Damian stepped backward.
Not because he feared Sofia.
Because the sentence hit harder than any weapon could have.
“Natalia died from complications.”
“No.”
Sofia was shaking.
“She was murdered.”
I felt cold all over.
Damian didn't speak.
Sofia continued.
“Natalia called me the morning she went into labor. She said somebody had discovered what Samuel found.”
“What did Samuel find?”
“A genetic database had been altered.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“To make one embryo appear unrelated to you.”
Damian looked toward Matteo.
“Which one?”
“Matteo.”
So that was the plan.
Someone had manipulated the records to make one child appear not to be Damian's.
Why?
Sofia answered before I asked.
“Because they needed you to reject him.”
Damian laughed bitterly.
“They didn't know me very well.”
“They knew the old you.”
That hurt.
He didn't deny it.
Sofia explained that Natalia had feared Damian might believe an affair had occurred if a falsified test showed one child wasn't his.
She had planned to reveal everything after the delivery.
She never got the chance.
Matteo was removed from the hospital before Damian saw him.
Sofia received a call from Samuel.
He had rescued the baby.
Then disappeared.
“Why didn't you tell me?” Damian asked.
“Because Samuel told me someone close to you arranged it.”
“Who?”
“He didn't know.”
“And you believed hiding my son from me was safer?”
“I watched you bury Natalia.”
Sofia's voice broke.
“I thought you'd burn Chicago down.”
Damian looked away.
“You might have,” she whispered.
He didn't answer.
I did.
“She may have been right.”
Damian looked at me.
“You don't know me.”
“No. But I've seen what grief does to ordinary people. You're not ordinary, and neither are the resources available to you.”
His jaw flexed.
Then Leo cried.
Matteo immediately turned his head.
Luca woke.
The three babies looked toward one another.
Something passed through the adults in the room.
Damian slowly approached Sofia.
“May I?”
She hesitated.
Then placed Matteo in his arms.
The feared man held his missing son for the first time.
His hands trembled.
Matteo stared at him.
Then grabbed Damian's gold chain.
Damian laughed.
It was one broken sound.
Then he cried.
No one looked away.
Not Sofia.
Not Marcus.
Not me.
Because there was nothing weak about it.
Four months of grief, sleeplessness, suspicion and loss finally found somewhere to go.
He pressed his forehead against his son's.
“I'm sorry.”
Matteo made a soft sound.
Damian closed his eyes.
“I'm so sorry.”
Later that morning, we arranged all three babies on the bed.
For the first time, Leo and Luca didn't cry.
They stared at Matteo.
Matteo stared back.
Then Luca reached across the blanket and caught his brother's sleeve.
Damian watched.
“So that's why.”
“Why what?” I asked.
“The crying.”
“They were separated before they understood separation.”
“But they remembered something was missing.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at me.
“You don't sound convinced.”
“I think there's more.”
I retrieved the monitor.
Natalia's recording hadn't finished.
We played it.
Her voice filled the room.
“If all three boys are together, then Samuel succeeded.”
Damian's hand closed around Matteo's.
“I need you to understand something. Samuel did not betray you.”
A pause.
“He discovered someone had accessed our embryos and medical records.”
Another pause.
“The person responsible wanted control of your inheritance.”
Damian frowned.
I looked at Sofia.
“What inheritance?”
Sofia answered.
“The Moretti trust.”
Damian's father had created it decades earlier.
Control passed to Damian, then eventually to his biological children.
Three sons meant the trust could never pass sideways to another branch of the family.
Unless those sons were disqualified.
Or removed.
“Who inherits if Damian has no recognized children?” I asked.
Sofia looked toward the doorway.
Victor Hale stood there.
Nobody had heard him enter.
His face was pale.
Damian stood.
“Victor.”
Victor backed away.
Marcus reached for him.
Victor ran.
The house exploded into motion.
Security moved through corridors.
Doors locked.
Damian handed Matteo to me and followed.
“Stay here.”
“Gladly.”
I held Matteo while Leo and Luca watched the chaos.
Five minutes later, Damian returned.
“Gone.”
“How?”
“Garage.”
“You have security.”
“He knew the system.”
“Because he's your attorney.”
“Because he designed half of it.”
That wasn't good.
Marcus entered.
“He left his phone.”
“Track his car.”
“Already doing it.”
I looked at the monitor.
Natalia's recording continued.
“There is one person you must trust.”
Damian stared at it.
“My husband will think betrayal came from inside the family.”
Static.
“It didn't.”
Victor might not have been working alone.
Natalia continued.
“The person who did this has been beside Damian since before we met.”
Marcus's expression changed.
Sofia looked at him.
Damian noticed.
“Marcus?”
“I've been with you seventeen years.”
Natalia's voice continued.
“He calls himself loyal.”
Marcus stepped backward.
Damian stared at him.
Then the recording said:
“But loyalty was never what he wanted.”
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Sofia screamed.
Damian moved.
But Marcus wasn't reaching for a weapon.
He pulled out a key.
He placed it on the table.
“I've waited four months to give you this.”
Damian stared.
“What does it open?”
Marcus looked at the three babies.
“Where Natalia hid the final proof.”
“Where?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Inside her grave.”
And before anyone could speak, Damian's phone rang.
May you like
The caller ID displayed two words.
SAMUEL REED.
