Chapter 7 - The Name on the Hospital Record
The door opened.
Matteo stood there.
Kate stared at him.
For one stunned second, she thought Luciano had changed clothes.
Then she saw the differences.
Same eyes.
Same bone structure.
Different life written across the face.
“You're him.”
“Matteo.”
“Luciano's brother.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Luciano?”
“Downstairs.”
“Is he hurt?”
“No.”
Kate exhaled.
Then another contraction hit.
Matteo caught her before she fell.
Luciano reached the room seconds later.
Seeing his brother holding his pregnant wife produced a moment so surreal that nobody spoke.
Then Kate cried out.
“Margaret.”
Luciano carried Kate back to the bedroom.
Margaret regained consciousness.
Celia had vanished.
A guard had been shot in the shoulder but survived.
The estate was sealed.
By sunrise, Dr. Bennett finally arrived.
He examined Kate.
“Thirty hours,” he said.
Luciano frowned.
“What?”
“If we can keep the baby inside another thirty hours, the steroid treatment has more time to help his lungs.”
Kate nodded.
“Then thirty hours.”
Luciano looked at her.
As though determination could command biology.
Perhaps, for Kate, it could.
Matteo remained downstairs.
Luciano did not know how to speak to him.
Brother was a word for memories.
They had none.
Yet their silence felt strangely familiar.
Dr. Bennett asked to speak privately.
He had reviewed Kate’s records.
One page bothered him.
Her original prenatal bloodwork.
“What?”
“The paternal genetic markers listed here don't match the samples we have for you.”
Kate stared.
Luciano's face hardened.
Bennett raised a hand.
“I am not saying the baby isn't yours.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“The report was altered.”
Another falsified record.
But why?
Bennett showed them the original lab reference number.
Marco traced it.
The laboratory still had archived results.
The genuine report confirmed what Kate already knew.
Luciano was consistent with the baby's father.
The falsified version had been inserted three months earlier.
Someone had been building evidence that Kate's baby belonged to another man.
Luciano understood the plan.
Destroy the marriage.
Challenge paternity.
Take the trust.
Kate whispered, “Who was listed as the father?”
Bennett hesitated.
“There's a name attached to the altered record.”
“Who?”
He turned the page.
MICHAEL WARD.
Everyone looked toward Matteo.
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“Vittorio planned to say Kate had an affair with me.”
Kate was horrified.
“I hadn't seen you in years.”
“Facts aren't required for scandal. Only documents.”
Luciano stared at his brother.
The scheme was elegant in its cruelty.
Turn twin against twin.
Make Luciano believe Kate betrayed him with the brother he never knew existed.
Destroy the legitimacy of the child.
Marco entered.
“We have Celia.”
“Where?”
“East gate.”
Luciano wanted answers.
Celia gave them.
She had served Vittorio for years.
But not willingly.
Vittorio had threatened her son.
Like Calvin.
Like others.
A system built not merely on money but leverage.
“Who changed Kate's medication?”
Celia lowered her eyes.
“I did.”
Luciano moved toward her.
Kate stopped him.
“Why?”
Celia looked at Kate.
“Vittorio told me it would only trigger early labor.”
“At eighteen weeks?”
“I didn't know how dangerous it was.”
“You were a nurse.”
Celia began crying.
“I know.”
Kate’s voice was colder than Luciano had ever heard it.
“You stood beside my mother while she died.”
“Yes.”
“Did Vittorio kill her?”
Celia looked up.
“No.”
Kate breathed.
“But he visited her.”
“When?”
“The night before she lost consciousness.”
“Why?”
“He wanted Matteo's identity.”
“Did she tell him?”
“No.”
A faint smile appeared through Celia’s tears.
“Your mother was stronger than all of us.”
Kate closed her eyes.
That mattered.
More than she expected.
Celia continued.
“Before she died, she made me promise one thing.”
“What?”
“To protect you if Vittorio ever learned you were pregnant.”
Kate stared.
“You did the opposite.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because he had my son.”
Luciano understood the pattern.
Vittorio found what people loved.
Then turned love into a weapon.
Luciano had done versions of the same thing.
Not to innocents.
Not to family.
But close enough.
He suddenly hated the inheritance he had once called strength.
Celia gave them one final piece.
Vittorio had a safe house.
A private clinic.
That was where he intended to take the baby if Kate delivered early.
Marco organized law enforcement contacts they trusted.
Luciano refused to conduct this as an internal family execution.
That surprised Marco.
“You want police?”
“I want evidence.”
“Since when?”
“Since my son.”
Marco nodded.
Maybe change really had begun.
That afternoon, Kate's contractions slowed further.
Twenty-nine weeks and one day.
Luciano sat beside her.
“You're counting hours,” she said.
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
He touched her hand.
“Kate.”
“What?”
“If he comes tonight—”
“Don't.”
“I need to say it.”
“No.”
“If something happens—”
“Luciano.”
She looked at him.
“Our son is going to live.”
He nodded.
“And so am I.”
Another nod.
“And when this is over, you and I are going to have the ugliest argument of our marriage.”
A tiny smile.
“I look forward to it.”
“For seven months?”
“For seven months.”
“Good.”
Marco suddenly entered without knocking.
Luciano stood.
“What?”
“We traced the altered hospital record.”
“To Vittorio?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Marco held up the access log.
“The credentials belong to someone in this house.”
Kate stared.
“Who?”
Marco turned the page.
The account name appeared.
MARGARET HALE.
Everyone slowly looked toward the gray-haired midwife.
Margaret was no longer in the room.
Her medical bag was gone.
And on Kate's pillow lay a note that had not been there moments earlier.
Luciano picked it up.
May you like
Three words.
ASK WHO HIRED ME.
