Chapter 5 - The Morning Sickness That Exposed the Empire's Biggest LieEnzo's arrival caused chaos.
Security raised weapons.
Dante stepped in front of Clara.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Enzo smiled.
“Neither should she.”
He pointed toward Clara.
“She was never supposed to survive.”
Clara's hand moved instinctively to her stomach.
Dante saw it.
His entire posture changed.
“Get out.”
Enzo laughed.
“You still think this is about money?”
“What is it about?”
“Blood.”
Silence.
Enzo removed a document from his coat.
“This pregnancy proves something.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“That my brother's bloodline survived.”
Clara frowned.
“My father's?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you care?”
“Because your father didn't just leave money.”
He held up another file.
“He left control.”
“Control of what?”
“The Rosetti foundation.”
Dante stared.
Clara looked confused.
Enzo smiled.
“Michael Rosetti owned sixty percent of the company's voting shares before his death.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
“Where are the shares?”
“With her.”
Everyone looked at Clara.
“What?”
“The shares were transferred into a trust when you were born.”
Dante turned toward Clara.
“My father left you the empire.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed Enzo would kill him.”
Enzo laughed.
“And he did.”
Dante's face changed.
“You killed my father.”
“I saved this family.”
“You destroyed it.”
“I built it.”
The room fell silent.
Enzo continued.
“Everything Vincent—”
He stopped.
“Everything you have came from Michael's work.”
Dante stared.
“That's the lie.”
“What?”
“You told me my father built nothing.”
“He built everything.”
Enzo smiled.
“And then I took it.”
Clara's stomach turned.
She suddenly understood.
Dante's empire had been built on stolen assets.
Stolen companies.
Stolen shares.
Stolen identity.
The entire Rosetti fortune was legally Clara's.
“Why marry me?” she whispered.
Dante looked at her.
“To protect you.”
“And the shares?”
“I didn't know.”
Enzo laughed.
“That's not entirely true.”
Clara looked at Dante.
He went silent.
Her heart sank.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Dante finally spoke.
“I knew there was a trust.”
“But not that it belonged to me?”
“No.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
She stepped back.
“You knew enough to marry me.”
“I also loved you.”
The words stopped her.
Enzo smiled.
“That is the weakness I've been waiting for.”
Dante turned.
“Daniel.”
Security moved.
Enzo was surrounded.
But he laughed.
“Go ahead.”
He dropped a final envelope.
Inside was an old medical record.
Dante's name.
A notation.
STERILIZATION PROCEDURE — COMPLETE.
Clara stared.
Dante's face hardened.
“I was sixteen.”
“What?”
“Enzo took me to a private doctor after an accident.”
Clara looked at him.
“What accident?”
“He said it was surgery to save me.”
Enzo smiled.
“It wasn't.”
Dante's fists clenched.
“You made me infertile.”
“I made sure the bloodline ended.”
Clara looked at him.
Then at her stomach.
She suddenly understood.
The pregnancy wasn't a miracle.
It was evidence that someone had lied about Dante's medical records.
Someone had falsified them.
Someone had altered his history.
Dante's impossible infertility was another piece of Enzo's long plan.
But why?
The doctor ran additional tests.
The result arrived that evening.
Dante was not infertile.
His records had been falsified.
He could father children.
And Clara was pregnant with his child.
The room went silent again.
This time for a different reason.
Dante looked at Clara.
Tears filled his eyes.
He touched her stomach.
“I'm going to be a father.”
Clara smiled through tears.
“Yes.”
For the first time in thirty-four years, Dante Rosetti looked genuinely happy.
Then the doctor added quietly,
“There is one more issue.”
Dante looked up.
“What?”
“The pregnancy is not the danger.”
May you like
The doctor handed him another document.
“The mother is.”
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