Chapter 3 - The DNA Test Was Only the Beginning—Because Someone Had Changed My Daughter’s Birth CertificateThe official birth certificate said Lily's father was unknown.
Moretti changed that within an hour.
But when his lawyer submitted the paperwork, another problem appeared.
The government database contained a different birth certificate.
One that listed Lily as deceased.
The date was three years earlier.
The hospital claimed the baby had died during delivery.
Moretti stared at the document.
“That isn't my daughter.”
The lawyer swallowed.
“According to the state records, she is.”
Moretti slammed the file shut.
“Then someone created a dead child.”
And that meant someone had created a living child.
A child who had been hidden for three years.
Clara had not simply kept a secret.
She had participated in an elaborate disappearance.
The question was why.
That afternoon, Clara finally woke.
Her first words were not about herself.
“Where's Lily?”
Moretti stood beside her.
“Safe.”
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
“Thank God.”
“You're going to tell me everything.”
She closed her eyes.
“I knew this day would come.”
“You knew I'd discover she was mine?”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
Clara looked at him.
“Because if I told you three years ago, Lily would have been dead before her first birthday.”
Moretti felt his anger falter.
“Who threatened you?”
Clara whispered one name.
“Adrian.”
Moretti's face hardened.
His younger brother's name.
Adrian Moretti.
The brother everyone believed had died in a car explosion five years earlier.
Clara continued.
“Your family lied to you.”
“About Adrian?”
“About everything.”
Then she revealed the secret.
Adrian had never been dead.
He had been building his own organization.
And he had one obsession.
Control of the Moretti family.
Lily was not merely Moretti's daughter.
She was the legal heir to an enormous trust created by his father.
A trust worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
If Lily died, Adrian inherited everything.
Moretti stared at Clara.
“And you knew?”
“I found out after Lily was born.”
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because Adrian told me he had people inside your organization.”
Moretti went silent.
Clara reached for his hand.
“I was afraid.”
He looked at her fingers.
For three years, she had protected his child without asking him for anything.
He couldn't hate her.
But he couldn't forgive her yet either.
Then she whispered,
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Adrian isn't working alone.”
Moretti's eyes hardened.
“Who?”
May you like
Clara looked toward the door.
“The person you trust most.”
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