Chapter 3 - The Secret Under Elina's Birth Certificate
Adrian brought Elina to an old family attorney the next day.
His name was Thomas Reed.
He had handled the Ortega family records for more than thirty years.
When he saw Elina, he nearly dropped his coffee.
“You know me?”
Elina asked.
Thomas stared at her.
“No.”
Then, more quietly:
“But I knew your mother.”
Elina's heart stopped.
“What?”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“You said she didn't know.”
“I said she never told me.”
Thomas sighed.
“Elina, your mother once worked for Sofia.”
“Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“Personal assistant.”
Elina frowned.
“My mother cleaned houses.”
“After Sofia disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
Thomas looked away.
“She ran.”
“From who?”
“Her husband.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Why?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Thomas closed the file.
“That's why Sofia's death was announced.”
Elina whispered:
“You're saying she isn't dead?”
Thomas did not answer.
He didn't need to.
Adrian's entire world seemed to shift.
“You lied to me.”
“I followed orders.”
“Whose?”
“Gabriel Ortega.”
His father's name.
Adrian's hands tightened.
“Why would my father fake Sofia's death?”
Thomas said nothing.
Elina noticed his silence.
“There was a baby.”
Thomas looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Leo.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Sofia leave her baby?”
“She didn't.”
Elina stared.
“What?”
Thomas leaned forward.
“Sofia was running because someone wanted to take her child.”
Adrian's voice became low.
“Who?”
“The people who controlled your father.”
Adrian froze.
“Blackridge?”
Thomas nodded.
Elina didn't know the name.
Adrian did.
Blackridge had been an underground financial network that operated through legitimate companies.
His father had been involved before dying.
Adrian had spent years erasing those connections.
“What did Sofia know?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Too much.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Elina looked at her own hands.
“What does my mother have to do with this?”
Thomas sighed.
“She helped Sofia disappear.”
Adrian stared at Elina.
“How?”
Thomas opened a second file.
It contained an old photograph.
Elina's mother stood beside Sofia.
Both women were smiling.
Elina felt tears sting her eyes.
“My mother never showed me this.”
“She was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Thomas looked toward Adrian.
“From knowing who your father was.”
Elina frowned.
“My father?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Your birth certificate lists him as unknown.”
“Yes.”
“That's not true.”
Elina stared.
“What?”
Thomas slid a document across the table.
Her original birth record.
The father's name had been blacked out.
But beneath the ink, faint letters remained.
Adrian leaned closer.
He recognized the handwriting.
His own father's.
“Gabriel Ortega.”
Elina stopped breathing.
“No.”
Thomas said nothing.
Elina shook her head.
“My father wasn't Gabriel Ortega.”
“He wasn't your biological father,” Thomas corrected.
“Then who was?”
Thomas's face changed.
“Sofia's brother.”
Adrian stared.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Elina was not Sofia's daughter.
She was Sofia's niece.
Her mother had hidden her because Sofia had been hunted.
Adrian's mind raced.
That would explain the resemblance.
The eyes.
The smile.
The birthmark.
The connection to Leo.
But then why had Leo bonded to her instantly?
Thomas answered the unspoken question.
“Sofia breastfed her brother's child for several months before she disappeared.”
Elina blinked.
“My mother?”
“No.”
“Sofia?”
Thomas nodded.
“She raised you alongside her own child before everything fell apart.”
Adrian looked at Elina.
“You were the other baby.”
She whispered:
“Leo had a twin?”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Elina's knees weakened.
Adrian caught her.
“Easy.”
She stared at him.
“What happened to my brother?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“He died.”
“Why?”
“Because Blackridge wanted Sofia's family line erased.”
Elina began to cry.
“I never knew.”
“I know.”
Then Leo's cry sounded from the hallway.
Elina turned.
The baby was reaching toward her.
She walked to him.
He quieted immediately.
Adrian watched.
There was something heartbreaking in the sight.
His son recognized family.
Even if no one else did.
Elina picked him up.
“I think he knew.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Knew what?”
“That I'm part of his family.”
At that exact moment, the mansion's security alarm sounded.
Adrian's men rushed in.
Thomas stood.
“What happened?”
Victor shouted from the hall:
“Someone breached the east gate!”
Adrian handed Elina to Celeste.
“Take Leo upstairs.”
“No.”
“Do it.”
“I can help.”
“Elina.”
She stared at him.
“You don't know me well enough to command me.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“You're right.”
He drew his gun.
“But I know enough to know someone is here to kill you.”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Everyone ducked.
Adrian stepped in front of Elina.
The glass rained across the floor.
Then a voice came from outside.
“Tell Sofia her daughter is alive.”
Elina froze.
May you like
Adrian looked at her.
And somewhere outside the mansion, someone laughed.
