Chapter 3 - The DNA Test Confirmed Baby Boy Miller Was Luca Moretti—But Someone Inside the Hospital Had Been Hiding That Truth for Seventeen YearsWe arranged the DNA test immediately.
The hospital geneticist worked privately with law enforcement.
Sebastian wouldn't leave.
Neither would I.
At noon, the results came back.
99.999%.
Parent-child relationship confirmed.
Baby Boy Miller was Luca Moretti.
Sebastian read the report.
His hands began shaking.
He covered his mouth.
For a man who had spent decades making other people afraid of him, he looked completely helpless.
“I knew.”
He said it almost like an apology.
“I knew.”
I sat beside him.
“You were right.”
He nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
He stared through the incubator.
“My son.”
The baby moved.
Sebastian placed his hand near him.
“I'm here.”
Then he laughed once.
A broken little sound.
“I looked for you.”
I looked away to give him privacy.
When I returned, he was still standing there.
“I should tell you something.”
“What?”
“Luca's disappearance was never investigated properly.”
“How?”
“My influence complicated it.”
“Meaning?”
“The police thought I had taken him.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did Elena?”
“I don't know.”
That answer hurt.
“What happened to Elena?”
“Dead.”
He swallowed.
“Six years after Luca disappeared, I found evidence she had been murdered.”
“By whom?”
“My brother.”
I froze.
“You have a brother?”
“I had one.”
His name was Marco.
Marco Moretti had disappeared from public life seventeen years ago.
He had controlled one of Sebastian's shipping companies.
He had also been the last person seen near the maternity wing on the night Luca disappeared.
“What happened to him?”
“He died twelve years ago.”
“Coincidence?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“No.”
He believed Marco had been involved.
But the records had vanished.
Hospital staff had changed.
Witnesses died.
Files disappeared.
Everything connected to Luca had been erased.
Until now.
I checked the current records.
The mother had been admitted under a false name.
But the newborn's intake form had a handwritten notation.
TRANSFER REQUEST: M.M.
I showed Sebastian.
He stared.
“Marco Moretti.”
I nodded.
“Why would he request your son's transfer?”
“I don't know.”
We searched old staff records.
One nurse was still alive.
Margaret Bell.
She had been a neonatal nurse seventeen years ago.
She agreed to meet us.
She arrived at the hospital using a walker.
She looked at Sebastian.
Then at me.
Then at the baby.
“Oh.”
She covered her mouth.
“I knew.”
Sebastian stepped forward.
“Knew what?”
“That he survived.”
Silence.
“You knew my son survived?”
Margaret nodded.
“He was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Your brother.”
Sebastian's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because your brother said the baby wasn't safe with you.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It did to him.”
“What happened next?”
Margaret looked at me.
Then Sebastian.
“Luca was transferred to a private clinic.”
“Which one?”
She began crying.
“I don't remember the name.”
“You have records.”
“I don't.”
“Why?”
“Because I was told to destroy them.”
“By whom?”
She whispered:
“Dr. Daniel Miller.”
The name hit me.
Baby Boy Miller.
His temporary identity.
Miller.
Not random.
The baby's hospital designation had been chosen from the identity of the doctor who handled the transfer.
He had stolen Luca's identity.
I felt sick.
“Where is he now?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Dead.”
Sebastian stared.
Everyone connected to Luca seemed to die.
One by one.
Then Margaret reached into her bag.
She pulled out a photograph.
A baby.
A woman.
And a man.
Elena.
Luca.
Marco.
On the back was one sentence:
HE WAS RAISED BY A FAMILY WHO BELIEVED HE BELONGED TO THEM.
Sebastian stared.
“Who?”
Margaret looked at him.
“The Bell family.”
I frowned.
“Who are they?”
May you like
Margaret's eyes filled with fear.
“They are the people who have been trying to find him for seventeen years.”
Related Stories
