Chapter 4 - The Family Who Raised Luca Had Never Known He Was a Moretti—Until Someone Sent Me a Photograph Proving His Mother Had Been Searching for HimThe Bell family lived in Pennsylvania.
We found them.
A married couple.
Two older children.
One young man.
Twenty-two.
His name was Lucas Bell.
He had been raised believing himself adopted.
But he had a birth certificate.
A medical history.
And a photograph from infancy.
I stared at it.
The crescent birthmark.
The eyes.
The face.
It was him.
Sebastian stood beside me.
He couldn't speak.
We knocked.
A woman answered.
When she saw Sebastian, her face went white.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“You know me.”
She swallowed.
“My husband does.”
“Where is your son?”
She hesitated.
“Lucas?”
“Yes.”
“He's at college.”
“Call him.”
She looked at us.
“Why?”
Sebastian showed her the DNA result.
She began crying.
“My God.”
Her husband appeared behind her.
He saw Sebastian.
Then the report.
He sat down.
“We didn't know.”
“Tell me everything.”
They explained.
Seventeen years earlier, they had been told a child had been abandoned at a clinic.
They were offered custody.
The paperwork was legitimate.
They adopted him.
His original name was Miller.
Not Bell.
Lucas Miller.
The same temporary name used at Pine Valley.
Then they changed it.
He became Lucas Bell.
They raised him.
Loved him.
Never knew his origins.
I asked:
“Did anyone contact you?”
The father nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“She said she was Elena Moretti.”
Sebastian went still.
“Elena?”
The man nodded.
“She said she wanted to see her son.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“She disappeared.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“She died.”
The family looked confused.
I asked:
“Do you have the message?”
They did.
An old email.
We read it.
Please protect my son. Don't tell Sebastian yet. Someone is watching.
The timestamp was one year before Elena's supposed death.
That changed everything.
Elena may have survived.
Maybe she had been searching.
Maybe she had been protecting Luca.
Then another message arrived.
If Sebastian finds him, they will know.
I looked at Sebastian.
“Who is they?”
He didn't answer.
He stared at the family.
“Where is Lucas now?”
“At university.”
“What university?”
They told him.
Sebastian immediately called security.
We left.
But before we reached the car, the adopted father stopped us.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Sebastian turned.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
He pulled out a small box.
“We were told never to open this.”
Inside was a newborn bracelet.
Luca Moretti.
The original.
And underneath it, another note.
When the child is safe, give this to his father.
Sebastian stared at the bracelet.
I watched his face.
The anger was gone.
He looked shattered.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
No words.
He listened.
Then said:
“Get to the university.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
May you like
He lowered the phone.
“Someone found Lucas.”
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