Chapter 3 - Derek Had Lied About the DNA Test Because He Already Knew the Baby Was Valuable, and the Doctor Revealed Who Had Paid Him to Keep Her Blood SecretDerek returned the next morning.
He walked into my hospital room wearing the same navy blazer.
Brittany was beside him.
She looked less confident now.
Derek glanced at Luca.
Fear flashed across his face.
“So you're here.”
Luca smiled.
“I'm always where family secrets become interesting.”
Derek looked at me.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“You refused to sign our daughter's birth certificate.”
“I have reasons.”
“You had the doctor request her blood.”
He froze.
Brittany looked at him.
“Derek?”
He said nothing.
I felt something inside me harden.
“You lied.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He looked at Luca.
“From him.”
Luca laughed softly.
“You've been protecting her from me for three days.”
Derek's face became pale.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Derek looked at me.
“Your daughter isn't safe.”
“That is the first honest thing you've said.”
He swallowed.
“Her blood matters.”
“Why?”
“Because of the family mark.”
I stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My mother knew.”
Lorraine.
His mother.
The woman who had always spoken badly about my family.
“What does your mother know?”
Derek hesitated.
“She worked for the Morettis.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Doing what?”
“Accounting.”
That made Luca go still.
Accounting.
That was the same field my mother had worked in.
The same field Alessandra's hidden records had involved.
Derek continued.
“Your mother and my mother worked together.”
I stared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She found out about the heir.”
“Which heir?”
Derek looked at my daughter.
“The baby.”
Silence.
I asked:
“Why does everyone think she belongs to the Moretti family?”
Derek whispered:
“Because she does.”
The room became silent.
Luca stepped closer.
“How?”
Derek looked at him.
“Your sister.”
Luca froze.
“She wasn't killed.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She gave birth.”
“When?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
“To whom?”
Derek looked at me.
“The baby was hidden.”
“Where?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“My mother handled the transfer.”
“What transfer?”
“The baby.”
Luca grabbed Derek's collar.
“Where?”
Derek's face went white.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Your mother helped hide her.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect her.”
Luca released him.
“From whom?”
Derek whispered:
“Your father.”
I looked at Luca.
“The Moretti patriarch.”
He nodded slowly.
“My father believed the heir would eventually threaten his control.”
Derek continued:
“The baby was sent away.”
“Why does my daughter have the mark?”
“Because the bloodline continued.”
I stared at my sleeping daughter.
Derek lowered his eyes.
“Your daughter is not Alessandra's baby.”
Luca looked confused.
“Then what is she?”
Derek said:
“She is the daughter of Alessandra's child.”
I couldn't breathe.
My daughter was the granddaughter of Luca's missing sister.
The Moretti heir.
And I had somehow given birth to her without knowing anything about the bloodline.
Derek looked at me.
“That is why I couldn't sign the certificate.”
“You were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Of what?”
“That once her identity became official, everyone would come for her.”
Luca's eyes became cold.
“Who?”
Derek stared at the floor.
“The Bellmont family.”
Luca went silent.
I knew that name.
It belonged to an old crime syndicate.
Enemies of the Morettis.
“They've been looking for the heir for seventeen years,” Derek said.
“And now?”
“They know she was born.”
“How?”
“The genetic test.”
I felt cold.
The doctor's test.
The blood.
Someone had leaked it.
And my daughter had just become the most valuable infant in Chicago.
Then my hospital room window cracked.
A bullet struck the wall.
Luca grabbed me.
His men moved.
Brittany screamed.
The room erupted.
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And in that chaos, one terrible truth became undeniable.
They were already coming for my daughter.
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