Chapter 5 - THE BABY HIS FATHER WANTED ERASED
“My father had another daughter?”
Luca stared at Nora's photograph.
He remembered the woman's face now.
She had appeared at family gatherings when he was a teenager.
His father always introduced her as a hospital administrator.
Luca had never questioned it.
He had been eleven years old.
Too young to understand the way adults sometimes stopped talking when a particular woman entered a room.
Evelyn sat across from him.
“Alessandro had an affair with Nora Ellis. She was twenty-six and working in pediatric administration.”
Hannah stood beside the desk, holding the little blue coat.
“And the baby?”
“Her name was Grace.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Another sister.
Another child his father had hidden.
“Where is Grace now?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Then why are you telling us this?”
“Because you need to understand what happened before you confront Vanessa.”
He leaned forward.
“Vanessa knew?”
Evelyn lowered her head.
“She found Victor's old records after he died.”
“Your husband helped my father?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn didn't defend him.
“Victor falsified medical transfers. He believed Alessandro would finance his research clinic and make him wealthy.”
“Did he?”
“For a while.”
“And you helped him.”
Her silence was answer enough.
Hannah sat down slowly.
“Why did you take me?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Because your mother begged me to.”
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
Hannah tightened her grip on the coat.
“Why didn't she come with us?”
“She was very ill. She needed treatment that Alessandro controlled. She also believed you would be safer if nobody knew where you had gone.”
Luca's voice cracked.
“And you let me believe she was dead?”
“I wasn't allowed near you afterward.”
“That's convenient.”
Evelyn accepted the accusation.
“You have every reason to hate me.”
Luca looked away.
Hannah spoke.
“Where did Margaret Collins fit into this?”
“She was my closest friend. She worked nights in the neonatal ward.”
“And she agreed to raise me?”
“She wanted children and couldn't have them.”
Hannah's eyes filled.
“So I wasn't abandoned.”
“No, sweetheart.”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“Your mother chose someone who would love you.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
For years, she had imagined the woman who gave her away.
She had imagined indifference.
Shame.
Maybe cruelty.
Never this.
But then another thought came.
“Margaret could have told me.”
“She promised Elena she would wait until you were safe.”
“Safe from whom?”
Evelyn looked at Luca.
“Alessandro's associates. Victor. Anyone who knew what Lucia had seen.”
Luca stood.
“I'm done listening to half-answers.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“There's a child in that room who was taken from school today because your daughter wanted something.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I know.”
“What does Vanessa want?”
The older woman's face collapsed.
“She wants the trunk.”
“We have it.”
“Not everything inside it.”
Luca frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Evelyn opened her desk drawer and placed a small brass key on the table.
“The antique trunk has a hidden compartment beneath the bottom panel.”
Hannah remembered struggling with the lining.
“Vanessa knew something was sewn underneath.”
“Yes. She believed your mother hid a ledger there.”
“A ledger of what?”
“Payments. Transfers. Names.”
Luca looked at Daniel.
“Did our men find a compartment?”
“Not yet.”
Evelyn continued.
“Victor kept copies of the transactions Alessandro ordered. After Nora vanished, he began documenting everything because he feared your father would turn on him.”
Luca stared.
“He was blackmailing my father?”
“Eventually.”
“And Vanessa wants the records.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“Because she's learned something about your father's estate.”
Daniel frowned.
“Alessandro's estate was settled twelve years ago.”
“Not all of it.”
Evelyn pulled a folded newspaper clipping from her drawer.
It showed a photograph of Alessandro standing outside an industrial property on Chicago's West Side.
Beneath it was a headline about a medical foundation.
“The Bellini Foundation controls a trust established in 1998,” Evelyn explained. “It was intended to fund care for the children harmed by Victor and Alessandro's medical arrangements.”
Luca stared.
“My father created a trust for the people he hurt?”
“Not voluntarily. Elena forced the agreement before she disappeared.”
Hannah leaned forward.
“How?”
“She had the original records. She threatened to expose everything unless Alessandro placed money beyond his own control.”
Luca shook his head.
“My mother was dying.”
“She was ill,” Evelyn replied. “That did not make her powerless.”
For the first time, Luca felt pride pushing through his anger.
His mother had tried to fight.
Even while sick.
Even while trapped inside a marriage to a dangerous man.
Daniel studied the clipping.
“Where's the trust now?”
“Vanessa believes it holds nearly thirty million dollars in assets.”
Luca let out a slow breath.
“And marrying me gives her access?”
“Not directly. But she believed she could persuade you to sign away disputed family property connected to it.”
Hannah stared at Evelyn.
“Then why hurt me? Why involve Lily?”
“Because she discovered who you were.”
The words landed heavily.
Evelyn continued.
“Vanessa found your childhood photograph in Victor's belongings. Then she learned that Hannah Collins worked in Luca's house.”
Luca turned sharply.
“She knew before I hired Hannah?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know when she first recognized you. But she became certain after seeing your bracelet.”
Hannah touched her necklace.
“She saw it when I changed into my uniform one morning.”
“And afterward?”
“She began treating me differently.”
Luca remembered complaints about Hannah's work.
Requests that she stay away from family dinners.
Sudden threats about her employment.
He had dismissed them as household disagreements.
Now he understood how dangerous his inattention had been.
Hannah looked at him.
“You never asked why I was injured.”
Luca swallowed.
“No.”
“Vanessa pushed the trunk against me yesterday. I fell into the stair railing.”
His face changed.
“She caused your injury?”
Hannah nodded.
“She said it was my own fault for being clumsy.”
Luca turned away, ashamed.
Then Daniel's laptop chimed.
He had accessed a county property record linked to the Bellini Foundation.
“Boss. There's a scheduled transfer tomorrow.”
“What transfer?”
“Control of the trust's remaining property.”
“To whom?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“A private corporation registered under Vanessa's name.”
Luca moved closer.
“How can she do that?”
“There's an authorization attached. It appears to carry your signature.”
“I never signed anything.”
Daniel enlarged the document.
“It's the same signature from your wedding-property agreement.”
Luca went cold.
Vanessa had asked him to sign those papers two weeks earlier.
She had said they were necessary for their marriage.
He had signed without reading every page.
Then Daniel found an additional attachment.
A beneficiary list.
Several names had been crossed out.
One remained.
LUCIA MORETTI.
Beside it was a second name.
LILY COLLINS.
Hannah grabbed the desk.
“Why is my daughter on that list?”
Evelyn looked horrified.
“Because the trust covers descendants of eligible beneficiaries.”
Luca turned toward her.
“You said Vanessa only wanted the money.”
“I thought she did.”
Daniel scrolled to the bottom.
There, beneath the financial authorizations, was a proposed petition for emergency guardianship.
It named Lily Collins as a medically vulnerable minor whose mother was supposedly unable to provide adequate care.
And the proposed guardian was not Evelyn.
It was Vanessa Bellini.
Hannah's voice shook.
“She was going to take my daughter legally.”
Luca's eyes darkened.
Then Daniel saw the filing status.
“Boss, this isn't just a draft.”
May you like
He turned the screen.
“Vanessa submitted the guardianship petition yesterday morning.”
