Chapter 4 - THE SECOND CHILD
“What do you mean Anna wasn't the child?”
Luca's question echoed through the abandoned archive.
Vanessa stood beside the oak table, her hands pressed together.
Nobody moved.
Then Teresa spoke.
“Luca was the baby.”
The words were barely audible.
Luca turned toward his mother.
“What?”
She looked at him with an expression I had never seen before.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Your father was away on business. You were only a few weeks old. Eleanor came to the house with a woman from St. Agnes.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Teresa continued.
“They said they needed to take you for tests.”
Luca stared.
“Me?”
She nodded.
“I said no. Anna was holding your little hand. She kept telling them, 'Baby sleeping.'”
Tears filled Teresa's eyes.
“I carried you upstairs. When I came back, Anna was gone.”
The room became completely silent.
Richard leaned against the cabinet.
“My mother never told us that.”
Vanessa looked toward the floor.
Luca stepped closer to Teresa.
“Why didn't you tell Dad?”
“I did. He searched everywhere. Then Eleanor brought papers saying Anna had died after an accident.”
Her hands tightened around the blanket.
“Giovanni said the papers looked wrong. But every person he questioned told him the same story.”
Luca lowered his head.
For thirty-eight years, his father had carried a grief he never explained.
And now Luca understood something terrible.
His sister had disappeared because someone had wanted him.
A newborn son.
The future heir to Giovanni Moretti's fortune.
“Why would they want a baby boy?” he asked.
Richard looked at the ledger.
“Perhaps they wanted leverage against Giovanni.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“It was more than leverage.”
Luca turned.
“Then tell me.”
She swallowed.
“Your father wasn't cooperating with a business agreement involving the Bellini family. My parents believed controlling his heir would force him to reconsider.”
“And Anna?”
“She was there when they arrived.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“She tried to stop them.”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“The woman who accompanied my mother took Anna instead. My father said returning her immediately would expose what they'd attempted.”
Richard stared at his sister.
“You knew this?”
“Not when I was a child.”
“When?” Luca demanded.
“Six years ago.”
She looked at Giovanni's note.
“Your father summoned me here after discovering I'd started seeing you.”
Luca went still.
“He knew?”
“He knew our parents had been involved in Anna's disappearance. He wanted to know whether I knew where she was.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“Because he made me promise to let him handle it.”
Luca's expression didn't soften.
“Six years, Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“Six years you could have told me.”
She nodded miserably.
“And every year I thought it would become easier. It never did.”
Teresa suddenly leaned forward.
“Where is my daughter now?”
Her question brought us back to the only thing that mattered.
Luca looked at the address Giovanni had written.
“We're going to find her.”
Richard studied the Boston address.
“Margaret Hale owned a bakery there. Anna inherited it.”
“Then we'll contact the bakery,” Luca said.
Marco had already taken out his phone.
Within minutes, he located the business registration.
Hale Family Bakery.
The address matched Giovanni's note.
But the most recent public filing identified Anna as the owner and listed a change of mailing address.
The bakery had been temporarily closed for renovations.
“There's another address,” Marco said.
He showed Luca the screen.
A small house in Cambridge.
Luca memorized it.
“Arrange a flight tomorrow morning.”
Teresa gripped his wrist.
“I'm coming.”
“Mom, you've had a long night.”
“So have you.”
He looked at her.
Then nodded.
“We'll speak with Dr. Weiss first.”
Helena agreed the trip could be considered if Teresa rested and had appropriate support.
But there was one matter she wanted addressed immediately.
“Mr. Moretti, I need to review your mother's medical records before we travel.”
Luca frowned.
“Why?”
Helena looked at Vanessa.
“Because some of the notes in her chart were not written by me.”
Vanessa went pale.
The doctor opened her folder.
“Three weeks ago, someone submitted a summary stating Teresa was experiencing frequent delusions about an imaginary daughter. It was presented as an updated family report.”
“Who submitted it?” Luca asked.
Helena hesitated.
“Vanessa.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes. I did.”
“Why?”
“Because Mother said if Teresa kept talking about Anna, your family's reputation would be ruined.”
Luca stared at her.
“So you made my mother look incompetent.”
Vanessa began crying again.
“I convinced myself it was temporary.”
Helena spoke firmly.
“A family member cannot diagnose a patient by submitting an opinion.”
“I know that now.”
“No,” Luca replied. “You knew it then.”
For once, Vanessa didn't argue.
Teresa touched my arm.
“Claire, I want to go home.”
I bent toward her.
“Of course.”
But before we could leave, Richard approached the ledger.
He flipped several pages.
“Wait.”
Luca turned.
“What?”
Richard pointed to another placement entry.
The date was July 29, 1988.
One week after Anna disappeared.
A different child.
A baby boy.
The name had been crossed out, but the identification number was clearly visible.
Richard took out his phone and photographed the page.
“My father kept copies of certain accounts,” he said. “I found them when I settled his estate.”
Luca waited.
Richard compared the hospital number with an old payment record stored in his phone.
His expression changed.
“This child was placed with the family of a businessman named Samuel Kessler.”
Vanessa stared.
“Richard, don't.”
Luca looked between them.
“Who is Samuel Kessler?”
“A former Bellini business partner,” Richard replied.
“Former?”
“He disappeared from our business dealings after accusing our father of fraud.”
“And the child?”
Richard hesitated.
“He grew up believing he was Kessler's biological son.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Why does that matter?”
Richard's voice lowered.
“Because according to my father's private accounts, Samuel paid for a boy connected to the Moretti family.”
I felt cold all over.
Teresa drew the blanket closer.
Luca looked at the crossed-out name.
“Was Anna taken because they mistook her for me?”
“No,” Richard answered.
He traced the payment reference with his finger.
“Your sister was taken because she saw something. They were trying to cover one crime while arranging another.”
Luca's voice sharpened.
“What did she see?”
Richard turned the page.
A faded notation appeared beside Anna's placement.
WITNESS REMOVED.
Underneath was a second notation.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED FOLLOWING INCIDENT—JULY 21.
Luca stared at it.
“What incident?”
Richard's expression became grave.
“The night before Anna disappeared, a nurse at St. Agnes reported a child missing from the maternity ward.”
He looked toward Eleanor's signature.
“The nurse was fired. The investigation was closed. And that missing baby's hospital identification number matches the boy who ended up with Samuel Kessler.”
Luca glanced toward his mother.
“So Anna saw them steal a baby?”
Richard nodded slowly.
Then I noticed a third name written in the margin.
It was partly covered by dried adhesive.
I lifted the edge carefully.
Beneath it were the words:
WITNESS: T. MORETTI.
Teresa stared at the page.
She began shaking her head.
“No. No, they promised me he'd be safe.”
Luca knelt beside her.
“Who, Mom?”
She looked at him with tears pouring down her cheeks.
“The little boy. I held him while his mother screamed.”
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Then she whispered:
“Luca, Anna wasn't the only child they took that night. And I know who that baby's real mother was.”
