Chapter 5: The Independent Examination
By sunrise, Vanessa’s pregnancy announcement had become a private war.
Vittorio demanded that Alessandro release a statement defending her.
Alessandro refused.
Vanessa demanded that I be arrested for trespassing, theft, and defamation.
Alessandro refused that too.
Instead, he ordered an independent medical examination.
Vanessa stood in the center of the library wearing a gray cashmere robe, her face pale but beautiful.
“You think I would fake a child?”
“I think someone purchased a maternity belly,” Alessandro replied. “I think evidence was burned. I think my security records were altered.”
“And you blame me?”
“I am asking for proof.”
She looked at the guests still being questioned in nearby rooms.
“You have already destroyed my reputation.”
“If you are pregnant, the examination will restore it.”
Vanessa’s expression softened.
“All right.”
Her immediate agreement surprised everyone.
Two physicians arrived from a hospital Alessandro did not own and the Cole family did not fund.
The examination took place in a locked guest room.
I waited outside with Emma.
She was awake again, drawing circles on a piece of paper.
“What are you drawing?” I asked.
“The room where the lady cried.”
“What lady?”
“The white-dress lady.”
I knelt beside her.
“When did you see Vanessa cry?”
“Before the music.”
“Was she alone?”
Emma shook her head.
“She was with the other Alessandro.”
My pulse quickened.
“Matteo?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“What did he look like?”
“Like Mr. Alessandro, but he smiled mean.”
Before I could ask more, the guest-room door opened.
One of the physicians approached Alessandro.
“Miss Cole is pregnant.”
Vanessa appeared behind him, tears flowing down her cheeks.
Vittorio smiled triumphantly.
The physician continued.
“Approximately eight weeks.”
The smile vanished.
Vanessa had claimed she was fourteen weeks pregnant.
More importantly, Alessandro had spent the entire possible conception period negotiating a shipping contract in Japan.
He had not seen Vanessa for nearly two months.
Alessandro turned toward her.
“Whose child is it?”
Vanessa wrapped the robe tightly around herself.
“Ours.”
“That is impossible.”
“We used the embryo.”
Alessandro froze.
Years earlier, after their engagement, Vanessa had persuaded him to provide genetic material for fertility testing. He had withdrawn from the process before any embryo transfer was approved.
“The embryos were destroyed,” he said.
“That is what you were told.”
Vittorio stepped forward.
“This child is a Moretti.”
Alessandro’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“How do you know?”
No one answered.
The physician cleared his throat.
“A DNA comparison can determine paternity before birth.”
“Do it,” Alessandro said.
Vanessa turned toward Vittorio.
For one second, they exchanged a look neither of them intended us to see.
Then every light in the mansion went dark.
A scream came from the medical room.
May you like
When the emergency lights activated, the blood sample was gone.
And so was Emma.
