Chapter 11 - What Nia Signed.
Nia took Noah and Lily home before dessert.
Luca followed in his own car but waited outside until Nia invited him in.
She sent the children upstairs with her sister and returned to the kitchen holding an old document box.
I didn't tell you everything.
Luca felt the words before he understood them.
What did you sign?
Nia opened the box.
Six years ago, two weeks after the twins came home from the hospital, a lawyer visited me.
He said he represented a private trust connected to your family.
He told me the fake paternity test had already proved you weren't Noah's father.
Luca stared at her.
Why would a test about Noah decide anything about Lily?
I asked the same thing.
The lawyer said the children were twins and the family considered the question closed.
Nia removed a stapled agreement.
It was titled Confidential Family Settlement and Mutual Release.
Luca began reading.
The agreement offered Nia a modest annual payment in exchange for never contacting Luca, Victor, or Moretti Holdings about the children.
It also required her not to publicly claim Luca was the father unless she obtained a court order.
The signature at the bottom was Nia's.
Luca looked up.
You signed this?
Yes.
Why?
Nia's eyes flashed.
Because I had two premature babies, medical bills I couldn't understand, no sleep, no car, and a document telling me the man I loved had already proved he wasn't their father.
She pushed another page toward him.
I refused the money.
The bank records showed every payment had been returned automatically except the first one, which Nia had donated to a children's hospital after her attorney advised her not to send it directly back.
I signed because the lawyer said if I kept contacting you, the family would seek damages for harassment and interfere with my employment.
Luca read the attorney's name.
Graham Vale.
He knew the name.
Vale had worked outside counsel for Moretti Holdings before retiring suddenly four years earlier.
Did you ever meet him again?
Once.
When?
Last year.
Luca looked up sharply.
Nia continued.
He came to my office and said he wanted to correct something before he got too old to do it.
He told me the paternity report had never made sense to him.
He said he had been handed the document by Evelyn's office and ordered to treat it as valid.
Did he give you proof?
No.
He said he was afraid of losing his retirement benefits.
Then why tell you anything?
Because he had cancer and thought he was running out of time.
Nia lowered her eyes.
He died three months later.
Luca sat back.
Did he leave anything?
Nia hesitated.
One thing.
She took an old business card from the box.
On the back was a handwritten number and the phrase SAFE BOX 214.
I never knew what it meant.
Luca recognized the prefix of the number.
It belonged to a private vault company in Manhattan that Moretti executives had once used for document storage.
He called Victor.
His father remembered the company and confirmed that Graham Vale had maintained a box there for years.
The next morning, Luca, Nia, Maya, and Victor visited the vault office with Vale's executor, who had been located through probate records.
Box 214 contained three folders, a digital recorder, and a sealed envelope marked FOR LUCA MORETTI IF THE TRUTH EVER SURFACES.
Luca opened the envelope first.
Inside was a letter from Graham Vale.
The first line read like a confession.
I helped your mother separate you from Nia Carter, although I did not understand the full plan until it was too late.
Nia covered her mouth.
Luca kept reading.
Vale described receiving instructions to draft the settlement after a lab report was provided by Daniel Voss.
He also wrote that he later discovered the original sample had not come from Noah.
The second folder contained the unaltered laboratory intake form.
The child's first name was fully visible.
Leo.
The surname made Victor grip the edge of the table.
May you like
Leo Voss.
Daniel Voss's son.
