Chapter 9 - Blood Money
Derek was Carlo’s son.
Which meant every moment of our relationship changed shape.
He had not simply met me.
He had been placed in my path.
Brittany had not become his mistress.
She had been his wife all along.
I sat in Alessandra’s living room with my daughter sleeping against my chest.
“How long did he know who I was?”
Alessandra answered quietly.
“Before your first date.”
I closed my eyes.
Our first coffee.
Our first Christmas.
The night he proposed.
Every apology.
Every promise.
A performance.
Luca stood near the window.
“He was supposed to marry Emma?”
Alessandra nodded.
“Carlo believed that if Derek fathered a child with Alessandra’s descendant, that child could consolidate competing bloodline claims.”
I looked at my baby.
“But she isn’t Derek’s.”
“No.”
“Then Carlo’s plan failed.”
Alessandra’s expression became strange.
“Maybe.”
I noticed.
“What aren’t you saying?”
She looked toward Luca.
He looked back.
“Say it.”
Alessandra sat across from me.
“Your pregnancy did not begin the way you believe.”
My skin went cold.
“What does that mean?”
“You were drugged at the gala.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“You know that your drink was tampered with.”
A pause.
“You do not know why.”
I gripped the chair.
“They wanted you unconscious long enough to perform a medical procedure.”
For several seconds, I could not understand the sentence.
Then I understood too much.
“No.”
Luca’s face turned murderous.
Alessandra continued gently.
“Carlo had access to the private medical floor through a physician he controlled.”
I looked at Luca.
“You said nothing happened.”
“Nothing sexual happened.”
His voice was rough.
“I had no idea about this.”
Alessandra nodded.
“They transferred an embryo.”
The room disappeared around me.
I stared at my child.
“No.”
“A fertilized embryo created using preserved genetic material.”
“Whose?”
Alessandra looked at Luca.
He went still.
“No.”
He whispered the word.
Alessandra’s eyes filled with pain.
“Your father stored samples years ago.”
Luca stepped backward.
“You’re saying…”
“Yes.”
She looked at my daughter.
“Biologically, that baby is not Derek Cole’s child.”
I could barely breathe.
Alessandra finished.
“She is Luca Moretti’s daughter.”
Silence swallowed the house.
Luca stared at the baby as if the earth had shifted beneath him.
I stood.
“No.”
He looked at me.
I backed away.
“Do not come near me.”
“Emma.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“I swear on my mother’s grave.”
His voice broke for the first time.
“I did not know.”
Then the front windows shattered.
Security shouted.
A vehicle smashed through the gates.
Luca grabbed me and pulled me behind the wall.
Outside, men in black masks rushed toward the house.
Alessandra did not look surprised.
May you like
She looked tired.
“Carlo knows we told you.”
