The door handle moved again.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Luca stepped in front of my bed, blocking Fiona and me with his entire body.
“Do not open that door,” he said.
Wendy was already on the phone with hospital security.
“Yes,” she whispered urgently. “Maternity floor. Room 417. Send someone now.”
The man outside knocked once more.
“Luca.”
My husband froze.
The stranger knew his name.
Not Bennett.
Not the name Luca had been using for five years.
Luca.
His real name.
“Your father sent me to bring you home.”
Luca’s hands curled into fists.
“I don’t have a home with him.”
The man on the other side of the door gave a quiet laugh.
“That’s not what Mr. Vance believes.”
I looked at Luca.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Wendy ended the call.
“Yes, you do,” she said.
Luca turned toward her.
“What?”
“That voice.”
She looked terrified.
“You’ve heard it before.”
Luca stared at the door.
Then suddenly, his expression changed.
Recognition.
“No.”
Wendy whispered, “Yes.”
I could barely breathe.
“Who is it?”
Luca stepped closer to the door but didn’t touch it.
“Marcus Hale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But Wendy looked as though it meant everything.
I asked, “Who is Marcus Hale?”
Luca answered without looking away from the door.
“My father’s private investigator.”
Wendy corrected him.
“Former investigator.”
“Former?”
Wendy’s eyes darkened.
“After Adrian died, Marcus became something else.”
“What?”
Luca looked at me.
“My father’s fixer.”
A cold sensation ran down my spine.
Outside, Marcus spoke again.
“Mrs. Bennett, I apologize for the disturbance.”
I gripped Fiona tighter.
“How does he know I’m here?”
Luca shut his eyes.
“He knows everything.”
Marcus continued.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone. I simply have a message.”
Wendy raised her voice.
“Leave it with security.”
Marcus laughed softly.
“Still dramatic, Wendy.”
Her face tightened.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“And you shouldn’t have come here either.”
A heavy silence followed.
Then Marcus said something that made Wendy go pale.
“Richard knows you took the documents.”
Luca looked at her.
“What documents?”
Wendy said nothing.
“Mother.”
Still nothing.
I whispered, “What did you take?”
She looked at the envelope on my lap.
“That.”
Luca’s head snapped toward her.
“You stole this from Father?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
His voice rose.
“You broke into his house?”
“No.”
She looked down.
“I never stopped living there.”
Luca stared at her.
“What?”
“I left years ago,” Wendy said, “but I went back after Adrian died.”
“You told me you hated him.”
“I did.”
“Then why go back?”
“To find out what really happened.”
Luca suddenly looked shattered.
“You spent five years living with the man you thought killed your son?”
Wendy’s eyes filled with tears.
“To protect the son I still had.”
Luca looked away.
That was the first time since Wendy entered the room that I saw something real pass between them.
Pain.
Old pain.
Unfinished pain.
Outside, Marcus knocked again.
“You have one minute.”
Wendy walked toward the door.
Luca grabbed her arm.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying us time.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Luca, listen to me.”
He tightened his grip.
“No more secrets.”
Her eyes lowered toward Fiona.
“This stopped being about you the moment she was born.”
My stomach dropped.
Luca slowly released her.
Wendy opened the door only two inches.
The security chain remained locked.
A man stood outside.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Perfectly calm.
He looked to be in his late fifties.
His eyes moved through the narrow gap.
Straight toward Luca.
“Well.”
Marcus smiled.
“There you are.”
Luca’s face became cold.
“What do you want?”
Marcus reached inside his suit jacket.
Luca immediately stepped forward.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Marcus stopped.
Then slowly removed a white envelope.
“Just a message.”
Wendy didn’t take it.
Marcus slid it through the gap and let it fall onto the floor.
Then he said quietly, “Your father is dying.”
Luca didn’t react.
“He’s been dying for years.”
“This time is different.”
“I don’t care.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because he changed the trust.”
Wendy closed her eyes.
Luca looked at her.
“What trust?”
Marcus answered.
“The Vance family trust.”
“I walked away from it.”
“You walked away from the family.”
Marcus’s gaze sharpened.
“You did not walk away from your blood.”
Luca’s voice became dangerous.
“Don’t talk about my daughter.”
Marcus smiled.
“Then you already understand.”
My heart began racing.
Luca looked at me.
Then back at Marcus.
“What did he do?”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“He named Fiona.”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Luca said nothing.
Marcus continued.
“Effective this morning, Fiona Bennett is the sole contingent heir to Richard Vance’s controlling interest.”
Wendy whispered, “Oh God.”
I looked at Luca.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Marcus did.
“It means your daughter may someday control nearly everything Richard Vance owns.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Marcus gave me a polite look.
“Whether you want it or not.”
Luca stepped closer to the door.
“Why would Father do that?”
Marcus’s eyes hardened.
“To bring you back.”
Luca laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“He thinks naming my daughter will make me come running?”
“No.”
Marcus paused.
“He thinks protecting her will.”
The words landed like a threat.
Luca went still.
Wendy slammed the door shut.
The lock clicked.
“What did he mean?” I asked.
Neither answered.
“Luca.”
He turned toward me.
His face was pale.
“What did he mean by protecting her?”
Wendy bent down and picked up the envelope.
“Don’t open it.”
Luca took it from her.
“Why?”
“Because whatever is inside was meant to frighten you.”
He tore it open anyway.
Inside were three photographs.
The first was a picture of our house.
Taken from across the street.
The second showed Luca leaving work two weeks earlier.
The third made my entire body turn cold.
It showed me.
Pregnant.
Walking into my obstetrician’s office.
The photograph had been taken less than a month ago.
Someone had written a date across the bottom.
And underneath it:
CONFIRMED.
FEMALE.
Luca crumpled the photograph in his fist.
“They were watching her.”
Wendy whispered, “Yes.”
I felt sick.
“They knew about Fiona before she was born?”
Wendy looked at me.
“Richard did.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca suddenly turned toward his mother.
“You said Father called you after Fiona was born.”
“He did.”
“But he already knew.”
Wendy hesitated.
“Yes.”
Luca’s voice became quieter.
“That means you lied.”
“No.”
“You said the call was how you learned.”
“I said he called me.”
“You let us believe that was how you found out.”
Wendy stared at him.
“I was trying to control how much truth entered this room at once.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“That has always been your excuse.”
A loud voice echoed from the hallway.
“Hospital security.”
Relief swept through me.
Wendy unlocked the door.
Two security officers stood outside.
Marcus was gone.
One officer looked down the hallway.
“Which way did he go?”
Wendy pointed.
“Elevators.”
The officers immediately left.
For the first time in several minutes, the hallway became quiet again.
Luca shut the door.
Locked it.
Then leaned against it.
I stared at him.
“I want to leave.”
He looked at me.
“Jessi—”
“I want to take Fiona and leave this hospital.”
“You just gave birth.”
“I don’t care.”
“The doctor hasn’t discharged you.”
“I don’t care.”
Wendy stepped closer.
“You are safer here.”
I looked at her.
“You brought this here.”
Her expression tightened.
“I brought a warning.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the door.
“You brought your family into the room where my daughter was sleeping.”
Wendy’s face softened.
“I understand why you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
My voice shook.
“I don’t know you.”
That seemed to hurt her more.
I looked at Luca.
“And apparently I don’t know my husband either.”
He dropped his eyes.
The anger suddenly drained out of me.
What remained was exhaustion.
I looked down at Fiona.
She was asleep again.
Completely unaware.
Completely innocent.
I whispered, “I waited years for her.”
Luca’s face broke.
“So did I.”
“I wanted our first day with her to be happy.”
“I know.”
“And instead I found out your mother is alive, your name isn’t the name you were born with, your brother may have been murdered, your father has been watching me, and now my newborn daughter is apparently connected to hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Luca covered his face.
“I am so sorry.”
I looked at him.
“Sorry is not enough anymore.”
He nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Wendy immediately spoke.
“Luca, don’t.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
My voice hardened.
“No more protecting me with lies.”
Luca sat in the chair beside my bed.
He was silent for a long moment.
Then he said, “There is one thing I never told anyone.”
Wendy’s expression changed.
“What?”
Luca looked at her.
“Not you.”
She stared.
“Not Father.”
His gaze lowered.
“Not even the police.”
The room became still.
“What is it?” I asked.
Luca reached inside his jacket pocket.
He pulled out his phone.
Opened a hidden folder.
Then pressed play on an old audio file.
Static filled the room.
Then a man’s voice.
Young.
Breathless.
Terrified.
Adrian.
“Luca, if you’re hearing this, something happened.”
Wendy covered her mouth.
Luca stared at the screen.
The recording continued.
“I found out where the money is going.”
Static.
A car horn.
Then Adrian again.
“Dad isn’t stealing from the company.”
Luca looked up.
Wendy’s eyes widened.
Adrian continued.
“He’s paying someone.”
Another burst of static.
“Someone connected to Elena.”
My chest tightened.
The woman from the photograph.
Mara’s mother.
Adrian’s voice became quieter.
“If I’m right, Elena isn’t who she says she is.”
Luca leaned closer to the phone.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“She was sent to get close to me.”
Wendy whispered, “No.”
Adrian’s voice continued.
“And the baby may not be mine.”
Luca froze.
I stared at him.
Then Adrian said the final words before the recording cut out.
“Luca, if Mara isn’t my daughter, find out whose daughter she is.”
The audio ended.
Nobody spoke.
Wendy looked like she had stopped breathing.
I looked at the photograph again.
At Adrian.
At Elena.
At baby Mara.
Then I noticed something I had missed before.
The baby wasn’t looking at the camera.
Her face was turned slightly sideways.
And around her tiny neck was a gold pendant.
I lifted the photograph closer.
“What is that necklace?”
Wendy stared.
Then her entire body went rigid.
Luca stood.
“What?”
She pointed with a trembling finger.
“That pendant.”
“What about it?”
Wendy whispered, “It belonged to your father.”
Luca went completely still.
I felt my stomach drop.
“No.”
Wendy looked at him.
“It was custom-made.”
Luca shook his head slowly.
“No.”
“There was only one.”
“No.”
“Richard wore it for twenty years.”
Luca stared at the baby in the photograph.
Then at his mother.
“You’re saying Father gave Elena his necklace?”
Wendy’s face was white.
“I’m saying there may have been more between them than Adrian ever knew.”
Suddenly, Luca understood.
So did I.
If Adrian wasn’t Mara’s father…
And if Richard Vance had been secretly involved with Elena…
Then Mara might not have been Adrian’s daughter.
She might have been Adrian’s sister.
Luca whispered the words before I could.
“Mara could be my sister.”
Wendy sank into the chair.
“No.”
Luca looked toward Fiona.
Then another realization hit him.
“If Mara is Father’s daughter…”
He looked back at the trust documents.
“…then Fiona isn’t the only living heir.”
Wendy slowly lifted her head.
“No.”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Mara is.”
And at that exact moment, Wendy’s phone began ringing.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went blank.
Luca asked, “Who is it?”
Wendy didn’t answer.
He stepped closer.
“Mother.”
She finally turned the screen toward us.
The caller ID showed only one word.
MARA.
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