Chapter 11 - THE SECRET MY MOTHER TOOK TO HER GRAVE
For one impossible second, I wondered whether Lorenzo was my father.
He saw it immediately.
“No.”
The answer came before I could ask.
“Daniel was your father.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your mother and I ended long before she met him.”
Lorenzo explained.
He and my mother, Elena, had grown up three blocks apart.
He was already being pulled into his family's world.
She wanted out.
They loved each other.
That wasn't enough.
When Lorenzo refused to leave the Moretti organization, Elena ended the engagement.
Years later, she married Daniel.
They remained distant friends.
When Daniel discovered Carlo's theft, Elena came to Lorenzo.
“She made me promise that if anything happened to both of them, I'd protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Excellent job.”
He accepted the hit.
“I failed.”
The words came quietly.
Not defensively.
After Elena died, Daniel believed Aurora was safest outside the Moretti world.
Lorenzo honored that request.
Then Daniel disappeared.
Regina produced a death certificate.
Lorenzo believed I remained safe with my stepmother.
He had been wrong.
“Why didn't my father tell me any of this?”
“Because he wanted you to have a normal life.”
Everyone had wanted to give me a normal life by lying to me.
I was beginning to hate normal.
Michael stood near the window.
He hadn't spoken since the revelation.
Later, I found him in the garden.
“Your family is exhausting.”
“That's diplomatic.”
I sat beside him.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, “Zach likes you.”
“I noticed around the proposal.”
“I mean more than usual.”
His voice softened.
“He doesn't trust people quickly.”
“What happened to his mother?”
Michael's expression closed.
I immediately regretted asking.
“You don't have to answer.”
“She died.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Zach had been two.
“I'm sorry.”
“She was driving home. Drunk driver crossed the median.”
Simple tragedy.
No mafia conspiracy.
Somehow that made it sadder.
Michael looked at the house.
“Afterward, I became... careful.”
“Controlling?”
“Yes.”
“At least you're self-aware.”
His mouth almost curved.
“I thought if I controlled everything around Zach, nothing could happen to him.”
“And then he ran away in superhero pajamas.”
“Exactly.”
I smiled.
Then he looked at me.
“You did something I couldn't.”
“What?”
“When you found him, you listened.”
“I promised to marry him.”
“A tactical error.”
“Major.”
His eyes stayed on mine too long.
The air changed.
I felt it.
So did he.
Michael looked away first.
Good.
I had just recovered my father, survived a kidnapping plot, discovered my mother once loved his father, and watched my stepmother become a federal witness.
Romance could wait.
Then Zach's doctor called.
The cardiac tests had been rescheduled.
Results arrived the next day.
Michael stood motionless while the specialist explained that Zach's arrhythmia had worsened.
Medication might no longer be enough.
He needed a procedure.
Soon.
Zach heard the word hospital and panicked.
“No!”
Michael crouched.
“Buddy—”
“No needles. No operation.”
He ran straight to me.
Not his father.
Me.
He wrapped both arms around my waist.
“You promised you'd stay.”
I looked over his head at Michael.
The fear in his eyes was raw.
I held Zach tighter.
“I did.”
That night, Michael received another call from the hospital.
There was an additional complication.
Zach's blood type was unusually rare.
If emergency transfusion became necessary, compatible units were limited.
The hospital asked whether close relatives could be tested.
Michael agreed immediately.
So did Lorenzo.
The results arrived the following afternoon.
Lorenzo was compatible.
Michael wasn't.
The doctor frowned at the records.
Then requested the test be repeated.
It was.
Same result.
Michael stared at the physician.
“What exactly are you telling me?”
May you like
The doctor chose his words carefully.
“Mr. Moretti, based on these genetic markers, you are very unlikely to be Zachary's biological father.”
