Chapter 7 - THE BOY WHO DIDN'T KNOW HIS NAME
His name was currently Leo Rossi.
Twelve years old.
Good grades.
Played baseball.
Loved astronomy.
Hated tomatoes.
Sofia learned every fact in fifteen minutes.
Then spent an hour staring at his school photograph.
“My son.”
Alessandro stood behind her.
Neither dared say more.
Gabriel Russo had become Leo’s guardian six months earlier after the adoptive aunt caring for him died.
That meant Gabriel had known.
Maybe for years.
The truth was suddenly obvious.
Valentina’s spying.
The Covenant Fund.
Matteo’s trust.
Gabriel did not only want money.
He had control of their son.
Alessandro reached for his gun.
Sofia stepped in front of him.
“No.”
“He has our child.”
“And if you go there angry, you’ll terrify a twelve-year-old boy who has no idea who we are.”
The words stopped him.
Sofia continued.
“We do this legally.”
“He kidnapped him.”
“Vittorio kidnapped him. Gabriel manipulated guardianship.”
“Difference without meaning.”
“It matters to Matteo.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
She had called him Matteo.
For the first time.
Their attorney filed emergency motions.
DNA samples were compared using archived newborn blood records.
The result arrived twenty-two hours later.
99.99 percent probability.
Leo Rossi was Matteo Moretti.
Sofia cried until she could not breathe.
Alessandro sat beside her and cried too.
She had seen him injured.
Angry.
Bleeding.
Never crying.
Now he covered his face.
“I missed everything.”
“So did I.”
“His first word.”
“Yes.”
“First day of school.”
“Yes.”
“I should’ve protected him.”
Sofia’s anger softened but did not disappear.
“You were lied to too.”
He looked at her.
It was the first kindness she had given him since the library.
He did not mistake it for forgiveness.
Gabriel responded to the court order by disappearing.
With Matteo.
Sofia’s blood turned cold.
Then Valentina called.
“I know where he’s going.”
Alessandro took the phone.
“Where?”
“An airfield outside Rockford.”
“Why?”
“He has a plane.”
They reached the airfield before takeoff.
Federal authorities had been alerted.
The runway was blocked.
Gabriel stood beside a small jet.
Matteo was behind him.
Confused.
Terrified.
Sofia saw her son for the first time.
Not through a photograph.
Real.
Alive.
She forgot everything else.
“Matteo.”
The boy looked at her.
“My name is Leo.”
Her heart broke.
“You’re right.”
She forced herself to breathe.
“Your name is Leo.”
Alessandro remained several feet behind her.
Gabriel shouted:
“Stay back!”
He held no gun.
That surprised everyone.
Then he looked at Sofia.
“You think I stole him?”
“You knew who he was.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Because Vittorio gave him to my family.”
Sofia froze.
“My sister raised him for six years.”
Valentina.
Sofia turned.
Valentina’s face collapsed.
Then the final secret became clear.
May you like
Valentina Russo was not only Alessandro’s supposed mistress.
For six years, she had secretly been raising Sofia’s stolen son.
