Chapter 12 - THE BROTHER WE NEVER KNEW WE SHARED
Luca Moretti had been born Luca Cruz.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
I stared at Valentina.
"Cruz?"
She nodded.
"My husband and I adopted him when he was a baby."
My hands began trembling.
"My family is named Cruz."
Valentina looked toward me.
"I know."
Dante's expression changed.
"Mama, what are you saying?"
She closed her eyes.
"Luca's birth mother was named Elena Cruz."
My stomach tightened.
My grandmother.
Elena Cruz.
She died before I was born.
Mom rarely spoke about her younger years.
But she'd once told me Grandma had lost a baby before marrying my grandfather.
I'd always assumed the child had died.
Now I was learning that baby may have been Luca.
I stared at Valentina.
"Are you saying Luca was related to me?"
She nodded slowly.
"He was your mother's younger brother."
My knees weakened.
Luca Moretti.
The man killed six years earlier.
The brother Dante still mourned.
Was apparently my uncle.
And I'd spent months cleaning the home where his photographs hung without knowing it.
Dante looked toward his mother.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Valentina's eyes filled.
"Your father believed Luca would be safer if his birth records remained private."
"From whom?"
She looked down.
"People connected to the old family disputes."
Dante closed his eyes.
Then whispered:
"Secrets again."
I looked toward him.
For the first time, I understood how much his entire life had been shaped by people deciding what he was allowed to know.
Valentina reached for his hand.
"I'm sorry."
He nodded.
But I could see how deeply the revelation hurt him.
The family relationship required confirmation.
The attorneys reviewed Luca's adoption records.
Then my mother provided old photographs and family documents.
The evidence supported Valentina's account.
Luca had been born to Elena Cruz before she married my grandfather.
He was my mother's half-brother.
My uncle.
And Dante's adopted brother.
The discovery didn't change the fact that Luca was loved.
It changed the story of who he had been.
Then Mateo found another document.
A letter Luca wrote shortly before his death.
It was addressed to my mother.
Maria Cruz.
I stared.
"Mom?"
She began crying when I showed her.
"I never received it."
The letter began:
Dear Maria,
I think we may be family.
My throat tightened.
Luca explained that he'd found adoption records identifying Elena Cruz as his birth mother.
He'd wanted to meet his biological relatives.
But before he could, he discovered financial fraud involving medical assistance programs.
He recognized Maria's name among the patients whose approved aid had disappeared.
My eyes filled.
He'd been trying to help Mom.
Then came the final paragraph.
If anything happens to me, please tell your children I wanted to know them.
I began sobbing.
Mateo covered his face.
Dante stood beside us, tears streaming down his cheeks.
For years, we had all mourned different losses.
Now we understood they were connected.
Then Mateo turned the final page.
A handwritten note appeared beneath Luca's signature.
May you like
The people stealing from the foundation know about the Cruz family.
And someone has already been watching Serena.
