Chapter 4 - MY FATHER HAD ANOTHER CHILD BEFORE HE HAD ME
My father sat down.
That was all the confirmation I needed.
“You had a son with Mom before me?”
He covered his face.
“Not exactly.”
I laughed once.
“How is there an ‘not exactly’ version?”
Matteo’s voice came through the phone.
“I’d like to hear this too.”
Dad looked twenty years older.
Before he married my mother, Claire Bennett—same name? Need not. Let's name her Anna Bennett—was engaged briefly to Vittorio Moretti’s younger cousin? Hmm. Need resolve biology. Matteo says Thomas Bennett biological father, Vittorio raised? So Mother Anna and Thomas had Matteo before marriage, but why Moretti name? Maybe she gave birth secretly, Vittorio adopted/claimed child due political alliance. Dad explains.
My mother, Anna Bennett, became pregnant at nineteen.
Dad was twenty-one.
They were poor.
Unmarried.
Her father—owner of Lake Como land—despised my father.
He arranged for Anna to stay with relatives in Italy until birth.
The baby was supposed to be adopted privately.
Instead, Vittorio Moretti and his wife had just lost a newborn son.
A family attorney proposed an arrangement.
Anna’s baby would be raised as theirs.
No scandal.
No adoption publicity.
No questions.
My parents were told the child went to a family in Milan.
They never knew it was Vittorio Moretti.
Years later, Mom saw Matteo at a charity event.
Same birthmark.
Same age.
She investigated.
Discovered truth.
That was why she amended her will.
She wanted Matteo included in Lake Como land because he was her first son.
Did Dad know?
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since before she died.”
I stood.
“You have spent my entire life deciding which family members I’m allowed to know exist.”
He flinched.
Good.
Then Luca asked something quieter.
“If Matteo isn’t my father’s biological son, why raise him as Moretti?”
Dad looked at Alessandro.
The attorney answered.
Succession.
Vittorio’s wife could not have more children after Luca.
Wait Matteo younger than Luca? User said younger brother. If Anna pregnant after Luca was born, possible. Vittorio needed second son for family trust requiring two male heirs? Maybe.
A grandfather’s trust released assets only if Vittorio had two surviving sons before forty.
Luca already existed.
His mother had complicated pregnancy.
Then they lost second baby.
Matteo filled legal requirement.
Vittorio adopted him secretly but publicly registered him as biological son.
Fraudulent birth records.
The Moretti fortune expanded because Matteo existed.
Then Matteo became dangerous when he learned.
He had claims through two families.
Moretti by legal identity.
Bennett by biology.
My mother’s land.
He was a bridge no one could easily control.
So Vittorio controlled through lies.
Then Luca asked:
“Did you know?”
“No.”
His answer broke something in Matteo’s silence.
For years he may have believed Luca knew.
Then I asked Dad:
“Why marry me to Luca?”
Now it made full sense.
If I married Luca, the Bennett land entered Luca’s marital orbit.
Matteo’s biological inheritance challenge weakened.
Meanwhile his Moretti claim could be extinguished through death presumption.
One wedding consolidated both sides under Luca—
whom Vittorio believed easiest to control emotionally.
Not because Luca was weak.
Because he had spent years being isolated.
Five rejections.
Brother dead.
Sister partially silenced.
Father dominant.
Then Luca said:
“I’m going to see him.”
“Matteo?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Switzerland.
Matteo interrupted:
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Father has people watching airports.”
Luca laughed without humor.
“My own airports?”
Apparently Moretti influence extended.
Then Matteo gave a location in northern Italy.
Old monastery hotel.
Neutral.
Public.
Two hours away.
I said:
“I’m coming.”
Three voices answered at once.
“No.”
Luca.
Dad.
Elena.
I stared.
“How inspiring. You’re finally united.”
Luca lowered his voice.
“Sophia, this could be dangerous.”
“So was flying across an ocean to marry you.”
“That was different.”
“Because you were the danger?”
He stopped.
Then I softened.
“Luca, I’m not asking you to protect me by lying to me.”
That landed.
He nodded reluctantly.
We left at dawn.
Me.
Luca.
Elena.
Marco.
Two cars.
No priest.
No wedding.
At the monastery hotel, a man stood under stone arches.
About Luca’s age.
Tall, but not as large.
Burn scars along one side of his neck.
He looked at my father’s old photographs around the eyes.
Matteo.
He looked at Luca.
Neither moved.
Then Matteo crossed the courtyard.
Luca met him halfway.
No dramatic fight.
No macho threat.
They stood inches apart.
Then Luca wrapped his brother in both arms.
Matteo broke.
So did Elena.
I looked away.
Some reunions deserve privacy even when they happen in courtyards full of armed men.
Then Matteo showed us proof.
Medical records.
DNA.
My mother’s amended will.
Bank transfers.
Vittorio’s instructions.
And one photograph.
My mother Anna.
Matteo.
Together.
She had met him secretly before her death.
He remembered her as “Mrs. Bennett.”
Never knew she was his mother.
Then one final document.
Anna’s handwritten letter to Matteo.
My son,
If they ever try to marry Sophia into the Moretti family, stop it.
My chest tightened.
Why?
Next line:
Not because Luca is dangerous.
Luca looked at me.
Then:
Because the marriage would activate the clause Vittorio has spent twenty years hiding.
What clause?
Matteo turned the page.
A trust provision.
If Anna Bennett’s daughter married Vittorio Moretti’s eldest son—
ownership of the Lake Como land would not transfer to Luca.
It would transfer to the surviving biological child of Anna Bennett.
Matteo.
So Vittorio had told everyone the exact opposite.
The marriage would not erase Matteo’s claim.
It would give him eighty million euros.
Why would Vittorio want that?
Matteo looked grim.
“He doesn’t.”
“Then who arranged the wedding?”
Silence.
Alessandro had blamed Vittorio.
Maybe wrong.
Then Matteo said:
“The person who forged the contract wasn’t Father.”
“Who?”
He slid forward handwriting analysis.
Authorized preparation request.
Signature:
Elena Moretti.
May you like
I looked at her.
She went white.
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