Chapter 1 - THERE WERE TWO HEARTBEATS
The doctor turned the monitor slightly toward me.
“There are two.”
For several seconds, I thought I had misunderstood her.
“Two what?”
Her expression softened.
“Two heartbeats.”
The room disappeared.
The betrayal.
The hotel.
Sofia’s perfume on Dante’s jacket.
Everything blurred beneath the rapid rhythm filling the examination room.
Twins.
I was carrying twins.
I pressed both hands over my mouth.
The doctor pointed carefully.
“This one is measuring well. And here is the second.”
Two tiny shapes.
Two lives conceived inside a marriage that had collapsed before I knew they existed.
“Are they healthy?”
“So far, everything looks encouraging.”
That was all I wanted to hear.
I left the clinic forty minutes later with ultrasound pictures sealed inside my purse.
My phone showed twenty-three missed calls.
All from Dante.
I turned it off.
For the next three weeks, I stayed hidden.
Not because I feared Dante would hurt me.
Dante Moretti had never laid a hand on me.
That almost made things harder.
Cruelty would have been simpler.
Instead, he had loved me imperfectly, protected me obsessively, and betrayed me in the exact way he once promised he never would.
I rented a small furnished house outside Madison, Wisconsin, under my maiden name.
I found an attorney.
I filed for divorce.
Then I discovered something strange.
My attorney, Rachel Kim, called me late on a Thursday night.
“Lena, did you sign any financial documents with Dante approximately eighteen months ago?”
“Maybe. We refinanced one of the properties.”
“No. This is different.”
She sent me a copy.
MORETTI FAMILY HOLDINGS — SPOUSAL SUCCESSION AGREEMENT.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked perfect.
It was not mine.
“What does it mean?”
Rachel hesitated.
“It means if Dante dies or becomes legally incapacitated, you inherit his controlling interest.”
I stared at the page.
“I never signed this.”
“I believe you.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who benefits from forging my signature?”
“That’s what concerns me.”
Another document arrived.
An insurance policy.
One hundred million dollars.
Beneficiary: Lena Moretti.
Signed the same day.
Again, my signature was forged.
Then Rachel called back.
Her voice had changed.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“The policy was amended six weeks ago.”
My skin went cold.
“Amended how?”
“If you die first, your share of the Moretti family trust transfers temporarily to Dante’s designated executive proxy.”
I already knew the name before Rachel said it.
May you like
Sofia Vale.
And suddenly, the kiss in Dante’s office looked like something far more dangerous than an affair.
