Chapter 4 - My Husband's Deadly Secret
I slapped Daniel so hard he nearly swerved into the next lane.
"Take that back."
He didn't.
"Roman authorized a security operation three days ago. I saw the order myself. It listed Sophie as a threat to the organization."
"She's six days old!"
"I know."
"Then why would he do this?"
Daniel drove into an underground parking garage and stopped beside a concrete pillar. He turned off the engine, checked the mirrors, and finally faced me.
"Because Roman believes Sophie isn't his daughter."
The words made no sense.
I stared at him.
"What?"
"There's a DNA report circulating inside the organization. It claims Sophie is the child of another man."
I began shaking my head.
"That's impossible."
"I believe you."
"Then why would Roman believe it?"
"Because Laya showed him the report."
I remembered Roman standing beside the nursery that afternoon, looking at Sophie with a strange distance in his eyes. I'd thought he was exhausted. I'd thought he was nervous about becoming a father.
Now I wondered whether he'd already been convinced our daughter was a lie.
"Where did she get the report?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out."
I looked down at Sophie. She had woken up and was making tiny, frustrated noises inside her carrier.
"Roman knows I would never betray him."
Daniel gave me a sad smile.
"You're still thinking about the man you married. I'm talking about the man who controls an organization built on suspicion."
I wanted to argue.
Instead, I remembered the voicemail.
Don't let Roman bring her to Laya's house.
I pulled out my phone and replayed it.
This time, beneath the woman's trembling voice, I heard a faint electronic chime.
Three descending notes.
Daniel went rigid.
"Where have you heard that sound?" I asked.
He reached into his jacket and removed a small recording device.
"My source sent me the same audio two days ago. It's the alert used by the Moretti family's private medical facility."
"Why would someone at a medical facility call me?"
Daniel opened his laptop and searched the facility's patient records.
A minute later, he turned the screen toward me.
Sophie had been registered for a second medical evaluation before she was born.
The appointment had been scheduled by Roman himself.
But the physician's name was unfamiliar.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
Victor's wife.
And according to the facility's records, she had signed a document authorizing the removal of my daughter from my care.
The date was six days before Sophie was born.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then he whispered, "Aaron, this wasn't a decision Roman made after the DNA report."
May you like
He zoomed in on the signature.
"Someone planned this before Sophie even arrived."
