Chapter 9 - THE TRUTH THAT BROKE HIS WORLD
Leo Caruso didn't speak for almost a minute.
He stared at the sealed court record.
Then at me.
Then back at the name.
Salvatore Caruso.
His father.
My possible father.
I felt sick.
"This can't be right."
Rebecca nodded carefully.
"The petition was filed, but the case was never completed."
Leo looked toward the window.
"Why?"
"The court record indicates Anna withdrew it after receiving threats."
My hands went cold.
"From whom?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"An attorney associated with Vincent Rourke."
Silence.
Everything I'd believed about my life seemed to collapse at once.
My mother had fled a dangerous family.
She'd raised me and Evan alone.
She'd told me our father had abandoned us.
But the man I'd believed was my father might never have been my biological father at all.
And Leo's father might have been mine.
I stood.
"I need air."
Leo immediately moved to help me.
I stepped backward.
"Please."
He stopped.
For a moment, his expression showed pain.
Then he nodded.
"Take your time."
I walked outside.
The October wind cut through my jacket.
I sat on a bench and cried.
Not because I wanted the Caruso name.
Not because I cared about money.
But because I'd spent twenty-six years believing I knew where I came from.
Now every memory felt uncertain.
A few minutes later, Leo approached.
He didn't sit beside me immediately.
"Can I?"
I nodded.
He sat.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Finally, he said, "My father wasn't a good man."
I looked at him.
"But he loved his children."
I swallowed.
"How many children?"
"Two that I knew about. Me and Isabella."
His voice broke on his sister's name.
I looked down.
"And maybe me."
Leo nodded.
"Maybe."
I wiped my eyes.
"Would you hate me if it was true?"
He turned so sharply that I flinched.
"What?"
"Would you?"
His expression softened.
"Clara, you saved my life without knowing who I was."
Tears filled my eyes.
"That doesn't answer my question."
He took a breath.
"No. I wouldn't hate you."
I stared.
He continued quietly.
"I spent years believing my family ended with Isabella."
His voice trembled.
"If you're my sister, then finding you would be the first good thing that came out of all this."
I started crying again.
Leo looked uncertain.
Then opened his arms slightly.
I leaned against him.
For the first time, I wasn't thinking about the most feared man in Chicago.
I was thinking about a lonely older brother who might have found family again.
But our moment ended when Rebecca called.
The fresh genetic comparison was complete.
Her voice was serious.
"Clara, we have the confirmed results."
I held my breath.
"Tell me."
Rebecca paused.
"Salvatore Caruso was not your biological father."
I closed my eyes.
Relief and confusion collided.
Then she continued.
"But Leo is still a close biological relative."
My stomach twisted.
"How?"
Rebecca took a breath.
"The analysis supports a first-cousin relationship."
Leo went still.
And suddenly I remembered something my mother had written.
Daniel died because he refused to work for Rourke.
Daniel Caruso.
My mother's brother.
Leo's missing uncle.
The man who'd been erased from the family story.
May you like
And according to the newly recovered evidence, Daniel had fathered a child before he disappeared.
A child named Clara.
