Chapter 19 - THE LAST LIE
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The search for Gabriel's biological mother led to a small coastal town in Maine.
A woman named Nora Bennett had lived there for eleven years, working at a community clinic under her married name. She had no criminal record and no known connection to the Moretti family.
But the investigator found one detail that changed everything.
Nora had received a package every April 17 for the past six years.
The packages contained no return address.
Each one held a single photograph of a newborn boy.
Rocco traveled with Gabriel, Elena, and Sophia. Leo remained in the care of a trusted pediatric team under constant protection.
They found Nora in a modest house overlooking the ocean.
She opened the door, saw Gabriel, and dropped the mug in her hand.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Nora whispered, “My baby.”
Gabriel stood motionless.
“Are you my mother?”
Nora began to cry.
“Yes.”
She explained that she had been a young nurse when she discovered the hospital's falsified records. She had tried to protect Gabriel by taking him away from the clinic, but Victor's men had found her before she could leave the state.
They had threatened her family and forced her to sign documents relinquishing custody.
She believed Gabriel had been adopted by a loving family and would be safer without her.
“Why didn't you come back?” Gabriel asked.
“I tried. Every time I came close, someone threatened the people I loved.”
She looked toward Rocco.
“Your family had no idea how far Victor's influence reached.”
Rocco accepted the accusation without argument.
Nora continued.
“Isabella helped me hide the original records. She planned to expose everything, but she was attacked before she could deliver the evidence.”
“Isabella's death was staged?” Rocco asked.
Nora hesitated.
“I never saw her body. But she contacted me once after the accident.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Rocco's pulse quickened.
“What did she say?”
“That she had one last piece of evidence. She said if the Moretti family ever discovered the truth, I should give it to the child who rescued the baby.”
Everyone turned toward Sophia.
The little girl stared at Nora.
“Me?”
Nora nodded.
“She said the child would recognize the song.”
Sophia began humming the melody her mother had taught her.
Nora's tears fell faster.
“That's it.”
She opened a small wooden box and removed a recording device.
Inside was a message from Isabella.
Her voice was weak but clear.
If you're hearing this, then I failed to protect the truth. Victor Sterling arranged the transfers, but someone in the Moretti household gave him access. The second envelope contains the names of every person involved.
A pause followed.
Then Isabella said something that made Rocco go still.
The final name belongs to the person who ordered my death.
The recording ended.
Nora removed a folded document from the box.
The page listed payments, false identities, and hospital transfers.
At the bottom was a signature.
Rocco recognized the handwriting immediately.
It belonged to his father.
Gabriel stared at him.
“Your father ordered her death?”
Rocco could not speak.
Nora shook her head.
“Not necessarily. The signature may have been forged. Isabella believed someone had stolen his identity to frame him.”
Rocco examined the document.
The signature was genuine in appearance, but the date fell six months after his father's death.
Someone had continued using the dead man's name.
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And the final payment had gone to a company controlled by a person who had remained close to the Moretti family for decades.
Dominic Russo.
