Chapter 4 - VALENTINA'S PERFECT LIE
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By breakfast, Valentina had transformed the crisis into a performance.
She appeared in the mansion's sunroom wearing a pale blue dress, speaking gently to the staff and asking whether anyone had slept well. She ordered fresh flowers for the nursery and instructed the cook to prepare a special meal for the infant.
Anyone watching would have believed she was a devoted mother worried about an abandoned child.
Rocco knew better.
He entered the sunroom carrying a folder.
“Sit down.”
Valentina glanced at the folder.
“Must we do this now?”
“Yes.”
She dismissed the staff with a gracious smile. When the door closed, her pleasant expression disappeared.
“What do you want?”
“The truth about St. Helena.”
“I've already told you everything I know.”
“No. You've told me what you want me to believe.”
Rocco placed a copy of the hospital bracelet photograph on the table.
“Dr. Reed found a reference to a confidential neonatal file. The original record was altered after the night Matteo supposedly died.”
Valentina folded her hands.
“Then speak to the hospital administrators.”
“I did. The administrator who approved the alteration received a large payment from your foundation.”
Her eyes flickered.
“That proves nothing.”
“Perhaps. But the administrator also resigned two weeks ago and transferred his savings overseas.”
Valentina stood.
“You are accusing me of trafficking children?”
“I'm asking why a baby wearing my son's identification bracelet was abandoned behind my kitchen.”
“You have no proof that he is yours.”
“Then a DNA test should settle the matter.”
For the first time, Valentina looked genuinely angry.
“You cannot drag a newborn into your family's war because you're desperate to resurrect a dead child.”
Rocco's voice dropped.
“Be careful.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You want to know the truth? Fine. You were never there when Matteo needed you. You spent your life protecting your empire, and you expected me to be grateful for whatever scraps of attention you left behind.”
“That has nothing to do with the baby.”
“Everything has to do with the baby!”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Silence followed.
Rocco stared at her.
Valentina closed her eyes, then opened them with practiced composure.
“I meant that the baby is disrupting this family.”
“Which family? Mine or the one you invented?”
She walked to the window.
“You think money can explain everything. You think every person can be threatened into telling you the truth.”
“Not everyone.”
“No. Just the people who fear you.”
Rocco stepped toward the door.
“Until the test results arrive, you will not go near the child.”
Valentina turned sharply.
“You cannot forbid me from entering my own nursery.”
“I just did.”
He left her standing alone.
That afternoon, Dominic found an archived email exchange between the Bellmont Foundation and a private maternity clinic. Most of the messages had been deleted, but one line remained in a backup file.
The surviving infant must never be connected to the Moretti bloodline.
The email had been sent two days after Matteo's supposed funeral.
A second message referred to a payment for “the successful separation of the brothers.”
Brothers.
Rocco read the word twice.
He had never been told Matteo had a brother.
He ordered a new search of every medical record connected to Valentina's pregnancy.
Meanwhile, Sophia sat beside the baby and carefully hummed a song her mother used to sing when she was frightened.
The infant quieted.
Valentina watched from behind a partially opened door.
She saw Sophia touch the baby's cheek.
Then she heard the little girl whisper something that made Valentina grip the doorframe.
“Don't worry, little brother. I'll find out who tried to throw you away.”
May you like
Valentina backed into the hallway.
For the first time in years, she was no longer certain she could control what happened next.
