Chapter 10 - The Secret Beneath the Family Name| Adrian refused to believe Isabella's claim.
“She lies whenever she thinks it will help her,” he said.
We were in Rachel's office, where she had placed the photograph of the birth certificate inside a protective sleeve. Adrian had come only after agreeing that the meeting would be documented and that he would not pressure me to return home.
“Do you have your original birth certificate?” Rachel asked.
“Yes.”
“Can your attorney obtain a certified copy of the official record?”
Adrian nodded.
“Then we verify the document before drawing conclusions.”
He looked at me.
“Did Isabella tell you anything else?”
“She said my mother threatened to expose the truth about your birth.”
“My mother died when I was a child. My father raised me.”
“That's not an answer.”
His expression tightened.
“My father never suggested I wasn't his son.”
“Did your mother?”
“No.”
“Did anyone else?”
He looked away.
“Victor once told me there were things about my father's marriage I would never understand. I thought he was referring to an affair.”
The room went quiet.
Rachel recommended that Adrian obtain the official records through counsel. She also warned us that even if the birth certificate proved irregular, it would not establish anything about my mother's death or the charity fraud.
That afternoon, Adrian authorized his lawyer to request the records.
Meanwhile, Martin Ellis continued examining the ledger. He found evidence of a pattern: payments moved through Northstar Holdings, then into smaller companies associated with people who had donated to the Bellweather Trust. Several transfers had been disguised as shipping fees.
One account belonged to a company whose registered agent was Isabella.
Another belonged to a company controlled by Victor.
A third had been established under a name none of us recognized.
Eleanor Bennett Consulting.
I stared at the page.
“My mother never owned a consulting firm.”
Martin adjusted his glasses.
“The company was registered using her name, but the signature on the filing appears inconsistent with the samples we've seen.”
“Someone created a company in her name.”
“That is one possibility.”
Rachel made a note.
“If the registration was fraudulent, it could mean someone used Eleanor as a cover for transactions she was investigating.”
The discovery changed the shape of the case. My mother might not have been involved in the theft at all. She might have been framed to make the missing money appear to be her responsibility.
But the evidence still left one question unanswered.
Why had she been afraid of someone she once trusted?
That evening, Adrian called me from his lawyer's office.
“The certified record has arrived,” he said.
“What does it say?”
“Dominic Romano is listed as my father.”
I exhaled.
“Then Isabella's story was false.”
“Not entirely.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“The original record was amended when I was three months old. The amendment is legal, but it references a sealed paternity affidavit. My attorney has requested access.”
“Who signed the amendment?”
“Dominic Romano.”
I sat down slowly.
“Why would he amend your birth record?”
“I don't know.”
“Could your mother have known?”
“Perhaps.”
“Could my mother have known?”
“I don't know, Sophia.”
His voice sounded strained, but I could not tell whether he was frightened or angry.
“There's something else,” he continued. “My father kept a letter in his private archive. I found it years ago but never understood why he had kept it.”
“What did it say?”
“Only one sentence.”
He paused.
“‘If the boy ever learns the truth, make sure Victor cannot reach him first.’”
The words settled between us.
Adrian had spent his life believing Victor was the person who protected him from his father's enemies.
Now he was beginning to understand that Victor might have been protecting a secret from him.
“Do you still want me to help you?” he asked.
I looked at the ledger, the photographs, and my mother's letter.
“I want the truth.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“I know.”
He waited.
I could hear the faint sound of traffic through his office window.
“Yes,” I said finally. “I want your help, but I won't become your wife again just because we're investigating the same people.”
“I understand.”
“Then prove it.”
The next morning, Adrian's attorney received a sealed notice from the court.
The paternity affidavit had been located.
But before it could be released, someone filed an emergency motion to prevent its disclosure.
The applicant was Victor Moretti.
His legal argument was brief.
The information, he claimed, could place Adrian Romano's life in immediate danger.
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At the bottom of the filing, beneath the lawyer's signature, was a handwritten note.
The truth about Dominic's final night must remain buried.
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