Chapter 8 - The Other Son
The paternity record was not a medical result. It was a sealed family document, dated twenty-nine years earlier, with a name Vincent had not seen since his father's funeral.
Anthony Moretti.
Vincent's father had been a complicated man. He had built the family business through loyalty, fear, and deals that never appeared on paper. He had also kept a second household in Indiana for several years. Vincent had been told the woman left before she had a child.
The document said otherwise.
Daniel Bell had been born Daniel Moretti. His mother had changed his surname after Anthony refused to acknowledge him publicly. Daniel had grown up knowing he had a father somewhere, but not knowing he had a brother.
Clara shook her head. "Daniel never said he was a Moretti."
"He may not have known until recently," Luca said.
A letter attached to the file confirmed that Daniel had discovered the truth six months before his death. He had met with an attorney and requested a DNA test. The result was a match to Anthony Moretti's preserved sample.
Vincent read the final line.
Half-sibling relationship to Vincent Moretti: consistent with results.
The room went quiet.
Clara's hand moved to her stomach. "So the baby..."
"Your baby is Daniel's," Vincent said gently. "That makes the child my niece or nephew."
Vanessa's eyes sharpened. "That changes nothing. A child born to a servant doesn't get a place in this family."
Vincent turned toward her.
"You don't get to decide who belongs."
May you like
Vincent asked Luca to check the family archive, but the older man hesitated. Anthony had kept two sets of records: one for the business and one for the family. If Daniel had been hidden, the proof might have been deliberately placed where no one would look.
Then the phone lit up again. A new voice note was waiting, saved under Daniel's name.
