CHAPTER 1: THE NAME HE GAVE HER
CHAPTER 1: THE NAME HE GAVE HER
The billionaire signed my newborn daughter’s birth certificate before her biological father could finish demanding a DNA test.
The pen scratched across the paper.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Luca Donato Moretti.
My breath caught.
The head nurse stared at the signature as if she had just watched someone sign a declaration of war.
Her hands began to shake.
The metal clip on her clipboard rattled against her hospital badge.
Everyone in New York knew that name.
Luca Moretti.
The billionaire who owned towers across Manhattan.
The man whose companies controlled billions in commercial property.
The man powerful executives mentioned carefully and competitors rarely challenged twice.
And now his name sat beside one word on my daughter’s paperwork.
Father.
Luca calmly capped his black fountain pen.
Click.
The sound was quiet.
But it somehow felt louder than everything else in the hospital corridor.
Then Derek finally understood what had happened.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
His voice exploded from twenty feet away.
He had been walking toward the elevators with Brittany hanging on his arm.
Now he spun around so violently that his expensive shoes squealed against the polished floor.
He stormed back toward us.
Brittany hurried behind him.
Her face had gone pale.
“Emma!”
Derek pointed at me.
“Have you completely lost your mind?”
I tightened my arms around my newborn daughter.
She stirred against my chest.
Only minutes earlier, Derek had refused to hold her.
He had looked at the tiny baby we had spent months preparing for and asked me for proof that she belonged to him.
Now suddenly he was furious because another man had given her his name.
Derek turned on Luca.
“You can’t sign that!”
Luca said nothing.
“That’s my daughter!”
Still nothing.
“You’re some random stranger!”
That finally made Luca look at him.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The entire hallway seemed to become quieter.
Luca stood six-foot-three in a perfectly tailored black Italian suit.
He didn't raise his voice.
He didn't clench his fists.
He didn't need to.
Behind him stood a broad-shouldered bodyguard who had barely moved since arriving.
Now the man took one quiet step forward.
Derek noticed.
His anger faltered.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
So did Luca.
“Your daughter?”
Luca’s voice was soft.
Dangerously soft.
His faint Italian accent sharpened every word.
Derek swallowed.
“Yes.”
Luca glanced toward the baby sleeping against me.
“Interesting.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ten seconds ago, you called her a question mark.”
Derek’s jaw tightened.
Luca continued.
“You refused to give her your name.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“You demanded a DNA test.”
“I have that right!”
“You refused to hold her.”
Derek looked at me.
“Emma, tell him to stay out of this.”
I stared at the man I had loved for three years.
Three years.
Three years of excuses.
Three years of forgiving him.
Three years of believing that beneath his selfishness there was still a decent man somewhere.
Then I looked at Brittany.
She was wearing the gold bracelet I had given Derek for our anniversary.
Apparently, he had found another use for it.
Something inside me finally went cold.
“There’s nothing to tell him,” I said.
Derek blinked.
“What?”
“You already made your choice.”
His expression hardened.
“Oh, come on.”
“You wanted proof before you would call her yours.”
“I said I wanted a DNA test.”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn't mean I’m abandoning her!”
“You were walking out.”
“I was angry!”
“With a woman you cheated on while she was pregnant?”
Brittany looked away.
Derek’s face turned crimson.
“This is between us.”
“No.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“It stopped being about us the moment she was born.”
Derek stepped toward me.
Luca moved between us.
One step.
That was all.
But Derek stopped immediately.
“Move.”
Luca looked down at him.
“No.”
Derek laughed nervously.
“You think because you have some expensive suit and a bodyguard you can walk into a hospital and steal another man’s kid?”
Luca’s expression didn't change.
“I didn't steal anything.”
He glanced at the paperwork in the nurse’s hands.
“I gave a child something you were too cowardly to give her.”
Derek’s nostrils flared.
“And what exactly is that?”
“A name.”
Silence.
The word hit harder than a punch.
Derek stared at him.
Then Brittany suddenly grabbed Derek’s sleeve.
Hard.
“Derek.”
He jerked his arm away.
“What?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Stop talking.”
“What are you—”
“Look at him.”
“I am looking at him.”
“No.”
Brittany’s face had lost all color.
“Really look at him.”
Derek frowned.
Then she whispered the name.
“Moretti.”
Derek froze.
Luca remained perfectly still.
Brittany stared at him like she had just recognized a loaded gun pointed directly at them.
“Luca Moretti,” she whispered.
Derek’s face changed.
First confusion.
Then recognition.
Then fear.
Real fear.
He looked at Luca’s suit.
The bodyguard.
The understated watch.
The absolute lack of concern on Luca’s face.
And suddenly all the pieces came together.
“You’re…”
Derek’s voice cracked.
Luca waited.
“You’re Luca Moretti?”
“I am.”
Derek took half a step backward.
I had never seen him look afraid before.
Not like this.
Brittany leaned toward him.
“Moretti Real Estate controls your company’s main debt facility.”
Derek shot her a furious look.
“Shut up.”
“I’m serious.”
“I said shut up.”
Luca almost smiled.
Almost.
“You work for Whitmore Development, don't you?”
Derek went still.
“How do you know that?”
“I know companies that owe me money.”
Derek’s confidence disappeared.
Completely.
“Mr. Moretti…”
Interesting.
Thirty seconds earlier, Luca had been a random stranger.
Now he was Mr. Moretti.
Derek straightened his jacket.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“There hasn't.”
“I was emotional.”
“I noticed.”
“My daughter was just born.”
“And your first instinct was to accuse her mother of cheating.”
Derek looked at me.
“Emma knows I didn't mean it like that.”
I laughed.
I couldn't help it.
The sound came out tired and bitter.
“Actually, Derek, I think that’s exactly how you meant it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Don't do this.”
“Do what?”
“Humiliate me in front of strangers.”
I stared at him.
“You brought your mistress to the hospital where I gave birth.”
Brittany flinched.
“You refused to hold your daughter.”
Derek opened his mouth.
“You demanded a DNA test.”
His mouth closed.
“And then you walked away.”
I shifted my baby higher against my chest.
“So don't stand there and complain about humiliation.”
Derek's face twisted.
“This isn't over.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Barely.
But enough.
His bodyguard immediately straightened.
Luca stepped closer to Derek.
“You're right.”
Derek tried to hold his ground.
Luca lowered his voice.
“This isn't over.”
Something about the way he said it made Derek's face drain white.
Then Luca turned away from him.
Just like that.
As though Derek no longer mattered.
He looked at me instead.
And the terrifying coldness disappeared from his eyes.
“Emma.”
His voice became gentle.
“My car is waiting downstairs.”
I stared at him.
“You arranged a car?”
“A private one.”
“I don't understand.”
“You don't need to understand everything tonight.”
He glanced at the newborn sleeping against me.
“You need rest.”
Then he looked toward the nurse.
“My medical team?”
The nurse immediately nodded.
“They’ve already contacted the attending physician.”
Derek stared at us.
“Medical team?”
Luca ignored him.
“The private discharge paperwork will be ready shortly,” the nurse said.
I looked at Luca.
“Where exactly are you taking us?”
“Somewhere safe.”
My heart skipped.
Safe.
It was such a simple word.
But after everything that had happened that night, it almost made me cry.
Derek suddenly pushed forward.
“Emma isn't going anywhere with you.”
I looked at him.
He stared back.
For the first time all night, he looked desperate.
Not loving.
Not sorry.
Desperate.
“Emma.”
He lowered his voice.
“Think about what you're doing.”
“I am.”
“You don't know this man.”
“That’s true.”
“He could be dangerous.”
Luca's mouth curved slightly.
Brittany whispered, “Derek…”
But Derek kept going.
“You’re taking our daughter away with a complete stranger.”
I stared directly into his eyes.
Then I said the words that finally broke something between us forever.
“She stopped being our daughter when you refused to call her yours.”
Derek went silent.
I turned toward Luca.
He held out his hand.
I looked at it.
Then at my sleeping daughter.
Her tiny fingers were curled beneath her chin.
She had entered the world less than an hour ago.
And already one man had rejected her.
While another had stepped forward.
Maybe it was reckless.
Maybe it was insane.
Maybe by morning I would wonder what the hell I had done.
But standing in that hospital hallway, exhausted, betrayed, and holding the only person in the world who mattered to me anymore, I knew one thing.
I wasn't begging Derek for anything ever again.
I placed my hand in Luca’s.
“Let's go.”
Luca closed his fingers gently around mine.
Then he led me toward the private elevator.
His bodyguard followed.
Behind us, Derek shouted my name.
I didn't turn around.
The elevator doors opened.
Luca stepped inside beside me.
I looked back only once.
Derek stood in the middle of the hallway.
Brittany was beside him.
The nurse still held the birth certificate.
And beneath the word Father was a name powerful enough to make Derek look terrified.
Luca Donato Moretti.
The elevator doors began to close.
Then Derek shouted one final thing.
“You don't even know why he chose you!”
My eyes snapped toward Luca.
For the first time since I had met him, something flickered across his face.
Not anger.
Not surprise.
Something much harder to read.
Recognition.
The doors slid shut.
I stared at him.
“What did he mean?”
Luca was silent for several seconds.
Then he looked down at my daughter.
And when he finally answered, his words made my blood run cold.
“Derek is right about one thing, Emma.”
May you like
His dark eyes lifted to mine.
“I didn't come to this hospital by accident.”
