Chapter 10 - THE THREAT
Luca read the message twice.
Then his whole body changed.
He became colder than I had ever seen him.
“Give me your phone,” he said.
“What?”
“Your phone.”
I handed it over.
He called his security chief.
“Full protection on Nia’s house. Nobody approaches the twins without clearance.”
I grabbed his arm.
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good.”
I stared at him.
He lowered his voice.
“Fear keeps people alive when somebody makes threats.”
Noah and Naomi were moved that night to one of Luca’s secure properties outside the city.
I hated every second of it.
But I hated the text more.
Tasha came with us.
So did four security guards.
The house looked like a luxury resort crossed with a bunker.
Naomi walked in and whispered, “Is this Dad’s house?”
I froze.
Dad.
Luca heard it.
His expression softened.
“Sometimes,” he said.
Noah looked at the indoor pool.
“You’re really rich.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Luca almost smiled.
It disappeared when his phone rang.
Security.
They had traced the burner phone used for the threat.
It had pinged near Celeste’s mansion.
We drove there immediately.
Celeste was furious when Luca walked into her drawing room.
“You storm into my house with armed men now?”
“You threatened Nia.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Where is Adrian?”
Her face changed.
Barely.
Enough.
“You know.”
“Adrian is an adult.”
“Where is the boy?”
She stood.
“You have two children now. Be grateful.”
My blood ran cold.
Luca whispered, “So he exists.”
Celeste looked at me.
“This entire disaster exists because she came back into your life.”
“I didn’t come back,” I said. “He walked into a restaurant.”
“You should have left Chicago.”
Luca slammed his hand onto the table.
“Enough!”
Celeste flinched.
I had never seen anyone make her flinch.
“You knew Nia was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You hid it.”
“Yes.”
“You fabricated records.”
Her silence was answer enough.
“You stole an embryo.”
“I protected this family.”
“You stole our child!”
“I created options.”
Luca looked physically sick.
Celeste continued.
“You were young. Emotional. Obsessed with a woman who did not fit the life you were building.”
“She was my wife.”
“She was a weakness.”
I stepped forward.
“No. I was the one person he loved before you trained it out of him.”
Celeste’s eyes flashed.
For once, I enjoyed it.
Luca said, “Why Adrian?”
Her mouth tightened.
“He was willing.”
“To do what?”
“Raise the child quietly.”
“Was Rebecca the surrogate?”
“Yes.”
“And after she died?”
“Adrian took the boy.”
“What is his name?”
Celeste said nothing.
Luca stepped closer.
“What is my son’s name?”
Her eyes turned cold.
“He is not your son.”
“He was created from my sperm and Nia’s egg.”
“Biology is not family.”
I laughed without humor.
“Interesting philosophy from a woman who destroyed a marriage over bloodline.”
Celeste looked at me with hatred.
“You have no idea what Moretti Global was facing then.”
Luca narrowed his eyes.
“What does the company have to do with this?”
Everything changed in her expression.
Too late.
Luca saw it.
“So this wasn’t about grandchildren.”
Celeste said nothing.
Luca moved closer.
“What were you trying to protect?”
For the first time, she looked old.
Then she sat.
“Your father left a condition in the family trust.”
Luca stared.
“What condition?”
She looked at him.
“If you died without a biological heir, control of Moretti Global passed out of our branch of the family.”
Silence.
“And Adrian?” I asked.
“Was the next beneficiary.”
It all clicked into place.
The embryo.
The cousin.
The secret child.
Luca’s voice went frighteningly quiet.
“You created a child with my DNA and gave him to Adrian so Adrian could claim him?”
Celeste looked away.
“Yes.”
Luca’s phone rang.
His security chief.
“We found Adrian.”
Luca turned toward the door.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then his face changed.
“What do you mean he has the boy with him?”
Another pause.
“Where are they going?”
Luca listened.
Then looked at me.
“O’Hare.”
May you like
I was already moving.
“They’re trying to leave the country.”
