PART 3: THE MORETTI HEIR — THE SECRET SOMEONE WAS WILLING TO KILL FOR

“THE CHILD MUST NEVER CARRY THE MORETTI NAME.”

Alexander read the message again.

For the first time, I saw genuine anger replace the confusion in his eyes.

He crushed the small white card in his fist.

“Lock down the estate. Nobody leaves until I know who took that agreement.”

Two guards immediately appeared at the library entrance.

But I wasn’t interested in his orders.

I was interested in the one question that had been haunting me since the hospital.

“Alexander, why would anyone care what surname my baby carries?”

He turned toward me.

“Because my grandfather’s will contains a condition.”

“What condition?”

He hesitated.

Then Margaret answered.

“Your child is enтιтled to something that belongs to the Moretti family.”

I stared at her.

“What exactly?”

She looked at Alexander before speaking.

“The controlling shares of the Moretti Group.”

I almost laughed.

“That makes no sense. I’m divorced from him.”

“Your divorce doesn’t change the child’s parentage,” Margaret explained. “Five years ago, Alexander’s grandfather added a clause to his will. If Alexander had a legitimate child, that child would become the primary heir to a significant portion of the family fortune.”

I looked at Alexander.

“You knew?”

He didn’t deny it.

“I knew about the inheritance. I didn’t know anyone would go after you because of it.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

His jaw тιԍнтened.

“Because I didn’t want you involved in my family’s affairs.”

I shook my head.

“You didn’t want me involved in your life, Alexander. There’s a difference.”

He lowered his eyes.

And before he could respond, my phone vibrated.

An unknown number.

One message.

You should stop asking questions about the Moretti inheritance. Your baby deserves a peaceful life. Don’t make the same mistake twice.

My blood ran cold.

I showed Alexander the screen.

His expression changed instantly.

“Who sent this?”

“I don’t know.”

He took out his phone and called Nathan.

No answer.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Then he looked at the pH๏τograph Margaret had shown us.

Nathan standing outside my apartment.

“Get me his location,” Alexander ordered one of the guards.

I stepped between them.

“Don’t you dare turn my pregnancy into another one of your family wars.”

“Claire, someone is threatening you.”

“And you think I don’t understand that?”

I took a breath.

“I spent five years being afraid of your world. I won’t spend the next five years raising my child in it.”

Alexander stared at me.

Then he said quietly:

“I’m not asking you to come back to me. I’m asking you to let me protect my son or daughter.”

I looked at him.

“You don’t even know whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

His eyes dropped to my stomach.

“Then let me find out when the time comes.”

For a moment, I almost believed him.

Almost.

That evening, I returned to my apartment with Margaret’s driver.

Alexander had insisted on sending security, but I refused to let his men enter my home.

I wanted my independence.

I wanted my privacy.

Most importantly, I wanted to know whether I could trust the father of my unborn child.

At around eight o’clock, someone knocked.

I opened the door cautiously.

Sophia Reynolds stood outside.

She wore a beige coat and held a small handbag.

I immediately stepped back.

“What are you doing here?”

She glanced down the hallway.

“Please. I need to talk to you.”

“About Alexander?”

“About Nathan.”

I froze.

She walked inside after I reluctantly moved aside.

For several seconds, she remained silent.

Then she placed a pH๏τograph on my coffee table.

It showed Nathan sitting across from a man I had never seen before.

The pH๏τograph was taken outside a private restaurant.

“When was this?” I asked.

“Two weeks ago.”

“Why are you showing me?”

Sophia swallowed.

“Because Nathan has been lying to Alexander.”

I folded my arms.

“That’s hardly surprising. But why should I believe you?”

She looked down at her hands.

“Because I know what happened three years ago.”

I waited.

Sophia finally lifted her eyes.

“Do you remember the night Alexander proposed to you?”

Of course I remembered.

It had been raining.

He had taken me to a small restaurant overlooking the Chicago River. There were no pH๏τographers, no expensive decorations, and no family members.

Just the two of us.

He had placed a silver ring in my palm and told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.

I nodded slowly.

“What about it?”

Sophia’s voice trembled.

“That same night, Nathan called me.”

I felt my stomach тιԍнтen.

“What did he say?”

“He told me Alexander was making a terrible mistake. He said your marriage would destroy everything his grandfather had planned.”

I stared at her.

“And?”

“He offered me money to stay away from Chicago.”

I blinked.

“Money?”

“A lot of it. Enough to disappear permanently.”

“Did you accept?”

Sophia shook her head.

“No. But I left anyway.”

I studied her face.

For years, I had imagined Sophia as the woman who had everything I wanted.

The woman Alexander would always choose.

But now I was beginning to wonder whether she had been used just as I had.

“Why did you come back?”

She hesitated.

“Because Nathan contacted me three weeks ago. He told me Alexander was about to lose control of the company. He said I needed to return if I wanted to save him.”

I let out a slow breath.

“And you believed him?”

“I was stupid enough to think Alexander still needed me.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“But when I returned, I discovered something.”

“What?”

Sophia leaned closer.

“Nathan wasn’t trying to bring us together. He was trying to make sure Alexander never had a legitimate heir.”

My hand instinctively moved to my stomach.

“Why?”

Sophia looked directly at me.

“Because if your child inherits the shares, Nathan loses the position he’s been promised for years.”

Before I could ask another question, my phone rang.

Alexander.

I answered immediately.

“Claire, listen carefully. Don’t open your door to anyone.”

I glanced toward Sophia.

“Why?”

“We found Nathan’s car near your building.”

My heart began pounding.

“Alexander, Sophia is here.”

There was a long silence.

Then his voice became dangerously quiet.

“What?”

“She came to tell me the truth.”

“Claire, get away from her.”

Sophia immediately shook her head.

“Tell him I have proof!”

Alexander heard her.

“Put her on the phone.”

I handed it over.

Sophia spoke quickly.

“Nathan has been meeting with your uncle, Richard. They have copies of the inheritance agreement. They know about Claire’s baby.”

Alexander said nothing.

Sophia continued.

“And there’s something else. Richard told Nathan that the child must never be born into the family.”

My blood ran cold.

Alexander’s voice suddenly rose.

“Get out of Claire’s apartment. Both of you. Now.”

The call ended.

I looked at Sophia.

“Who is Richard?”

She went pale.

“Alexander’s uncle. His father’s younger brother.”

“Why would he want to hurt my baby?”

Sophia closed her eyes.

“Because he believes the inheritance should belong to him.”

Twenty minutes later, someone knocked on my door.

Three sharp knocks.

Sophia grabbed my arm.

“Don’t answer.”

I looked through the peephole.

A man stood outside wearing a dark coat.

I didn’t recognize him.

Then he slid an envelope beneath the door.

Footsteps retreated down the hallway.

I waited until the corridor was silent before picking it up.

Inside was a pH๏τograph.

It showed Alexander holding me outside a courthouse five years earlier.

We had just gotten married.

On the back, someone had written:

Ask your husband what happened to the woman who married into the Moretti family before you.

I read the sentence twice.

Then I turned to Sophia.

“Who was she?”

Sophia’s expression changed.

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

She slowly sat down.

“Alexander had an older brother. His name was Daniel.”

I frowned.

“I thought Alexander was the eldest son.”

“He was. Daniel died before you met Alexander.”

My fingers тιԍнтened around the pH๏τograph.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Sophia looked toward the window.

“Daniel was married. His wife disappeared shortly after their wedding.”

I felt a strange chill.

“Disappeared?”

“Everyone was told she had left the family. But I don’t think that’s what happened.”

Before I could respond, my phone vibrated again.

This time, it was a message from Alexander.

I’m coming to get you. We need to talk about Daniel’s wife.

Then another message arrived.

It was from a different number.

Claire, ask Alexander why his brother’s widow was never allowed to meet the family again.

I stared at the screen.

Something about the timing felt deliberate.

Someone wanted me to distrust Alexander.

But the worst part was that I no longer knew whether they were lying.

At 10:47 p.m., Alexander arrived.

He entered the apartment alone.

His eyes immediately found me.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

He looked at Sophia.

“What did you tell her?”

“The truth,” she replied.

Alexander’s expression hardened.

“You don’t know the whole story.”

“Then tell me,” I interrupted.

He turned toward me.

I held up the pH๏τograph.

“Who was Daniel’s wife?”

His face changed.

For several seconds, he didn’t speak.

Then he slowly sat down.

“Her name was Isabella.”

“What happened to her?”

Alexander rubbed his hands together.

“Daniel died in an accident. Isabella was pregnant at the time. A few weeks later, she disappeared.”

“Did you look for her?”

“For years.”

“And you never found her?”

“No.”

I looked at him carefully.

“Was she carrying Daniel’s child?”

Alexander nodded.

“Yes.”

The room fell silent.

I lowered the pH๏τograph.

“Then why would someone send me this?”

He stared at the handwriting.

“Because they want you to believe Isabella’s story is connected to yours.”

“Is it?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he reached into his jacket and removed a folded document.

“I found this in my grandfather’s private safe tonight.”

He placed it on the coffee table.

It was an old hospital record.

The patient’s name was Isabella Moretti.

The date was five years ago.

And beneath her name was a note:

CHILD DELIVERED SUCCESSFULLY. IDENтιтY OF GUARDIAN: CONFIDENTIAL.

I looked up.

“Alexander…”

He nodded slowly.

“My brother’s child may still be alive.”

I stared at the paper.

“Where?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

Then he turned the document over.

There was a second page attached to it.

A handwritten note.

Alexander read it silently.

His face became completely expressionless.

“What does it say?” I whispered.

He looked at me.

And his answer made my entire world shift.

“It says Isabella’s child was placed under the care of a woman named Claire Bennett.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“That isn’t possible.”

Alexander shook his head.

“Claire, this record was created before we met.”

Sophia covered her mouth.

Then Alexander noticed something else.

At the bottom of the document was a signature.

My mother’s.

My mother, who had died when I was nineteen.

My mother, who had never once mentioned the Moretti family.

I stepped backward.

“No. My mother had nothing to do with your family.”

Alexander picked up the document.

“Then we need to find out why she signed it.”

I stared at the signature until the letters blurred.

For five years, I had believed my marriage was the biggest secret in my life.

Now I was beginning to realize it was only the beginning.

And just as Alexander reached for my hand, my phone rang.

It was a call from an unfamiliar number.

I answered.

A woman’s voice came through, weak and trembling.

“Claire Bennett?”

“Who is this?”

There was a pause.

Then she whispered:

“My name is Isabella Moretti.”

My heart stopped.

“I’m Daniel’s wife.”

I gripped the phone.

“Where are you?”

Her next words shattered the silence.

“I’m sorry, Claire. I should have contacted you years ago. But I need you to listen carefully.”

I looked at Alexander.

He had gone completely still.

Isabella continued:

“The child everyone believes disappeared… is not the only Moretti heir who survived.”

Then the call abruptly disconnected.

And on my screen appeared one final message:

Your mother made a promise to me. Now it’s time for you to keep it.

END OF PART 3.

What if Claire’s mother had been protecting a secret Moretti heir for years—and what if Alexander’s grandfather knew the truth all along?