Chapter 2 - The Woman at My Door
I didn't open the door.
Not immediately.
I stood barefoot on the cold hotel floor with one hand gripping my phone and the other pressed protectively against my stomach.
Three babies.
That knowledge had changed everything.
The person on the other side of the door wasn't just the woman I had caught kissing my husband.
She might have been connected to the most frightening secret of my life.
“Lena,” Sofia whispered. “I know you're in there.”
“How?”
“I followed someone.”
“Who?”
“Dante.”
My pulse jumped.
I looked through the peephole.
Sofia stood alone.
No security.
No handbag.
No glamorous coat.
She looked nothing like the woman who had walked out of Dante's office two weeks earlier.
Her face was pale.
Her hair was wet from the rain.
She looked terrified.
I opened the door two inches.
“What do you want?”
Her eyes immediately dropped toward my stomach.
I stepped behind the door.
Sofia noticed.
“You're pregnant.”
I said nothing.
“How many?”
My blood ran cold.
“How do you know I'm pregnant?”
She closed her eyes.
“Because I know what Dante was doing at that clinic.”
I opened the door.
“Talk.”
Sofia stepped inside.
She looked around the tiny room.
“You left the penthouse.”
“Yes.”
“You actually did it.”
“I don't take marriage advice from the woman who kissed my husband.”
Her jaw tightened.
“I deserve that.”
“No. You deserve worse.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
That response unsettled me more than an argument would have.
I folded my arms.
“Start talking.”
Sofia sat on the edge of the chair.
“Dante wasn't at the clinic for me.”
“I saw you with him.”
“You saw what they wanted you to see.”
“Who is they?”
She looked toward the window.
“The people who have been watching your marriage.”
My skin prickled.
“Why?”
“Because Dante Moretti has something they want.”
“What?”
“His family trust.”
I almost laughed.
“Dante owns companies worth hundreds of millions. Why would anyone care about a trust?”
“Because the trust controls something worth much more.”
“What?”
Sofia looked directly at me.
“Moretti Children's Foundation.”
I frowned.
“The charity?”
“It isn't just a charity.”
She explained that years ago Dante's father had created a private medical fund through several shell corporations.
Officially, it supported children's hospitals.
Unofficially, the trust held controlling interests in pharmaceutical patents, medical research companies, and land surrounding several major medical centers.
Dante had inherited control when his father died.
But there was a condition.
He couldn't access the final portion without a direct heir.
My mouth went dry.
“No.”
Sofia nodded.
“That's why you matter.”
“And the babies?”
Her eyes lowered.
“That's why everyone is terrified.”
I sat down.
“Who is everyone?”
She hesitated.
“Dante's uncle.”
“Victor?”
She nodded.
Victor Moretti had always been cordial to me.
Too cordial.
At family dinners, he smiled while asking questions that felt harmless.
When I once mentioned wanting children, he had laughed.
“Dante needs an heir eventually.”
I'd dismissed it.
Now every memory felt different.
“What did Dante do?” I asked.
Sofia's eyes filled with tears.
“He knew someone was tampering with your medical records.”
“Then why did he lie to me?”
“Because he didn't know who he could trust.”
“Not even me?”
“He believed the people watching you would hurt you if they knew you were pregnant.”
I stared at her.
“That doesn't explain kissing you.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“That part was staged.”
I stood.
“Staged?”
“We knew someone was watching Dante.”
“Who?”
“Victor's security team.”
My stomach tightened.
Sofia continued.
“Dante needed them to believe I was his weakness.”
“And you agreed?”
“I had no choice.”
“What does that mean?”
She looked away.
“My younger brother is missing.”
Silence.
“Victor has him.”
I slowly sat again.
Sofia reached into her coat.
She placed a small flash drive on the table.
“Dante told me never to give this to you.”
I stared at it.
“What is it?”
“Records.”
“Of what?”
“Your fertility treatments.”
My breath caught.
“You said the treatments were fake.”
“They were fake on paper.”
She swallowed.
“But the embryos were real.”
I couldn't speak.
Sofia's voice dropped.
“Someone harvested your genetic material.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“From what?”
“Blood tests. Routine physicals. Every sample you gave the Moretti clinic was duplicated.”
I remembered all the blood draws.
All the “annual screenings.”
All the vitamins.
All the medical forms Dante's assistant had asked me to sign.
I looked at Sofia.
“Did Dante know?”
“Yes.”
My heart shattered all over again.
“You're lying.”
“He found out three months ago.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he was trying to stop it.”
“By sleeping with you?”
Sofia flinched.
“Dante and I never slept together.”
I wanted to believe her.
I hated that I wanted to.
Then she whispered:
“The three embryos were created before your anniversary.”
I looked down at my stomach.
“Where are they?”
Sofia's face went white.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“They're not in a clinic.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Then where are they?”
She didn't answer.
My phone suddenly buzzed.
A text message.
Unknown number.
DON'T TRUST SOFIA.
A second message arrived.
DANTE IS ALREADY ON HIS WAY.
Sofia stood.
“No.”
“What?”
She rushed to the window.
Black SUV.
Another behind it.
Then another.
She turned toward me.
“Lena, you have to leave.”
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with panic.
“Because those aren't Dante's cars.”
May you like
The hotel hallway lights went dark.
And someone began pounding on the door.
