Chapter 2 - THE MISSING HEIRS
We sat at the corner booth. Damian dismissed his guards but asked the gray-haired man to stay. “This is Elias Romano, my attorney.”
I sat opposite Damian with Sofia still in my arms. One of the boys immediately started protesting from the stroller. Damian unbuckled him. The child climbed straight into my lap, tucking himself against my side.
“What’s his name?” Damian stared. “Luca,” I said. “And the other?” “Matteo.”
I looked at Elias. “What were their birth dates?” “June seventeenth,” Damian answered. My vision blurred. “What time?” “Approximately three in the morning.” My hands began shaking. “My emergency C-section started at two forty-seven.”
I looked at Damian. “Tell me everything.”
“Fourteen months ago, my younger sister, Elena, died,” Damian began, his voice controlled but heavy. “She was twenty-nine. She told me she was pregnant but wouldn’t say who the father was. One night I received a call from St. Catherine’s. She died before I reached the hospital. When I arrived, I was told she had arranged guardianship for three infants.”
A chill spread through me. “Whose infants?” “I was told they were hers.” “And you believed it?” “For almost a year. Until Sofia needed a minor surgery three months ago. Her blood type was O positive. Elena was AB negative. I ordered a DNA test. They weren’t Elena’s children.”
“Are they yours?” I whispered. “No. But whatever happened, I raised them. They’re my family.”
Elias opened a folder. “We discovered altered documents from that night. A staff nurse named Marian Bell left the state three days later.”
I pressed my lips together. “She told me they died. She stood beside my bed and told me all three of my babies died.”
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My voice broke. “I need a DNA test. Independent. I choose the laboratory.” Damian nodded immediately. “So do I. All right.”
(After a tense night filled with hope and dread, morning arrives...)
