Chapter 21 - The Secret in the Blood
The deafening silence inside the armored Suburban was thicker than the winter fog rolling off Lake Michigan. Dante sat frozen, the phone still clutched in his white-knuckled grip, staring at the black glass where Julianna Vance’s mocking face had been only seconds before. The hum of the engine felt like a distant vibration from another lifetime.
Beside him, my breath came in short, jagged gasps. My hands dropped instinctively to my swollen belly, where our twin babies kicked violently, reacting to the sudden spike of adrenaline surging through my bloodstream.
"Dante." My voice was a cracked whisper, devoid of warmth, stripped down to raw, trembling bone. "Tell me she’s lying. Look me in the eye and tell me that isn’t yours."
He didn't turn immediately. His profile was carved from cold granite, but a muscle in his jaw twitched violently. When his dark eyes finally met mine, there was no deceit in them—only a terrifying, fathomless abyss of dread.
"Lena, I swear on my life, on the lives of our unborn children, I have never touched Julianna Vance since the day I broke our engagement six years ago," he said, his voice raw, pleading with an intensity that rattled the air between us. "The night at the penthouse... the night of our anniversary... she ambushed me. She staged that kiss. You know this. Keller proved it!"
"Then whose child is that, Dante?!" I cried out, hot tears spilling over my lashes, scalding my cheeks. "You saw him! He has your eyes. He has the exact arch of your brow, the shape of your mouth. A woman doesn't just pull an infant out of thin air that looks like a carbon copy of you!"
"It's a setup," Dante rasped, his chest heaving as he hit the intercom to the front cabin. "Keller! Tell me you traced that call!"
Agent Keller turned in the passenger seat, his laptop glowing against the dim interior. His face was grim, lines etched deep around his mouth. "The signal bounced through three offshore proxy servers—Zurich, the Cayman Islands, and a private satellite uplink registered to an shell corporation in Panama. But the latency was off. She’s not abroad, Dante. That hospital room... the electrical outlet visible in the background for two seconds during the feed? It’s North American standard 120-volt. She’s in the United States. She’s been here the entire time."
"And the cabin?" I asked, my voice rising in panic, remembering the shattered cedar door and the crimson paint on the empty crib. "Our home, Dante! They were inside our home!"
"A strike team is already en route to the perimeter," Keller answered, typing furiously. "Local tactical units are securing the grounds. But Lena... the message wasn't just vandalism. *WRONG TWINS.* It means whoever raided that cabin knew about your pregnancy, and they believe your children aren't the rightful heirs to the Moretti trust."
Dante leaned his head back against the leather seat, closing his eyes as a shudder racked his massive frame. "Eleanor. My mother never plays a single hand without a fail-safe. If the board coup failed, if Harrison Vance fell, she had a contingency."
"What contingency?" I demanded, grabbing his lapels, forcing him to look at me. "Dante, talk to me! What did your family do?"
"Three years ago," Dante whispered, the shame in his voice so heavy it threatened to drown him, "before our wedding, when I had surgery after the boat accident off Martha’s Vineyard... I was in a medically induced coma for four days. The hospital was owned by a healthcare subsidiary controlled by Eleanor’s private trust. She demanded biological preservation in case I didn't survive. They harvested my genetic material, Lena. Without my signed consent. We buried the records with a nondisclosure agreement when I took over Moretti Enterprises."
The car seemed to tilt on its axis. The air turned to pure ice in my lungs.
"She used a surrogate," I whispered, the horrific truth crystallizing in my mind. "Julianna didn't just disappear after faking her breakdown. Eleanor sent her away to carry your child. A weapon of flesh and blood."
Dante grabbed my face between his trembling hands, his forehead pressing against mine, his tears mingling with mine. "They will not touch you. They will not touch our babies. I will tear down every stone in this city before I let them steal our life."
Before I could answer, Keller’s screen flashed with a high-priority alert from the federal lab in Chicago. Keller turned around, his eyes wide with disbelief.
May you like
"Dante," Keller said slowly. "It’s not just a baby. Julianna Vance just filed an emergency petition in Cook County Family Court. She has filed for an injunction to seize all trust assets under Dante’s name—and she’s petitioned the court to issue a protective custody order for Lena’s unborn twins the moment they are delivered."
***
