Chapter 2 - The Question He Refused to AnswerMatteo did not blink.
For three seconds, no one in the room moved.
Then he reached for Nico.
“Give him to me.”
Liana hesitated.
Nico tightened his grip on her uniform.
His tiny face remained buried against her chest.
Matteo's eyes flicked downward.
“Give me my son.”
Liana slowly handed him over.
The moment Nico left her arms, the baby began screaming again.
Matteo looked at the child.
Then at Liana.
Then at the mark beneath Nico's shirt.
“You said your son had this mark.”
“Yes.”
“When did you see it?”
“Every day.”
“Until?”
Liana's voice cracked.
“Until the funeral.”
Matteo studied her.
“You think my son is your dead child?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Matteo noticed.
“I don't know what I think.”
He turned toward the nurse.
“Leave.”
The nurse stepped back.
“Sir?”
“I said leave.”
The guards moved.
Within seconds, the foyer was empty.
Only Matteo, Liana, Nico, and two silent cameras remained.
Matteo carried his son into the study.
Liana followed.
She wasn't sure why.
Maybe because some part of her already knew she had stepped into something she couldn't walk away from.
The study doors shut behind them.
Matteo placed Nico in a leather chair lined with blankets.
The baby continued crying.
“Tell me everything,” Matteo said.
Liana stood across from him.
“My son was born nine months ago.”
“When?”
“December fourth.”
Matteo's expression tightened.
“Nico was born December fourth.”
Liana's heart stopped.
“Same hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Same floor?”
Matteo stared at her.
“I don't know.”
Liana pulled out her phone.
She still had photographs.
Hundreds.
She opened one.
A newborn wrapped in a blue blanket.
Gabriel.
The image was taken shortly after birth.
Liana showed it to Matteo.
“Look.”
Matteo took the phone.
The photograph showed a newborn with the same pale crescent beneath the left shoulder blade.
Matteo's fingers tightened around the device.
“Where did you get this?”
“I took it.”
He looked again.
“There are no records of your son.”
“There were.”
“Not anymore.”
“What?”
Matteo walked to his desk.
He opened a drawer and removed a thin folder.
He placed it on the table.
“Nico's hospital records.”
Liana looked at the file.
The birth certificate.
Blood type.
Delivery report.
Neonatal records.
She scanned the first page.
Her hands began trembling again.
“Why does this say his mother was admitted at 4:17 a.m.?”
Matteo looked up.
“My wife was in labor.”
“What time was Nico born?”
“5:08.”
Liana's lips parted.
“Gabriel was born at 5:12.”
Matteo went completely still.
For the first time, something resembling fear appeared in his eyes.
“You're saying our sons were born four minutes apart?”
“I'm saying that's what my records said.”
Matteo opened another page.
His eyes moved rapidly.
Then he stopped.
“What?”
Liana stepped closer.
He turned the report toward her.
There was a signature at the bottom.
Dr. Adrian Bell.
Liana knew the name.
He had been the attending physician who explained Gabriel's death.
Her stomach twisted.
“He signed my son's death report.”
Matteo stared at her.
“He signed Nico's birth report.”
Neither spoke.
Nico suddenly stopped crying.
The silence was so sudden it felt unnatural.
The baby's eyes opened.
He stared toward a bookshelf.
Matteo followed his gaze.
Nothing was there.
Then Nico lifted one small hand.
Pointing.
Liana frowned.
“What's in that cabinet?”
“Nothing.”
“You looked.”
Matteo moved toward it.
The cabinet was locked.
He reached inside his jacket for a key.
Liana watched.
“Why would a nursery have a locked cabinet?”
“It isn't a nursery.”
He inserted the key.
Click.
The door opened.
Inside were stacks of old files.
Hospital paperwork.
Photographs.
A sealed brown envelope.
Matteo pulled it out.
His name was written across the front.
Beneath it was another name.
Sofia.
His dead wife.
Matteo stared at the envelope as though he'd seen a ghost.
Liana noticed the date.
Nine months earlier.
December fourth.
The day Nico was born.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Matteo didn't answer.
His hand shook slightly as he opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A woman in a hospital bed.
Sofia.
Beside her was a newborn baby.
But beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
Matteo read it.
His face drained of color.
“What does it say?” Liana asked.
He didn't respond.
She stepped closer.
Then she saw the last line.
THE CHILD YOU BROUGHT HOME IS NOT THE CHILD YOUR WIFE GAVE BIRTH TO.
Liana looked at Matteo.
“Who wrote that?”
Matteo slowly turned the photograph over.
There was another sentence.
ASK WHAT HAPPENED TO BABY BOY NUMBER TWO.
Nico began crying again.
And somewhere in the estate, a phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Matteo's personal phone vibrated in his pocket.
He looked at the screen.
One message.
May you like
From a number that had been disconnected nine months ago.
STOP ASKING ABOUT THE BABIES.
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