Chapter 10 - The Name of the FatherNatasha could not breathe.
Leo stared at the black screen.
"No."
Her mother closed her eyes.
Marcus stood perfectly still.
"Play it again," Leo said.
The video restarted.
Carlo's voice filled the room.
"Leo is not the father."
Then the screen stopped.
Leo turned to Natasha.
"Who?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
"When did you sleep with someone else?"
"Never."
"Then someone is lying."
Her mother stood.
"I am."
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
"The test was falsified."
Leo's eyes narrowed.
"Which test?"
"The paternity test."
Natasha felt cold.
"You tested the baby?"
"No."
"Then how..."
Her mother looked at Leo.
"Carlo never said Leo wasn't the father."
She pointed toward the screen.
"He said Leo wasn't the father in the recording."
A pause.
"But that isn't the whole sentence."
Marcus replayed the last five seconds.
The audio became distorted.
They increased the volume.
Carlo's voice returned.
"Leo is not the father of the child they think he's carrying."
Silence.
Natasha frowned.
"The child they think..."
Her mother whispered.
"There's another pregnancy."
Natasha turned.
"What?"
"Your twin."
The room went silent.
Her mother continued.
"You were carrying twins."
"No."
"You lost the second embryo."
Natasha remembered the ultrasound.
The doctor had said one heartbeat.
Only one.
Her mother said, "The second fetus disappeared."
Leo stared.
"That's impossible."
"Not impossible."
She reached into her bag.
She produced a medical report.
"One fetus was viable."
"Second?"
"Resorbed."
Natasha took the paper.
She read the date.
The ultrasound had been done six days ago.
But the report had been altered.
There was a second page.
FETAL DNA MATCH: UNKNOWN PATERNITY
Her stomach turned.
"Who is the father?"
Her mother looked at Leo.
"We don't know."
Leo took a step forward.
"Then why did Carlo care?"
"Because the second fetus wasn't biologically related to you."
Natasha stared.
"What does that mean?"
"It means someone implanted something."
Leo looked horrified.
"A surrogate?"
"No."
Her mother whispered.
"An embryo."
Natasha felt a wave of nausea.
"You're saying someone put another embryo inside me?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
The woman looked at Marcus.
Marcus went pale.
Leo immediately understood.
"You."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"Who authorized the procedure?"
Marcus looked at Natasha.
"Carlo."
Leo raised his gun.
Marcus lifted his hands.
"I didn't know why."
"How did it happen?"
Marcus swallowed.
"Three months ago, Natasha was drugged."
She remembered.
A business dinner.
A glass of wine.
Waking with a headache.
Leo had told her she had simply overdone it.
Her blood ran cold.
"That night."
Marcus nodded.
"Someone took her to a private clinic."
Leo's face went white.
"You knew?"
"I learned later."
"Who was the doctor?"
Marcus whispered.
"Dr. Claire Benton."
Natasha staggered backward.
The doctor who had just examined her.
The woman Leo claimed to trust.
Her mother whispered:
"She's the one who implanted the embryo."
Leo turned toward Marcus.
"Find her."
Marcus grabbed his phone.
A second later he looked up.
"She's gone."
Leo stared.
"How?"
"Her apartment is empty."
Then Natasha's phone rang.
A text appeared.
You have forty-eight hours.
Another message followed.
Bring the unborn heir to Saint Michael's Cathedral.
Then a final message.
Come alone, Leo.
At the bottom was a photograph.
Claire Benton.
May you like
And beside her stood the woman Natasha had thought was dead.
Her mother.
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