"**“YOUR HUSBAND CAN WAIT. MY GUESTS CANNOT!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE FORCED HIS 26-YEAR-OLD MAID TO KEEP SERVING DINNER AFTER THE HOSPITAL CALLED—BUT WHEN LUCA MORETTI FOUND OUT WHY SHE WAS CRYING, HE TOOK OFF HIS JACKET AND DID SOMETHING THAT LEFT FORTY WEALTHY GUESTS SPEECHLESS.** / Chapter 6 / 15

Chapter 6 - THE ST. JUDE'S DOSSIERThe silence in the hospital room grew heavy, punctuated only by the steady beep of the heart monitor.

Luca stared at the document in his hands, his knuckles turning white against the heavy cardstock. The tattoos on his forearm seemed to tighten as his muscles locked in suppressed fury.

“What is it, Mr. Moretti?” I asked, my voice trembling as I looked between my husband and the mafia boss. “What does that paper say?”

Luca slowly raised his eyes from the page. They weren't cold anymore; they were burning with a terrifying, righteous fire.

“This is an internal neonatal transfer manifest from St. Jude’s Hospital,” Luca said, his voice dangerously low. “Dated three years ago—the exact week you were told your newborn daughter didn't survive.”

My breath hitched violently. The room seemed to tilt on its axis. “My daughter... but the doctor said she stopped breathing. They showed us the paperwork—they said she was gone!”

“They lied,” Daniel choked out, tears finally breaking free from the corners of his eyes. “Rachel, I never believed them. I couldn't. But we were poor, we didn't have money for lawyers or independent autopsies, and the hospital administration buried us in forms. But this paper... it proves our baby was transferred out of the ward under a sealed corporate directive. And look at the signature authorizing the transfer.”

Luca handed the document to me.

My hands shook so violently I could barely hold the paper. At the bottom of the page, beneath a high-level administrative seal, was a signature in elegant, looping cursive.

Vanessa Bellini.

The world stopped spinning. My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird.

“Vanessa... why?” I whispered, staring at the name in utter disbelief. “Why would Vanessa Bellini have anything to do with my baby?”

Luca turned toward the door, his jaw set in stone.

“Because,” Luca said, his voice a lethal whisper, “three years ago, before Vanessa’s family forced our political alliance, my personal life was... complicated. There was someone else. Someone I loved.”