Chapter 15 - MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Derek was lying.
I repeated that sentence seventeen times.
Then Marco pulled my birth certificate.
The document said I was born in Columbus, Ohio.
My mother was listed as Linda Harris.
My father, Thomas Harris.
Nothing unusual.
Then Bellini examined the digital archive.
“The certificate was amended.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Six years after your birth.”
“Why?”
“Sealed record.”
I stared.
“My parents told me I was born at Riverside.”
Bellini looked at the certificate.
“This says St. Agnes.”
The room became too small.
“No.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Claire.”
“No.”
“I remember childhood.”
“That does not mean—”
“I look like my mother.”
I opened my phone.
I found a photograph.
Linda.
Me.
Same brown eyes.
Similar smile.
Bellini studied it.
“Biological relationships can look convincing even when they are not biological.”
I hated her for being reasonable.
My phone rang.
Mom.
For the first time since I left America.
I answered immediately.
“Mom.”
Silence.
“Tell me Derek is lying.”
She started crying.
My knees weakened.
“No.”
“Mom.”
“I am so sorry.”
Every childhood memory cracked open.
“What did you do?”
“We adopted you.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“We planned to.”
“When?”
“You're thirty-four.”
“I know.”
Her sob became louder.
“Your father was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“The people involved.”
“What people?”
“The Bennetts?”
Silence answered.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
“Tell me everything.”
“You were six months old when we got you.”
“Six months?”
“Yes.”
“You had been living with a foster family.”
“Where?”
“New Horizons.”
My stomach twisted.
The same agency.
“Who arranged it?”
“Margaret Bennett.”
Of course.
My mother continued.
“She told us the adoption needed to remain private.”
“Why?”
“She said your birth mother was in danger.”
“Who was she?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you know anything?”
“A first name.”
“What?”
“Anna.”
I covered my mouth.
“Last name?”
“Harris might have been hers.”
“We were allowed to keep it.”
My birth certificate was not just amended.
My entire identity had been built around a secret placement.
Derek's message suddenly made sense.
Three years after that unknown baby girl was moved, someone gave birth to Maya.
Not the girl.
The grown version decades later.
Me.
“So Derek married me because of St. Agnes and because of my adoption?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you know he was connected?”
“No.”
“I swear.”
“Then why didn't you tell me after I started dating a Bennett?”
Silence.
That hurt worse.
“Mom.”
“Warren came to our house.”
My blood chilled.
“When?”
“Two weeks after you brought Derek home.”
“What did he say?”
“He told us revealing the adoption would hurt you.”
“Threatened you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He mentioned your father's pension.”
“Our mortgage.”
“My old tax problem.”
“He knew everything.”
I closed my eyes.
“And you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
“You let me marry his son.”
Her crying became harder.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No, Mom.”
“You knew I was becoming isolated.”
“You knew Derek controlled money.”
“You watched him insult me.”
“You kept telling me marriage was difficult.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That did not help me.”
“I know.”
For once, I did not comfort her.
I let the silence remain uncomfortable.
“Do you know who Anna was?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
“There was a necklace.”
I froze.
“What necklace?”
“You were wearing it when we first saw you.”
“A tiny silver pendant.”
“What shape?”
“A falcon.”
Everyone in the room went still.
I touched my neck unconsciously.
I had not seen that pendant since childhood.
“I remember it.”
My mother gasped.
“You do?”
“I wore it until I was eight.”
“Then it disappeared.”
My mother whispered.
“Warren took it.”
“What?”
“He visited once.”
“He saw it.”
“After he left, it was gone.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“Ask her if there were initials.”
I repeated the question.
My mother answered.
“Yes.”
“What initials?”
“A.V.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
“Anna Vitale.”
My heartbeat stopped.
Carlo Vitale had a sister named Elena.
Apparently there had been another Vitale woman too.
Alessandro spoke.
“Carlo had two sisters.”
I looked at him.
“Anna was the oldest.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared more than thirty years ago.”
“How old?”
“Seventeen.”
I could not breathe.
“She was seventeen when she disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“And I was born roughly a year later.”
“Yes.”
The possibility hit the room.
I was connected by blood to Carlo Vitale.
Maybe to Vittorio.
Maybe to the Moretti network.
Derek had not married a random nurse.
His family had known exactly who I was.
Marco searched quickly.
“Anna Vitale.”
Old Italian newspaper records appeared.
Teenage girl missing.
Family declined comment.
Then another article.
Her father had been an associate of the Moretti organization.
Alessandro stared at the screen.
“My grandfather.”
“What?”
“My grandfather was suspected in her disappearance.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“She accused him of something publicly.”
“What?”
“Unknown.”
Marco found an archived court reference.
A sealed paternity dispute.
Anna Vitale versus Lorenzo Moretti.
Alessandro's grandfather.
I felt sick.
“If Lorenzo was my father…”
Alessandro went still.
Then his eyes widened.
“No.”
“What?”
“He would be your father.”
“My father’s father.”
“You and I—”
Marco interrupted quickly.
“Do not jump to conclusions.”
I almost laughed despite the horror.
“No romance was happening.”
Alessandro looked almost offended.
“I am aware.”
For some reason that nearly made me laugh harder.
Bellini examined the dates.
“The paternity case was filed before Claire's estimated conception.”
“So it could concern another child.”
“Or something else.”
My phone vibrated.
Derek.
A text.
NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WATCHED YOU.
Another.
YOUR BLOOD IS WORTH MORE THAN YOU THINK.
Then another.
A photograph.
My mother tied to a chair.
My father's face bleeding beside her.
I screamed.
The message beneath it said:
COME HOME, CLAIRE.
ALONE.
Every part of me wanted to run toward them.
Alessandro grabbed my shoulders.
“No.”
“He has my parents.”
“That means he controls the location.”
“I don't care.”
“Maya will.”
I froze.
He was right.
I hated him for it.
Bellini was already calling American authorities.
“We'll coordinate.”
I stared at the photograph.
My mother looked terrified.
Then I noticed something behind her.
A red door.
Maya's words returned.
Grandpa's other house.
The house where Noah lived.
The house where Vittorio had met Derek.
I looked at Bellini.
“I know where they are.”
May you like
And suddenly going back to Ohio was no longer something I feared.
It was something I chose.
