Chapter 11 - BLOOD BROTHER
Victor became terrifyingly quiet.
Not angry.
Not loud.
Quiet.
“Say that again.”
The wounded guard struggled to breathe.
“Adrian came to the estate. Said you ordered him to move the boy.”
Dominic cursed.
“He knows the codes.”
“He took Leo?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Victor pulled out his phone.
I grabbed his arm.
“Call him.”
“I will.”
“No threats.”
His eyes were black.
“He took my son.”
“We don’t know why.”
“I know enough.”
Mateo stepped closer.
“If Adrian is my son—”
Victor turned on him.
“He is my brother.”
Mateo stopped.
For all their hatred, neither man argued about that.
Victor called.
Adrian answered immediately.
“Victor.”
“Where is Leo?”
“Safe.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“You have five seconds.”
“Elise needs to hear this too.”
I leaned toward the phone.
“I’m here.”
Adrian exhaled.
“Good.”
“Why did you take him?”
“Because the estate has a traitor.”
Victor’s face did not change.
“Name.”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to follow the tracker.”
Dominic checked his tablet.
“Nothing.”
Adrian laughed once.
“Not the car.”
Victor understood.
“Leo’s watch.”
We had all forgotten it.
The cartoon dinosaur watch I had bought Leo at a drugstore months ago.
Victor’s security team had later added a GPS chip.
Dominic pulled up another application.
A location appeared.
Forty miles north.
An abandoned lakeside property.
Victor headed toward the doors.
Adrian spoke quickly.
“Do not bring Salazar.”
Mateo stiffened.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is doing this wants him there.”
Victor stopped.
“What are you talking about?”
“I found Sofia’s investigator.”
Silence.
“She’s alive.”
Victor stared at the phone.
“Who?”
“Dr. Evelyn Cross.”
I frowned.
The name meant nothing to me.
Mateo, however, went white.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You know her?”
He did not answer.
Adrian continued.
“She worked in the maternity ward when Leo was born.”
Victor’s grip tightened.
“She was the doctor in Anthony’s ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Why does she have Leo?”
“She doesn’t.”
A pause.
“I do.”
Victor’s voice became deadly.
“You kidnapped my son to protect him?”
“I moved him because Evelyn contacted me this morning.”
“What did she say?”
“That someone inside the estate was going to poison Leo before sunset.”
My stomach dropped.
Victor closed his eyes.
“Who?”
“She refused to say.”
“And you believed her?”
“She showed me proof.”
“What proof?”
“Meet me.”
Victor looked at Mateo.
Then at me.
“We’re going.”
Mateo shook his head.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He may be my son.”
Victor stepped toward him.
“He is my brother.”
“And maybe both.”
I stood between them.
“Wonderful. Family therapy later.”
Both men looked at me.
“We go together.”
Victor opened his mouth.
“No.”
He closed it.
Progress.
The lakeside property had once been a hotel.
Now weeds pushed through cracked pavement and half the windows were boarded.
Victor entered first.
I followed despite Dominic’s protests.
Inside, Leo sat on a couch eating cereal from a mixing bowl.
He looked up.
“Elise!”
I nearly collapsed with relief.
Victor reached him first.
He pulled Leo into his arms.
“You do not leave the house with anyone.”
Leo blinked.
“Uncle Adrian said you told him.”
“I didn’t.”
“Oh.”
Victor kissed his hair.
Something I had never seen him do in public.
Adrian stood by the window.
He looked exhausted.
Mateo entered behind us.
Adrian froze.
Their eyes met.
Neither spoke.
If the recording was true, they were father and son.
But there was no recognition.
Only decades of hatred inherited from other men.
Victor stood.
“Proof.”
Adrian handed him a tablet.
Security footage from the Romano kitchen.
Timestamp: that morning.
A staff member prepared Leo’s breakfast.
Mrs. Bellini.
My heart sank.
“No.”
The video showed her opening a small bottle.
Pouring liquid into Leo’s milk.
Victor stopped the footage.
His face went blank.
“That isn’t possible.”
Dominic looked sick.
“She raised you.”
Victor replayed it.
Mrs. Bellini clearly added something.
Then another figure appeared on the edge of camera.
A man.
Only his hand visible.
He passed her the bottle.
On his finger was a distinctive gold ring.
Victor stared.
He knew it.
“Dominic.”
Dominic went pale.
“What?”
Victor enlarged the image.
The ring bore the Russo family crest.
Dominic looked down at his own hand.
He wore the same ring.
Victor raised his gun.
I stepped between them.
“No.”
“Elise.”
“Look at the video.”
“I am looking.”
“His hand.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
I pointed.
“Dominic has a scar across his thumb.”
Every one of us had seen it.
A white line from an old knife wound.
The hand on the footage had no scar.
Dominic exhaled.
Victor lowered the gun slightly.
“Copy.”
Adrian nodded.
“Someone had the ring made.”
“To frame Dominic.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Where is Dr. Cross?”
His expression changed.
“Basement.”
Victor frowned.
“She’s here?”
Adrian nodded.
“She insisted.”
We followed him downstairs.
Dr. Evelyn Cross was seventy.
Thin.
White-haired.
Terrified.
The moment she saw Mateo, she began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Mateo stopped.
“For what?”
She looked at Leo.
Then Adrian.
Then Victor.
“I switched the babies.”
Silence.
Victor stepped forward.
“Which babies?”
“Leo and another boy.”
“Where is the other boy?”
Her face crumpled.
“Dead.”
Victor froze.
“When?”
“Three days after birth.”
Leo looked confused.
I moved him toward Dominic.
“Take him upstairs.”
“No,” Dr. Cross said.
Victor’s head turned.
“He should stay.”
“He is six.”
“He deserves the truth.”
“Not today.”
For once, Victor sounded like a father before a boss.
Dominic took Leo upstairs.
Dr. Cross began trembling.
“Anthony Romano ordered the switch.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He believed Sofia’s child was not yours.”
Victor went still.
“He thought Mateo was the father?”
“Yes.”
Mateo shook his head.
“I never touched Sofia.”
“I know,” Dr. Cross whispered.
“Anthony didn’t.”
My stomach turned.
“So he ordered you to switch the babies.”
“Yes.”
“But you switched them back,” I said.
Every head turned toward me.
Dr. Cross stared.
“How did you know?”
“The DNA test. Adrian’s blood showed Leo was related to Victor.”
Victor looked at me.
I continued.
“If Leo were Salazar’s biological child, that test wouldn’t prove Romano blood.”
Dr. Cross nodded slowly.
“Sofia caught me.”
Victor stopped breathing.
“She knew?”
“The night after the births.”
“What did she do?”
“She threatened to kill me.”
Victor almost smiled.
“That sounds like Sofia.”
Dr. Cross cried.
“She made me reverse it.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Relief nearly buckled his knees.
Leo was his biological son.
The test made sense.
But one question remained.
“If Sofia fixed it,” I asked, “why is someone still killing people?”
Dr. Cross looked at Adrian.
“Because the child switch was never the real secret.”
Adrian frowned.
“What was?”
She pointed at him.
“You.”
Mateo went still.
Dr. Cross’s voice shook.
“Anthony Romano knew Adrian was Mateo Salazar’s son.”
Adrian stepped back.
“No.”
“He knew before you were born.”
Mateo’s face broke.
Adrian stared at him.
“How?”
Dr. Cross swallowed.
“Because Adrian’s mother wasn’t Mrs. Romano.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Then who?”
Dr. Cross whispered the name.
“Marisol Vega.”
My mother.
The room tilted.
I grabbed the wall.
Adrian stared at me.
Mateo stared at him.
And suddenly I understood.
Adrian was not only Mateo Salazar’s son.
May you like
He was my mother’s son.
My half brother.
