Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO BROUGHT NICO HOME
-7-
Isabella Varric did not deny knowing Sofia had been at the hospital.
That frightened Matteo more than a lie would have.
His mother stepped into the study and quietly closed the door behind her.
The sound was soft.
Final.
Matteo watched her.
“Answer me.”
Isabella glanced toward Dominic and Dr. Hale.
“This is a family matter.”
Matteo’s expression did not change.
“You lost the right to decide that.”
“Matteo.”
“Why was Sofia at Saint Gabriel?”
Isabella looked toward Liana.
Nico was awake now.
Calm.
His fingers remained wrapped around Liana’s necklace.
Isabella’s eyes lingered there.
Then she said, “You should put the child down.”
Liana’s arms tightened.
“No.”
Isabella’s brows rose.
Matteo stepped between them.
“Answer the question.”
His mother sighed.
“Sofia performed errands for me.”
“At a maternity ward?”
“She had relatives there.”
Dominic spoke from the doorway.
“No relatives worked at Saint Gabriel.”
Isabella slowly turned toward him.
“I don’t recall asking you.”
Dominic did not move.
Matteo’s voice dropped.
“Don’t.”
Isabella looked back at her son.
There was something almost disappointed in her expression.
“You’ve always been too emotional where Elena was concerned.”
Matteo’s eyes darkened.
“My wife died.”
“Yes.”
“You brought Nico to me three days later.”
“Yes.”
“You told me he was Elena’s son.”
“He was the child Elena intended you to raise.”
Liana felt a chill move through her.
Matteo stared.
“That is not what I asked.”
Isabella’s composure finally cracked.
Only slightly.
“He needed a father.”
“Was he Elena’s biological child?”
Silence.
“Mother.”
“No.”
One word.
That was all.
But it seemed to split the room in half.
Matteo took one step backward.
Liana watched his face.
She had seen exhaustion there.
Anger.
Fear.
But this was different.
Betrayal.
Pure and absolute.
“You knew.”
Isabella did not answer.
“You knew he wasn’t hers.”
“Yes.”
“And you gave him to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Isabella’s eyes moved to Nico again.
“Because that is what Elena wanted.”
Matteo laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Elena wanted me to believe another woman’s child was ours?”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Isabella closed her eyes briefly.
“Elena discovered something.”
Matteo went still.
“What?”
“She found records connected to your father.”
Liana frowned.
Matteo’s father, Lorenzo Varric, had died twelve years earlier.
His name was still spoken carefully in the city.
A man whose criminal empire had become legend.
Isabella continued.
“Your father funded several private fertility clinics.”
Matteo stared at her.
“I know.”
“No.”
His mother shook her head.
“You know the official version.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“What was the real version?”
Isabella walked toward the fireplace.
“For years, women connected to powerful families used those clinics. Politicians. Judges. Businessmen. Men who needed heirs.”
Her mouth hardened.
“Sometimes their wives couldn’t have children.”
Liana’s stomach turned.
“What happened to the women who could?”
Isabella looked at her.
“You already know.”
Liana’s blood went cold.
“No.”
Matteo said, “Continue.”
“The clinics maintained files on pregnant women who had no powerful families protecting them.”
Liana stopped breathing.
“Women like me.”
Isabella said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
Matteo’s face changed.
“They stole children.”
“They arranged adoptions.”
“Do not call it adoption.”
Matteo’s voice struck the room like thunder.
Nico startled.
Liana immediately rocked him.
Matteo saw it and lowered his voice.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was not involved in the operation.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
Matteo stared at his mother.
“You knew my father was taking babies from women.”
“He convinced himself he was helping families.”
“He was trafficking children.”
Isabella’s face tightened.
“That word simplifies something much more complicated.”
“No.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“It makes it exactly what it was.”
Liana could barely hear them.
Her thoughts were racing.
Her pregnancy.
Her hospital.
Her son.
The child she had buried.
“Why Nico?”
She interrupted.
Both Varrics looked at her.
Liana’s eyes filled.
“Why my baby?”
Isabella’s expression softened.
For the first time, she looked almost human.
“You were not originally chosen.”
Liana froze.
“What does that mean?”
“Elena was pregnant.”
Matteo turned sharply.
“What?”
His mother faced him.
“Elena truly was pregnant.”
Matteo’s eyes widened.
“She told me she miscarried.”
“She did.”
Isabella looked down.
“At seven months.”
Matteo staggered backward.
Liana felt sick.
Isabella continued.
“She did not tell you because she was frightened.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered the clinic records.”
Matteo stared at her.
“Elena knew.”
“Yes.”
“She knew about my father.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew she knew.”
“Yes.”
The room became terribly quiet.
Matteo whispered, “Did that get her killed?”
Isabella did not answer.
Matteo approached her.
“Did that get my wife killed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mother.”
“I don’t know!”
Her composure shattered.
For the first time, Isabella raised her voice.
“I tried to protect her.”
Everyone froze.
Isabella turned away.
“Elena wanted evidence. She wanted names. She wanted to expose everything.”
“Why didn’t she come to me?”
“Because the records implicated people who worked for you.”
Matteo’s face went still.
“Who?”
“She didn’t know whom she could trust.”
The words struck him.
Isabella continued.
“After losing the baby, Elena became obsessed with saving one child from the network.”
Liana looked down at Nico.
“No.”
Isabella met her eyes.
“Yes.”
Liana’s face crumpled.
“She chose mine?”
“No.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“She chose you.”
Liana stared.
“She had found your file months before you gave birth.”
“How?”
“You had been treated at Saint Gabriel after a car accident during your pregnancy.”
Liana remembered.
Six months pregnant.
A taxi crash.
Nothing serious.
Several tests.
Then discharge.
Isabella said, “That visit placed your medical details inside the clinic network.”
Liana felt nauseated.
“They marked me.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“A candidate.”
Liana’s eyes filled with horror.
Matteo’s fists clenched.
Isabella continued.
“Elena discovered your file. She saw you were alone. No husband. No wealthy family. No attorney.”
Liana whispered, “Easy to erase.”
Isabella looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“She tried to stop it?”
“Yes.”
Matteo’s voice became quiet.
“What happened?”
“Elena arranged for Sofia to watch the hospital.”
“Your nurse.”
“She was loyal to Elena.”
“Then why did she take Nico?”
Isabella hesitated.
“Because somebody else arrived first.”
Liana’s heart began pounding.
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“I am not lying.”
Isabella looked directly at her.
“When you gave birth, the network believed they had control of your baby. Elena’s plan was to remove him first and hide him.”
Liana stared.
“So Elena kidnapped my son to save him from being kidnapped?”
The cruelty of the logic made her laugh through tears.
Isabella flinched.
“She intended to return him when it was safe.”
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
Matteo spoke slowly.
“And you gave him to me.”
“I didn’t know where else he could survive.”
“You could have told the police.”
Isabella looked at him almost pityingly.
“Half the names Elena found were people who wore badges or sat behind government desks.”
Matteo fell silent.
Liana looked at Nico.
Nine months.
All those months stolen.
His first smile.
His first tooth.
His first fever.
She had missed everything.
Then another thought hit her.
“The child I buried.”
Isabella’s face changed.
Liana saw it.
“You know.”
“No.”
“You know who was in that coffin.”
“I don’t.”
“But you know something.”
Isabella looked away.
Liana stepped toward her.
Nico between them.
“Tell me.”
“I only heard a rumor.”
“What rumor?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“When an infant was taken from a mother in the network, another body was sometimes used to close the record.”
Liana nearly dropped to her knees.
Matteo caught her elbow.
“No.”
Liana whispered it again.
“No.”
Matteo supported her.
“What bodies?”
Isabella’s voice was barely audible.
“Infants who died naturally. Premature births. Stillbirths.”
Liana began crying.
Somewhere, another mother had lost a child.
And that child had been placed in Liana’s arms so she would stop asking questions.
Matteo’s face looked murderous.
“Who ran the network after my father died?”
Isabella remained silent.
He gripped the edge of the desk.
“Who?”
She finally answered.
“I never knew his real name.”
“Then what did they call him?”
Isabella looked toward the windows.
“The Shepherd.”
Dominic suddenly stiffened.
Matteo noticed.
“What?”
Dominic did not answer.
“Dominic.”
His oldest friend slowly removed something from his pocket.
A silver coin.
Liana had seen one before.
Twenty-two days earlier.
It had been inside the envelope handed to her by the funeral director after her son’s burial.
One side showed a shepherd’s staff.
The other showed the number 17.
Liana stared at it.
Matteo turned toward Dominic.
“Where did you get that?”
Dominic’s face had gone pale.
“My father gave it to me before he died.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Dominic swallowed.
“He told me if you ever started asking questions about Elena’s death…”
He stopped.
Matteo’s voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Finish that sentence.”
May you like
Dominic looked at his oldest friend.
“…I was supposed to kill you.”
