Chapter 5: The Shape of the Lie
The document was still in Matteo's hand.
Liana hadn't looked away from it.
"That's not possible," she said again.
But quieter this time.
The way people say things when they already know they're wrong.
"Elena believed it was." Matteo set the paper down carefully on the desk.
"She ran the test twice.
Different lab the second time."
"Daniel's father—" Liana stopped.
"I was with someone for two years.
We separated before I knew I was pregnant.
I never told him."
"What was his name?"
She looked at Matteo.
"Why?"
"Because if the result is accurate, then either your son's father and Nico's mother were the same person, which is biologically impossible, or—" He paused.
"Or one of these children was not born to the parent on record."
The room went very still.
Liana sat down in the chair beside the desk.
Nico stirred and she adjusted him automatically, her hands moving without her having to think about it.
She looked at the baby's face.
The curve of his jaw.
The shape of his brow.
"Elena," she said slowly.
"Was Elena Nico's biological mother?"
Matteo's expression didn't shift.
But he sat down too, which told her enough.
"She had a condition," he said.
"Before we married.
She told me she could not carry a child.
We discussed other options." He stopped.
"We were still discussing them when she told me she was pregnant.
I was — I didn't ask questions I should have asked.
I was too relieved."
"You think she used a surrogate."
"I think she found a way to have a child that she believed was safe.
That she could protect." He looked at Nico.
"And I think she didn't tell me because she knew what I would have done with that information.
Who I would have gone to.
Who might have found out."
"Renato," Liana said.
"Renato manages succession in this family.
If there were any question about Nico's parentage, he would have used it.
He's been looking for a reason to challenge my position for years." Matteo's voice was flat.
"Elena knew that.
She protected Nico the only way she could."
Liana looked at the DNA report again.
"Then who carried him?"
"I don't know yet."
"And what does any of this have to do with Daniel?"
Matteo picked up the USB drive.
"This might tell us." He crossed to the desk and opened a laptop.
The drive loaded slowly.
Inside were two folders.
The first was labeled *Voss*.
The second was labeled *D.*
He opened *D* first.
Inside were photographs, hospital records, and a series of text messages printed as screenshots.
Liana leaned forward.
The messages were between two numbers, neither labeled.
But the content was clear enough.
*The second one is a problem.
She doesn't know what she has.*
*Handle it before she figures it out.*
*How?*
*You know how.
Make it look like what these things look like.*
Liana read the exchange twice.
Her hands were very steady.
That steadiness frightened her more than shaking would have.
"My son," she said.
"They're talking about my son."
"Yes."
"They kjlled him."
Matteo did not correct her.
"The messages are dated two days before Daniel d*ed."
"Who are the numbers?"
He opened the *Voss* folder.
Inside was a contact sheet with names, numbers, and photographs.
He scrolled until he found the match for the first number.
Dorian Voss.
Renato's man.
The name Elena had written in her letter.
The second number took longer.
He cross-referenced it against a list of estate staff contacts saved in the same folder.
When the name came up, Liana recognized it.
Dr.
Amara Solis.
The physician who had called her at two in the morning to tell her Daniel was g*ne.
The woman who had stood across a hospital corridor and told her it was a cardiac event, rare but not unheard of, and handed her a form to sign.
Liana stood up.
"I need some air," she said.
"Liana—"
"I'm not leaving.
I just need—" She walked to the window.
It looked out over the estate grounds, dark now, the trees barely visible.
Nico made a small noise and she pressed her lips to the top of his head without thinking.
He settled immediately.
She stood there for a moment.
Just breathing.
Then she turned back.
"What do we do with this?" she said.
Matteo had been watching her.
"We have the messages.
We have the photograph of Renato at the hospital.
We have Elena's letter." He paused.
"It's not nothing.
But it's not enough to move on yet.
Renato has lawyers and he has allies inside the organization.
If I go at him before the case is complete, he'll bury it."
"So we need more."
"We need Voss.
He's the link between Renato and Solis." Matteo closed the laptop.
"And we need him before Renato realizes we have any of this."
Liana looked at him.
"How long do we have?"
Matteo's phone lit up on the desk.
He glanced at it.
His expression didn't change, but something behind his eyes did.
He turned the screen so she could see the notification.
A text from an unknown number.
May you like
Four words.
*I know you found it.*
