Chapter 2: The Message That Changed Everything
**— PART 2 —**
I walked out of Aurelia with Eli's hand in my left and Mara's in my right.
The cold air hit my face.
I kept moving.
Behind me, I heard Luca follow us outside.
"Nia."
I stopped at the curb.
I did not turn around.
"I'm not doing this in front of them."
"I know." His voice was low.
"I just need one thing."
I looked down at Eli and Mara.
Their cheeks were pink from the cold.
Mara was still holding the paper with her six-legged horse.
"Give me five minutes," I said quietly.
"Then we're gone."
I crouched and looked at both of them.
"Stay right here by the door.
Don't move."
Eli nodded seriously.
Mara copied him.
I stood and faced Luca.
He looked like a man who had not slept in days.
Maybe weeks.
"My mother called me this morning," he said.
"Before I came to the restaurant."
I waited.
"She told me she heard I had been looking into the clinic records." His jaw tightened.
"She told me to stop."
My chest went cold.
"She said some things were better left in the past."
"She knew you were investigating."
"Yes."
"And she tried to stop you."
"Yes."
I stared at him.
"Luca.
She didn't just try to end our marriage." My voice dropped to almost nothing.
"She knew about the twins."
His face changed.
"What?"
"Think about it.
If she was watching your investigation closely enough to call you this morning—"
He went completely still.
"—then she has been watching for years."
Neither of us spoke.
Then Luca's phone buzzed in his pocket.
He glanced at the screen.
And every trace of color left his face.
---
What did that message say — and who sent it?
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The truth behind what Luca's mother really knew is darker than either of them imagined.
Click the link below to read the full story.
