Chapter 14: The Last Moretti Secret
The stranger's blood soaked through my sleeves.
Agent Ellis rushed toward us while her partner swept the chapel for the shooter. Adrian dragged the wounded man behind the altar, pressing a hand against the gunshot wound in his abdomen.
“Stay with me,” I whispered.
The man looked at me.
“You have your mother's eyes.””
“Everyone keeps saying that.””
He managed a faint smile.
“Because Elena was the only honest person in our family.””
His breathing became shallow.
“What's your name?”” I asked.
“Thomas.””
“Thomas Moretti?””
He shook his head.
“Thomas Reed.””
The name struck me harder than the gunshot.
Reed.
My surname.
The name Catherine had given me.
I stared at him.
“Are you related to Catherine?””
He nodded weakly.
“She was my sister.””
The chapel seemed to fall away.
Catherine had raised me. She had protected me. She had lied to me, too, but every lie had been wrapped around an attempt to keep me alive.
And now her brother was bleeding in my arms.
“Why didn't you come for me?”” I whispered.
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Because I thought you were safer without me.””
Agent Ellis pressed a cloth against his wound.
“Save your strength. The ambulance is coming.””
“No.”” Thomas grabbed her wrist.
“You need to understand. Adrian Moretti isn't the only one who took Victor's name.””
He looked at me.
“The original Victor Moretti had a son. My sister Catherine discovered the child was being used to conceal a second inheritance. When Victor died in 1998, she tried to expose the entire operation.””
“Why didn't she?””
“Because someone murdered her husband.””
My throat tightened.
“Catherine never had a husband.””
“She did. Before you were born. He was a physician at Saint Agnes.
His name was Dr. Samuel Voss.””
I recoiled.
The same doctor whose signature had appeared on my birth records.
Thomas nodded.
“Voss helped create the false adoption files. When he realized what Victor intended to do, he tried to stop him. Catherine helped him steal the original ledger.””
“And the hospital fire?””
“Adrian Moretti ordered it. But Samuel Voss was the one who started it.””
I stared at him.
“Why?””
“Because he believed he could destroy the evidence without killing anyone. He was wrong.””
Thomas coughed, and Agent Ellis ordered him to stop talking.
But he wasn't finished.
“Catherine took the ledger and escaped with you. She knew the organization would come after her. So she gave you her surname and raised you as her own.””
I looked at Adrian.
“You knew all this?””
He nodded.
“I knew Catherine was protecting you. I didn't know she was protecting the ledger, too.””
Thomas reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small brass key.
“Your mother hid the original records beneath the Moretti family mausoleum. This opens the vault.””
Agent Ellis took the key.
“Where is the mausoleum?””
Thomas whispered an address.
Then his eyes closed.
For one terrible second, I thought he was dead.
But the paramedics arrived, and they carried him away.
I watched the ambulance disappear into the gray morning.
Then I turned toward Adrian.
“You told me you carried me out of Saint Agnes.””
“I did.””
“Did you know Thomas was my uncle?””
“No.””
“Did you know Catherine was hiding the ledger?””
He hesitated.
“Yes.””
My stomach twisted.
“You knew my entire life was built around a secret.””
“I knew Catherine had a reason for keeping you away from Victor.””
“That isn't an answer.””
Adrian looked at me with tired eyes.
“No. It isn't.””
Agent Ellis approached.
“We need to move. The mausoleum address is connected to a property registered under one of Victor's shell companies.””
“Then let's go.””
“Anna, this is a federal operation.””
“And this is my family.””
She studied me for several seconds.
Then she nodded.
“Stay behind my team.””
The mausoleum stood on a wooded hill beyond the city, surrounded by an iron fence and dead rosebushes.
The Moretti family name was carved into the stone entrance.
Inside, the air smelled of damp earth and old flowers.
Agent Ellis's team searched the perimeter while Adrian and I descended the narrow staircase.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
The brass key turned with a heavy click.
Beyond it lay a room filled with filing cabinets, sealed boxes, and shelves of videotapes.
The original ledger rested on a stone table.
I opened it.
Names covered hundreds of pages.
Children taken from their parents.
Children placed with wealthy families.
Children whose identities had been erased.
And near the end, a list of five births recorded on the same night.
Anna Elena Moretti.
Luca James Moretti.
Gabriel Thomas Moretti.
Lily Rachel Cross.
Michael Daniel Cross.
I stared at the final name.
Michael Daniel Cross.
The boy who had grown up as Michael Moretti had been born to Daniel Cross and Rachel Reed.
He was my brother.
Not my twin.
Not my cousin.
My brother.
The same woman who had given birth to me had also given birth to Michael.
But the records showed something stranger.
A sixth entry had been crossed out.
*CHILD SIX: FEMALE. DECEASED BEFORE REGISTRATION.*
Beneath it was a note in Samuel Voss's handwriting.
The child survived. Transfer to private custody authorized by Victor Moretti.
My hands went numb.
“Who was she?”” I whispered.
Adrian opened a second file.
Inside was a photograph of a baby girl with a small crescent-shaped birthmark on her left shoulder.
I looked down at the scar near my own shoulder.
It was the same shape.
The same place.
“No,” I whispered.
Adrian's face went pale.
“Anna…”
I shook my head.
“I'm Anna.””
He looked at the ledger.
Then at me.
“You were registered twice.””
I couldn't breathe.
The records claimed that Anna Elena Moretti had been born to Elena and Victor.
But another entry showed that Anna Reed had been born to Rachel and Daniel.
Two birth certificates.
Two families.
One child.
Someone had used my identity to hide another baby.
And the baby who supposedly died had been given my name.
A noise came from behind us.
Agent Ellis entered the room, holding a pistol.
“Step away from the ledger.””
I turned.
“Why?””
Her expression had changed.
The calm, professional woman who had helped us at the warehouse was gone.
In her place stood someone cold and determined.
“Because the investigation is over.””
Adrian raised his hands.
“You're working for Victor.””
She smiled faintly.
“Victor is dead.””
“Then who are you working for?””
She looked at me.
“The woman who paid for the archive to be destroyed.””
A figure stepped from the shadows behind her.
A woman in a dark coat.
She had silver hair, pale skin, and a crescent-shaped birthmark on her left shoulder.
My birthmark.
My face.
My eyes.
She looked exactly like me.
Only older.
She smiled.
“Hello, Anna.””
My knees nearly gave way.
“Who are you?””
The woman touched the birthmark on her shoulder.
“My name is Sofia Elena Moretti.””
May you like
She looked at the ledger.
“And you're the daughter who stole my life.””
