Chapter 5 - The Castellano Daughter
Eliza stared at the photograph until her vision blurred.
“No.”
Sofia remained silent.
“My mother was Catherine Reynolds.”
“The woman who raised you was Catherine Reynolds.”
“That is my mother.”
“Yes,” Sofia said gently. “She was.”
The distinction terrified Eliza.
Dominic took the photograph.
“Who is the woman?”
Sofia answered.
“Isabella Castellano.”
Dominic nearly dropped it.
“My aunt Isabella died when she was seventeen.”
“No,” Sofia said. “She became pregnant when she was seventeen.”
Dominic’s father had hidden the pregnancy to avoid scandal.
Isabella had given birth secretly.
The baby was placed with Catherine Reynolds, a nurse who had once worked for the Castellano family.
That baby was Eliza.
Dominic looked shaken.
“My father told everyone Isabella died.”
“She did,” Sofia said. “Three years later.”
“How?”
“Overdose.”
Eliza closed her eyes.
Every childhood memory began rearranging itself.
Her mother’s refusal to discuss Eliza’s biological father.
The lack of hospital photographs.
The strange annual Christmas card from a New York law firm.
The college tuition paid by what Catherine had called a family trust.
“Why didn’t my mother tell me?”
“Probably because she loved you.”
Eliza turned.
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“If my father arranged this, Catherine may have been ordered never to tell you.”
Eliza looked at him.
“So what does this make us?”
Dominic studied the photograph.
“Second cousins.”
“Wonderful. I’m kidnapped by relatives.”
Luca almost laughed despite himself.
But Sofia wasn’t smiling.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
There was always more.
Isabella had not simply been a frightened teenager.
Before her death, she had inherited shares in several Castellano-controlled companies.
Under the terms of Eliza’s grandfather’s original trust, Isabella’s legitimate descendant could claim those shares at age thirty.
Eliza was twenty-nine.
In seven months, she would inherit controlling interest in three holding companies tied to billions in real estate.
Dominic stared.
“That’s why Crown needs her.”
Sofia nodded.
“If Eliza signs her shares away, Crown can take control.”
Eliza laughed bitterly.
“I don’t even have the shares yet.”
“But your unborn child creates another heir,” Dominic said.
The realization settled over everyone.
Even if Eliza died before turning thirty, her legal heir could inherit.
Her unborn child.
That was why someone wanted the medical records.
That was why pregnancy mattered.
Not because of Mark.
Because the baby changed succession.
Eliza felt sick.
Dominic stepped closer.
“No one touches you.”
She looked at him.
It was not a promise spoken by a criminal.
It sounded like family.
And somehow that frightened her less.
Sofia gave Dominic another envelope.
Inside was a location where Gabriel might have gone.
A monastery near Cefalù.
They arrived after sunset.
A priest led them through stone halls.
He recognized Gabriel’s photograph.
“He stayed here.”
“When?” Dominic asked.
“Three months ago.”
“Where did he go?”
The priest hesitated.
“He said he needed to return to America.”
Eliza’s heart raced.
“Why?”
“To protect a woman.”
Dominic and Eliza exchanged a look.
“What woman?” Dominic asked.
The priest looked at Eliza.
“You.”
Before leaving, Gabriel had left a package.
Inside were copies of financial records, photographs, and an envelope addressed to Eliza.
She opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Eliza, if you are reading this, Mark probably failed to keep you outside the war we were born into.
Her chest tightened.
Do not hate him for approaching you under false reasons. He was supposed to watch you. Instead, he fell in love with you.
She covered her mouth.
Dominic kept reading over her shoulder.
When Mark discovered you were pregnant, he decided he was finished running.
Eliza froze.
“When did he discover?”
Sofia looked confused.
“What?”
Eliza reread the line.
“When Mark discovered you were pregnant.”
But Eliza herself hadn’t known until yesterday.
How could Mark have known weeks earlier?
She continued.
He told me he had one final job to do before he could come home to you.
Eliza whispered:
“He knew.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
The final lines were worse.
If Mark disappears, do not assume he abandoned you.
And do not assume the child is his.
Eliza stopped.
The letter slipped from her fingers.
“No.”
Dominic picked it up.
There was one more page.
Mark believed someone tampered with his medical records years ago. He had reasons to think he could not father children.
Eliza could barely breathe.
Dominic continued reading silently.
Then he looked up.
“What?”
Dominic’s face had changed.
He handed her the last page.
There was a name.
A date.
And a medical procedure.
Two years earlier.
Fertility preservation.
The clinic belonged to a private facility associated with Harland & Wilson.
Eliza stared.
“I’ve never been there.”
Dominic read the record.
Neither had she knowingly undergone any procedure.
But the document listed her name.
Her identification number.
And a biological sample.
Stored under an internal code.
CST-01.
Dominic looked at Luca.
“What does CST stand for?”
Luca’s expression turned grim.
“Castellano.”
The implication was horrifying.
Someone had been cataloging family genetics.
For years.
Then Dr. Foster called from New York.
The second paternity screening was complete.
Mark Tanner was excluded again.
Eliza sank into a chair.
Dominic put the call on speaker.
“There’s something else,” Dr. Foster said.
“What?”
“The lab detected a close genetic relationship between Eliza’s sample and another profile already stored in our database.”
Dominic frowned.
“Whose?”
A pause.
Then:
“Yours.”
Everyone went silent.
Dominic stared at Eliza.
Dr. Foster continued quickly.
“Not as the father. Absolutely not. But the fetus carries markers that overlap strongly with the Castellano paternal line.”
Eliza’s blood went cold.
Dominic whispered:
“The baby’s father is related to me.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
Luca looked away.
Eliza thought about every man she had known.
There was only Mark.
Unless—
Unless something had happened that she didn’t remember.
Dominic looked at her medical paperwork.
Then his face changed.
“The fertility clinic.”
Eliza’s stomach dropped.
“No.”
Someone had not merely tracked her genetics.
May you like
Someone had used them.
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