Chapter 10 - THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
The heavy parchment paper trembled in my hands as I stared at the embossed gold seal.
Antonio Moretti and Margaret Vance.
Thirty-seven years ago. Long before Margaret married Elias Vance. Long before she had Julian.
"Luca," I whispered, my voice barely audible over my mother’s continued sobbing as she held Daniel.
Luca looked up from where he was zip-tying Robert Bellini’s wrists behind his back. He saw the expression on my face—pure, unadulterated shock—and immediately stood up.
"What is it, Hannah?" he asked, walking over to me.
I handed him the certificate.
"It was tucked inside the blank notebook you used as a decoy," I explained, my voice shaking. "I don't think Robert knew it was in there. It must have belonged to your father."
Luca took the paper. He read the names.
The color drained entirely from his face.
He didn't speak. He just stared at the date. Thirty-seven years ago. He was thirty-six.
"Margaret didn't just have an affair with your father," I realized, the horrifying puzzle pieces finally snapping together in a way that defied everything we thought we knew. "They were married. Before he married your mother. Before she married Elias."
Luca’s hands tightened on the edges of the paper, the knuckles turning white.
"Why would my father keep this hidden?" Luca whispered, the betrayal evident in his voice. "Why never tell my mother?"
Daniel, having finally pulled back slightly from his tearful reunion with our mother, stepped closer. He looked over Luca's shoulder at the certificate.
"Because of the annulment laws," Daniel said quietly, his voice raspy from crying.
We both looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Luca asked.
"I spent years investigating the Vance family for Simon," Daniel explained, wiping his face. "Margaret's family was incredibly wealthy, old-money Catholic. Elias Vance was the heir to a massive shipping fortune. Their marriage was arranged to merge two empires."
Daniel pointed to the date on the certificate.
"If Margaret secretly married your father, a low-level enforcer at the time, her family would have disowned her. But more importantly, if she was already legally married to Antonio when she married Elias... her marriage to Elias was bigamy. It was never valid."
The room went completely silent.
"Which means," Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying register, "Margaret was never legally entitled to a single cent of the Vance fortune."
"And neither was Julian," Daniel realized, his eyes widening. "If Elias found out his marriage was void, Julian would be stripped of his inheritance. Margaret's empire would collapse."
It all made horrific sense now.
Margaret hadn't paid to have Julian kidnapped just because he looked like Antonio.
She paid to have him kidnapped because Antonio had found the marriage certificate. Antonio knew the truth, and he was threatening to expose her unless she gave him control of the South Side territories.
Margaret kidnapped her own son, the heir to the Vance fortune, to maintain her power.
"She blew up the house tonight," Luca said softly, absolute fury burning in his dark eyes, "not to destroy the evidence of the embezzlement. She blew it up to destroy this certificate. To protect her legacy."
Luca looked down at Robert Bellini, who was groaning on the floor.
"Did you know?" Luca demanded, kicking Robert roughly in the side. "Did you know she was married to my father?"
Robert spat blood onto the rug, looking up with a pathetic, defeated sneer.
"Of course I knew," Robert wheezed. "Margaret paid me millions to keep quiet. She used Elias's money to build my shipping company in exchange for my silence."
Luca stared at the man who had ruined so many lives.
"You're finished, Robert," Luca said coldly. "Daniel, call the police. Tell them we have a hostage situation resolved and the perpetrator secured."
Daniel nodded, pulling out his phone and stepping out onto the porch.
Luca turned to me and my mother. His expression softened instantly, the lethal mafia boss vanishing, replaced by a man who understood the profound weight of family.
"David Collins died protecting a secret that wasn't his," Luca said gently, looking at my mother. "I cannot bring your husband back. But I swear on my life, you will never want for anything again. Your son is safe. Your daughter is safe."
My mother wiped her tears, looking at Luca with a mixture of awe and grief.
"Thank you, Mr. Moretti," she whispered.
"It's Luca, ma'am," he replied warmly.
He looked at me. "I need to take this certificate to the federal prosecutor. It proves Margaret's motive for the bombing and the kidnapping. It puts her away for life."
"I'll go with you," I said immediately.
"No," Luca said firmly. "You stay here. Be with your family. The police will be here in minutes to take Robert. You've done enough tonight, Hannah."
He reached out, his hand gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. It was a tender, intimate gesture that made my heart flutter despite the chaos of the night.
"I will come back for you," Luca promised, his dark eyes locking onto mine. "When this is all over. I will come back."
I swallowed hard, nodding. "I'll be waiting."
Luca turned, grabbed the terrified Robert Bellini by the collar, hauled him to his feet, and marched him out the front door just as the sirens began to wail down the street.
The next few hours were a blur of police statements, paramedics checking on my mother, and the profound, overwhelming reality of having my brother back.
Daniel—Tommy—sat on the sofa, holding our mother's hand, telling her everything. He told her about the orphanage Simon had created for him, the grueling security training, the lie of his existence. And she told him about the day at the lake, the frantic search, the years of quiet, suffocating grief that had slowly killed our father inside.
By the time the sun began to rise, painting the Chicago skyline in hues of pink and gold, the house was finally quiet. The police had left. My mother was asleep in her bedroom, exhausted by the emotional whiplash of the night.
Tommy and I sat at the kitchen table, drinking black coffee.
"It's strange," Tommy said quietly, staring into his mug. "For twenty years, I thought I was an orphan. And now, I have a mother, a sister... and I'm a billionaire shipping heir."
I offered a small, tired smile. "It's a lot to process."
"Are you okay, Hannah?" he asked, looking at me with the protective gaze of an older brother I hadn't known I had. "You lost Dad tonight."
Tears pricked my eyes. "I'm heartbroken. But I'm so angry that he carried that secret alone for so long. He just wanted to protect us."
Tommy nodded, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand.
"We're going to be okay, little sister," he promised.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed on the table.
It was a text from an unknown number.
I frowned, the memory of the last text message sending a chill down my spine. I opened it cautiously.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a video file.
I pressed play.
The video was grainy, shot from a security camera in what looked like a hospital parking garage.
It showed a dark, unmarked ambulance parked near the exit.
And lying on the concrete, beside the ambulance, was Dr. Simon Aris.
He wasn't moving.
But it wasn't the image of Simon that made my blood run completely cold.
It was the man standing over him, holding a suppressed handgun.
The man who had supposedly transported Simon to a private facility. The man who had been Luca's trusted physician for years.
Dr. Robert Hayes.
And as the video continued, Dr. Hayes didn't get into the ambulance. He walked over to a sleek black sedan parked nearby.
He opened the back door and handed the gun to the person sitting inside.
The camera angle shifted slightly, revealing the face of the person in the back seat.
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It was Vanessa Bellini.
And she was smiling.
