Chapter 4
Emma started shaking.
Not from labor.
From fury.
“He filed before I was even in the hospital.”
The administrator nodded carefully.
“Approximately four hours ago.”
Vittorio looked at the time.
Four hours earlier was before Richard took her hospital bag.
Before her contraction in the kitchen.
Before anyone knew one twin had reduced movement.
Meaning this was planned.
Emma’s eyes filled.
“Dad came to the memorial already expecting to take him.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
The attorney on call reviewed the filing.
Richard claimed Ethan had expressed serious concerns that a male child raised inside the DeLuca household would be groomed into organized crime.
He included screenshots of messages.
Excerpts from an email.
A statement from Mark.
And one handwritten page signed by Ethan.
Vittorio read the first line.
IF I DIE BEFORE MY CHILDREN ARE OLD ENOUGH TO CHOOSE, I DON'T WANT MY SON MADE INTO WHAT I WAS.
His hand tightened.
Emma stared.
“That is his handwriting.”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
Nobody answered.
Vittorio kept reading.
Ethan described fear that Vittorio would view the boy as successor.
That family members would treat him differently from his sister.
That legacy would become pressure.
Every sentence hurt.
Because every fear was plausible.
Vittorio thought of the men who congratulated him when ultrasound results revealed a boy and girl.
The jokes about “another DeLuca.”
The comments Ethan had stopped laughing at.
He had noticed.
He had done nothing.
Emma looked at him.
He could not lie.
“He was worried about me.”
Her hand closed.
Then the attorney turned the page.
The final paragraph had been redacted in Richard’s filing copy.
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“What was removed?”
The administrator did not know.
Richard’s attorney had submitted an excerpt.
Not the full document.
Emma’s expression hardened.
“Get the original.”
Vittorio looked at her.
“Yes.”
Not because she needed permission.
Because she had just taken control back.
Meanwhile, the emergency petition did not grant Richard automatic custody.
The court had not ruled.
Hospital policy would not release either infant to anyone except Emma absent a valid order.
That mattered.
Richard had presented his demand as certainty.
Legally, it was not.
Vittorio’s attorney moved to challenge immediately.
Emma returned to labor.
Forty minutes later, Twin B’s heart rate dropped again.
The doctor stopped asking whether to wait.
“We're going now.”
Emma grabbed Vittorio’s hand.
“Stay until they make you leave.”
He did.
Outside the operating room, Richard stood at the far end of the corridor.
Security between them.
No threats.
No fists.
Vittorio simply looked at him.
Richard held the stare.
Two fathers.
One dead son between them.
Then Mark arrived carrying a tablet.
His face had gone pale.
“Dad.”
Richard ignored him.
Mark stepped closer.
“Dad.”
Something in his voice changed Richard’s expression.
“What?”
Mark held up the screen.
“I found the rest of Ethan’s draft.”
Richard’s breathing stopped.
Vittorio watched from across the corridor.
Mark looked toward him.
Then back at his father.
“The part you told me didn't exist.”
Richard whispered:
“Not here.”
Mark’s eyes hardened.
May you like
“You lied to me too.”
And whatever Ethan had written next was enough to fracture the Bells themselves.
