Chapter 9
Anthony could barely meet her eyes.
“Play it.”
“Serafina—”
“Play it.”
His thumb shook once before he touched the screen.
Static.
Road noise.
Then Lorenzo.
“Anthony, if you're hearing this, Victor knows.”
Serafina’s eyes closed.
Seven years disappeared.
Lorenzo was alive in the room again.
His breathing was fast.
“I moved the ORCHARD files. Serafina doesn't know. Keep it that way until I can get her and the kids out.”
Serafina opened her eyes.
The kids.
Mia had been one.
Leo had not been born yet.
Lorenzo continued:
“Nolan's been moving money for his father. Victor says it's for stability. It's not.”
A horn sounded.
Then Lorenzo’s voice sharpened.
“They're behind me.”
The recording ended.
Serafina stood absolutely still.
Anthony spoke carefully.
“I called him back.”
“No answer?”
“No.”
“Why didn't you give this to investigators?”
Anthony’s face collapsed under seven years of shame.
“Victor told me Lorenzo was paranoid. Then you were pregnant with Leo.”
Serafina looked at him.
“I wasn't pregnant.”
Anthony froze.
“What?”
“Leo is six.”
Lorenzo died seven years ago.
She had conceived Leo months after Lorenzo’s death using embryos they had created during fertility treatment.
Anthony knew that.
He simply had not thought before speaking.
Serafina’s eyes narrowed.
“What does Leo have to do with this?”
Anthony’s breath stopped.
There it was.
Another secret.
“Anthony.”
He looked toward the door.
Serafina’s voice dropped.
“What did Victor threaten you with?”
Anthony sat down without being invited.
His hands covered his face.
“When you decided to use the embryos…”
Serafina did not move.
“…Victor tried to stop it.”
“Why?”
Anthony looked up.
“He said Lorenzo left instructions.”
Serafina stared at him.
“What instructions?”
Anthony swallowed.
“That no child should be born until ORCHARD was exposed.”
Serafina’s face went cold.
She had never heard of such instructions.
Victor had tried to control whether she brought her own son into the world—
using the dead husband he may have helped kill as justification.
Then Anthony added the part that made the room tilt.
“Victor wasn't the only person who knew where the embryos were stored.”
Serafina whispered:
“Who else?”
May you like
Anthony looked at her.
“Nolan.”
