Chapter 14 - The Father Nobody Expected
Maya's biological father wasn't a Moretti.
He wasn't Charles.
He wasn't anyone from Rebecca's family.
His name was Dr. Adrian Keller.
Founder of the fertility clinic Rebecca and Ethan used.
Except Keller had supposedly died four years earlier.
I was no longer impressed by death certificates.
Marianne explained.
Keller ran a fertility fraud operation hidden behind legitimate clinics.
Embryos.
Donor material.
False records.
Wealthy families.
He created biological connections no one knew existed.
Why?
Sometimes money.
Sometimes leverage.
Sometimes obsession.
Charles discovered Keller through Marianne's network and used his information.
But Keller used everyone.
Leo had been conceived naturally.
Maya had not.
Keller claimed Maya was biologically his.
He had tried taking Leo years earlier because he mistakenly believed Leo came from the same fertility procedure.
Ethan stopped him.
Built the safe room.
Then buried the incident to protect his family.
Years later, Rebecca turned that safe room into a prison.
Protection transformed into abuse.
Again.
“Where is Keller?” Ramirez asked.
Marianne looked at me.
“Closer than you think.”
Dominic's phone rang.
One of my guards.
Mansion security.
Someone had entered my property.
My house.
The place Leo and Maya first reached.
We raced back.
The front gate was open.
No forced entry.
Someone had my code.
Inside, nothing appeared disturbed.
Then I saw muddy footprints.
Small.
Child-sized.
Leading across the marble floor.
Leo was still at the hospital.
Maya was in my arms.
Whose footprints?
We followed them into the kitchen.
Bread lay scattered across the floor.
Maya tightened her arms around my neck.
“Uncle Thomas…”
“Yes?”
“There.”
She pointed.
A little girl stood beside the pantry.
Maybe five.
Dirty dress.
Bare feet.
Terrified.
Another child.
She looked exactly like one of the photographs from Rebecca's basement.
One of the children we hadn't identified.
I crouched.
“What's your name?”
“Ellie.”
“Who brought you here?”
She pointed toward the back door.
“A doctor.”
“What's his name?”
She whispered:
“Daddy Keller.”
Ramirez immediately moved.
The property locked down.
No Keller.
Then Ellie handed me an envelope.
My name.
Inside was a photograph of Maya.
On the back:
MY DAUGHTER.
Then another photograph.
Leo.
NOT MINE.
Then Ava.
NOT MINE.
Then Ellie.
MINE.
Four children.
Keller had been tracking biological offspring.
Rebecca's basement hadn't contained random children.
At least some had connections to his fertility operation.
I looked at Ellie.
“Where are the others?”
She started crying.
“At the downstairs house.”
“What downstairs house?”
“The one under Uncle Ethan's old place.”
Ethan stared.
“My house doesn't have another basement.”
Ellie shook her head.
“Not Rebecca's house.”
She pointed toward me.
“Your house.”
Everything stopped.
My mansion had been renovated twice.
There was an old wine cellar beneath the west wing.
Sealed before I purchased the property.
Or so I believed.
Dominic found the hidden entrance behind a storage wall.
Fresh lock.
Fresh wiring.
Someone had been using a room beneath my own home.
I opened it.
Lights came on automatically.
Medical equipment.
Files.
Children's drawings.
Photographs of my family covering an entire wall.
Then a monitor activated.
Dr. Adrian Keller appeared live.
Older.
Smiling.
“Thomas Moretti.”
I stepped closer.
“Where are you?”
“Not important.”
“You've been inside my house.”
“For years.”
My hands curled.
Then Keller smiled wider.
“You've spent days asking who Maya's biological father is.”
Pause.
“You should have been asking who Leo's biological mother is.”
Ethan went completely still.
Rebecca had always been presented as Leo's biological mother.
May you like
Keller whispered:
“She isn't.”
