Chapter 9 - The Paternity Trap
Salvatore read the petition three times.
Each reading made less sense.
Matteo alleged he had maintained a relationship with Elena during the period Leo was conceived.
He included hotel receipts.
Photographs.
Letters.
Documents that appeared convincing.
Too convincing.
Leo sat across the penthouse dining table eating toast while three attorneys discussed whether his entire identity might be fraudulent.
Salvatore hated every second of it.
"Stop."
The room fell silent.
Nathaniel looked up.
"Salvatore—"
"Not in front of him."
Leo put down his toast.
"I'm not stupid."
"No one said you were."
"You think he might be my dad."
Salvatore's face tightened.
"I think someone is trying to confuse us."
"Are you confused?"
That was the problem with Leo.
He asked questions adults spent fortunes avoiding.
Salvatore pulled out the chair beside him.
"I knew your mother when we were young."
"That isn't an answer."
"No."
Salvatore met his eyes.
"I don't believe Matteo is your father."
"But you don't know."
Salvatore wanted to lie.
He couldn't.
"Not yet."
Leo's face shut down.
Salvatore recognized it.
It was the same expression the boy had worn at the gate.
The face of someone preparing to lose something before it could be taken.
"We can do a DNA test," Nathaniel said carefully.
Leo looked at him.
"Does it hurt?"
"Just a cheek swab."
Leo nodded.
"Do it."
Salvatore looked at him.
"You don't have to decide now."
"I want to."
So they did.
A private laboratory promised results within twelve hours.
During the wait, Dominic investigated Matteo.
The deeper he dug, the stranger the evidence became.
Matteo Moretti had used at least six identities.
Matteo Romano.
Matthew Ferraro.
Michael Trent.
And one identity that made Carmine swear when he saw the photograph.
"Show him."
Dominic placed the file before Salvatore.
The photograph was twenty years old.
A younger man with dark hair stood beside Vittorio at a construction ceremony.
Salvatore knew him.
Anthony Vale.
Former Moretti security chief.
A man believed killed in a bombing seventeen years earlier.
Salvatore stared.
"That's Matteo?"
"Facial comparison says ninety-three percent."
Salvatore's memories shifted violently.
Anthony had taught him how to shoot.
How to identify surveillance.
How to drive under pursuit.
He had been a mentor.
Almost an older brother.
The irony nearly made Salvatore sick.
"He was around Elena."
Dominic nodded.
"Frequently."
That made the paternity claim suddenly plausible.
Salvatore's stomach twisted.
"Did she know who he was?"
"I don't know."
At seven that evening, the DNA results arrived.
Nathaniel opened them.
His eyebrows pulled together.
"What?"
Salvatore took the paper.
Probability of paternity: 99.9987%.
He looked toward Leo.
The boy stood in the doorway.
Barefoot.
Watching.
Salvatore felt something release in his chest that he had not realized he was holding.
"Well?" Leo asked.
Salvatore crossed the room.
He crouched.
"You're mine."
Leo blinked.
"Really?"
"Really."
The boy's shoulders dropped.
Salvatore opened his arms without thinking.
Then stopped.
Leo stepped into them.
Salvatore held him.
Across the room Carmine looked toward the window.
Dominic cleared his throat.
Nathaniel removed his glasses.
For thirty seconds, the war disappeared.
Then the attorney's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"Understood."
He hung up.
"What?" Salvatore asked.
"The court moved tomorrow's hearing."
"To when?"
"Nine a.m."
"Why?"
"Emergency motion."
"From Matteo?"
Nathaniel nodded.
"He claims Leo is in immediate physical danger while in your custody."
Carmine laughed darkly.
"From him."
"The court doesn't know that."
"We'll tell them."
Nathaniel looked at Salvatore.
"You cannot walk into family court like a mob boss."
"What should I walk in as?"
"A father."
That answer stayed with Salvatore all night.
He opened his closet the next morning.
Rows of dark suits.
Most had been worn to funerals, negotiations, meetings where men left poorer or frightened.
Leo appeared behind him.
"Why do you have only black?"
Salvatore looked at the clothes.
"I don't."
"You do."
"There are gray ones."
"That's almost black."
Salvatore glanced at him.
"What do fathers wear to court?"
Leo considered.
"My friend's foster dad wore a blue tie."
Salvatore chose a blue tie.
At the courthouse, cameras waited outside.
That was unexpected.
Matteo had leaked the case.
Reporters shouted questions.
"Mr. Moretti, is the child your secret son?"
"Is he heir to the Moretti fortune?"
"Are you fighting another relative for custody?"
Salvatore kept Leo shielded under his arm.
The boy's hand clutched his jacket.
Inside the courtroom, Nathaniel whispered, "Do not react."
Salvatore looked toward the opposing table.
The chair was empty.
Matteo had not appeared.
His attorney, Rebecca Sloan, stood.
Sharp.
Elegant.
Dangerous.
She argued that Salvatore's home had been attacked twice.
That gunfire had occurred around the child.
That Salvatore's known associations placed Leo at unacceptable risk.
Every fact was technically true.
Salvatore wanted to stand and tell the judge who caused those attacks.
Nathaniel stopped him.
Judge Miriam Cole looked over her glasses.
"Mr. Moretti, have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
"No."
"Have you been investigated for violent crimes?"
Nathaniel rose.
"Objection."
The judge waved him down.
Salvatore answered.
"Yes."
Leo stared at the table.
"Do you currently employ armed security?"
"Yes."
"Was a firearm discharged in your home while the child was present?"
"Yes."
Rebecca Sloan smiled faintly.
Salvatore saw it.
The judge leaned back.
"This is concerning."
Then Leo stood.
Nathaniel whispered, "Leo, sit down."
The boy didn't.
Judge Cole looked at him.
"Young man?"
Leo's voice trembled.
"Can I say something?"
The courtroom froze.
The judge softened.
"You may."
Leo looked at Salvatore.
Then at the judge.
"People keep saying he's dangerous."
Nobody breathed.
"He is."
Salvatore blinked.
Several reporters leaned forward.
"But the dangerous people were already looking for me before I found him."
Leo swallowed.
"My mom died. Then a man came to the orphanage. Then other men followed me. Nobody protected me until I came here."
Rebecca stood.
"Your Honor—"
Judge Cole raised a hand.
Leo continued.
"Salvatore didn't make me scared."
His eyes filled.
"He made the scared people afraid to come near me."
Salvatore looked away.
It was the only way to keep control of his face.
Judge Cole remained silent for a long moment.
Then she ordered temporary custody to remain with Salvatore pending investigation.
Relief moved through the room.
But before court adjourned, Rebecca Sloan approached Nathaniel.
She handed him an envelope.
"For Mr. Moretti."
Salvatore opened it outside.
Inside was a photograph.
Leo asleep in Salvatore's penthouse the previous night.
Taken through the window.
From a nearby building.
On the back, three words were written.
BLUE TIE SUITS YOU.
Salvatore's blood went cold.
Matteo had been watching them.
Not from the past.
May you like
Not from another city.
From across the street.
