Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Ultrasound

Marcello left the gala without making an announcement.

Dante drove.

Francesca stayed with Lily at the estate.

Bianca was quietly moved to a private sitting room with two female staff members nearby.

Victor and Arturo were both allowed to believe nothing had changed.

That was exactly what Marcello wanted.

Saint Aurelia Women’s Clinic was nearly empty when he arrived.

The night receptionist recognized his name immediately.

Then she recognized the ultrasound.

Her face changed.

“I can’t discuss a patient.”

Marcello placed the image on the counter.

“I’m not asking about Bianca Rinaldi.”

He peeled back the corner of the correction label.

“I’m asking why Nadia Rossi’s name was covered with hers.”

The receptionist stopped speaking.

Minutes later, the clinic director came downstairs.

He was pale.

He asked Marcello to enter a private office.

The truth came quickly once the clinic realized its own records could expose the deception.

Nadia Rossi had been a real patient.

She had delivered a healthy son four years earlier.

Several of her old scans had been copied from archived imaging.

The duplicate file was created under Bianca Rinaldi’s name.

Appointments had been entered into the scheduling system on dates when no examination had taken place.

The signature approving them belonged to Dr. Caruso.

Marcello stared at the screen.

“Who paid him?”

The director shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“Who requested the file?”

The director opened an access log.

There was one outside authorization.

A legal privacy request submitted three months earlier.

The firm name appeared at the bottom.

SANTORO & VALE LEGAL GROUP.

Victor Santoro.

Marcello almost smiled.

Not because anything was funny.

Because the pattern was finally becoming visible.

Bianca had not simply purchased a fake belly.

Someone had built an entire pregnancy around her.

Medical appointments.

Scans.

Records.

A doctor.

A reason for Marcello to rush a marriage.

A reason to revise his family succession documents.

And, most importantly, a reason for him not to question why Bianca wanted everything completed before the baby arrived.

The clinic director swallowed.

“There’s something else.”

He opened a message attached to the false file.

A scanned instruction read:

CONFIRM VIABILITY UNTIL SIGNING DATE.

AFTER EXECUTION, PREPARE LOSS DOCUMENTATION.

Marcello read it twice.

“Loss?”

The director looked uncomfortable.

“It appears someone intended to report a miscarriage after a legal event took place.”

Marcello’s jaw tightened.

So there was never going to be a child.

The pregnancy only needed to survive on paper long enough for Marcello to sign.

His phone rang.

Francesca.

He answered immediately.

Her voice was low.

“Bianca is gone.”

Marcello stood.

“What?”

“She asked to use the restroom. One of the staff members followed her. The second one was called away because someone reported Lily missing.”

Marcello’s blood went cold.

“Where is Lily?”

“With me now. She was never missing.”

A distraction.

“Where did Bianca go?”

“I don’t know.”

Then Lily’s voice came faintly through the phone.

“She went upstairs with the gray man.”

Marcello closed his eyes.

Victor wore gray.

Francesca asked Lily, “How do you know?”

“Because he smells like Grandpa’s office.”

Old leather.

Cedar cologne.

Victor had worn the same scent for twenty years.

Marcello was already moving toward the door.

“Which way did they go?”

Francesca asked the child.

Lily answered immediately.

“To the room with the big red book.”

Marcello stopped.

There was only one room in the estate Lily described that way.

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The west study.

And inside that study was the ceremonial registry where Marcello was expected to sign the revised succession agreement before midnight.