Chapter 2 - The Baby Victor Never Held
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“Everybody out.”
Victor’s voice carried across the ballroom.
Nobody argued.
Within minutes, only family counsel, security, Marina, and Rose remained.
Victor held Rose against his chest.
She was calm now.
One tiny hand gripped his tuxedo lapel.
He looked at Marina.
“Start talking.”
She smiled.
“No.”
Victor’s expression didn’t change.
“Wrong answer.”
Marina walked toward the Christmas tree and picked up her champagne.
“You spent nine months believing Rose was the only baby who came home from Saint Matthew’s.”
Victor stared at her.
“That’s because she was.”
“Was she?”
Victor remembered that night.
Elena Moretti, Rose’s mother, had gone into premature labor while Victor was three hours away.
By the time he reached the hospital, Rose was in neonatal care.
Elena was unconscious after emergency surgery.
And the doctor told him there had been another child.
A boy.
Born first.
He had lived less than twenty minutes.
Victor never saw him.
The hospital said the baby had been transferred immediately for emergency treatment and died before Victor arrived.
Elena developed complications and died the next morning without waking.
Two losses in less than twelve hours.
Victor had barely survived them.
Marina knew none of this.
Or at least she shouldn’t have.
“You knew Elena?” Victor asked.
Marina looked at him.
“Better than you think.”
That answer disturbed him.
Victor had met Marina through business circles years earlier.
She and Elena had crossed paths socially, but Victor never believed they were close.
“When did Elena tell you?”
“She didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Marina smiled again.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
Victor moved Rose to his other arm.
“What question should I ask?”
Marina looked at the baby.
“Why was there never a funeral?”
Victor went still.
The boy’s remains had supposedly been handled privately by Saint Matthew’s after Elena’s death overwhelmed everything.
Victor’s attorney had arranged the paperwork.
Or believed he had.
Victor had received a death certificate.
A hospital report.
A small sealed box containing a blanket and identification band.
But no burial.
No grave.
No ashes.
Nothing he could physically identify as his son.
Victor had never questioned it because grief had made questioning impossible.
Until now.
He called his family attorney.
“Bring me Gabriel’s death certificate.”
Marina’s smile disappeared.
Victor noticed.
“Gabriel.”
The name he and Elena had chosen.
Marina whispered it before Victor did.
Victor slowly looked up.
“How do you know his name?”
For the first time that night, Marina had no answer.
May you like
👉 Marina hadn’t merely heard about Rose’s twin—she knew the private name Victor and Elena had chosen for him before his birth.
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