Chapter 10 - THE PETITION
The next morning, Luca filed a petition to establish legal paternity.
I knew it was coming.
I still felt betrayed when Amelia told me.
"He already has the DNA results."
"Biological paternity and legal paternity are not always the same procedural thing."
"He could have waited."
"Yes."
That single word validated my anger without feeding it.
"Did he ask for custody?"
"Not exactly."
"What does not exactly mean?"
Amelia slid the filing across the table.
Luca requested legal recognition as the twins' father and a court-approved path toward parenting time based on the children's best interests.
He did not seek immediate overnight visits.
He did not ask to change their surname.
He did not demand decision-making authority.
His lawyers proposed family therapy, gradual contact, and a confidentiality order protecting the twins.
It was measured.
Responsible.
Infuriating.
"Why am I angry at a reasonable filing?"
Amelia smiled sadly.
"Because reasonable legal language can still represent a frightening change."
I looked at Luca's signature.
For six years, I had made every decision alone.
Doctors.
Schools.
Emergency contacts.
Summer camps.
Fevers at three in the morning.
Now a court file could place another adult into that structure.
Even if the adult was their father.
Even if he had been deprived of knowing them.
Fear did not care about fairness.
"We respond," Amelia said.
"With what?"
"We acknowledge paternity and request a child-focused transition plan."
"No overnights."
"Agreed."
"No Moretti residence while Evelyn lives there."
"Agreed."
"No Bianca."
"Strongly agreed."
"No media."
"We will ask for sealing and nondisclosure."
I stared at the filing.
"What about money?"
"Child support is a separate issue."
"I do not want his money."
"The court may not care what you want."
I looked up sharply.
"Excuse me?"
"Support belongs to the children, not you."
"They are provided for."
"That will matter."
She paused.
"But Luca's income is extraordinary."
"I will not turn their lives into private jets and bodyguards."
"Then don't."
"Can I refuse?"
"You can structure support into education, healthcare, security, and protected trusts."
The word trust made my stomach turn.
"I hate that word now."
"Understandable."
At noon, Luca requested a phone call through counsel.
I agreed.
"You filed fast."
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because I want my responsibilities documented before anyone can argue I am avoiding them."
"Anyone meaning the press?"
"Anyone meaning my mother."
I went quiet.
"She called the family trust attorney last night."
"About the twins?"
"She attempted to argue that because I had not legally acknowledged them, they should not be treated as descendants under the succession trust."
My blood ran cold.
"She tried to exclude them."
"Yes."
"The day DNA proved they are yours."
"Yes."
"And your filing stops that?"
"It makes her position harder."
I closed my eyes.
My anger at the petition shifted direction.
"Why didn't you tell me before filing?"
"Because I was afraid you would refuse."
"So you decided for me."
Silence.
"That is exactly the problem, Luca."
"You're right."
I pressed my fingers to my forehead.
"You do not get points for admitting it after you do it."
"I know."
"Stop saying that."
"Sorry."
I almost laughed despite myself.
"Do you want me to withdraw the petition?"
The question surprised me.
"Would you?"
"If Amelia says it does not expose the children to a trust challenge, yes."
"You would give up legal recognition?"
"Temporarily."
His voice softened.
"I want to be their father, Nia."
He paused.
"I do not want to win against their mother."
My chest tightened.
"That sounds good on a phone call."
"Then judge me by what I do after the call."
I did not answer.
That afternoon, the first article published.
CHICAGO BILLIONAIRE MAY HAVE SECRET TWINS WITH EX-WIFE.
The children's faces were blurred.
Mine was not.
The article called me a former marketing consultant who had lived quietly since the divorce.
It mentioned no source.
It quoted an unnamed person close to the Moretti family saying Luca had been "shocked by the sudden appearance of children whose existence had been concealed from him."
Concealed.
The word made me physically sick.
Within an hour, strangers were dissecting my life online.
Some called me brave.
Some called me manipulative.
Some said I had hidden heirs for leverage.
One post calculated theoretical child support based on Luca's net worth.
Another found the twins' school before the site removed it.
I called Luca shaking with rage.
"You promised no press."
"I did not leak it."
"Someone close to your family did."
"I know."
"There is that phrase again."
"Nia, listen."
His voice was hard and controlled.
"My communications team has been ordered to say nothing except that minors deserve privacy."
"You have a communications team."
"Yes."
"I have a six-year-old who asked why a photographer was outside school."
Silence.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry does not unpublish an address."
"The address is being removed."
"Because you called someone?"
"Because my lawyers did."
"Money again."
"Yes."
This time he did not defend it.
"And right now I am grateful I have it."
That stopped me.
"So am I, because I can use it to protect them."
His honesty disarmed part of my anger.
"Who leaked it?"
"I think Evelyn."
"Think?"
"The phrase 'sudden appearance' was used in a text she sent her publicist yesterday."
"How do you know that?"
"Her publicist's firm forwarded litigation-hold materials to counsel."
I sat down.
"She knew a subpoena was coming."
"Yes."
"Why would she leak it?"
"To make you look like the person who hid the twins."
"That does not make her look better."
"It does if she plans to say she was deceived too."
The strategy became obvious.
If Evelyn could turn herself into another victim, she could separate herself from Bianca before the evidence surfaced.
"Luca."
"Yes?"
"The article says someone close to the family."
"I saw."
"Your mother or Evelyn."
"Probably."
"They are fighting over the story now."
"Yes."
"Which means they may start exposing each other."
Luca went silent.
Then he said one word.
"Good."
At four, Amelia received a copy of an emergency filing from Evelyn's attorney.
Evelyn sought to intervene in the paternity case as Luca's spouse, claiming the litigation threatened marital assets and trust interests.
Her filing included an affidavit.
In it, she swore she had never known about my pregnancy until the restaurant.
She swore she had never seen my letter.
She swore she had never authorized surveillance of my children.
And she accused me of orchestrating a public scandal to destabilize her marriage.
Amelia read the affidavit twice.
Then she smiled.
It was not a friendly smile.
"What?"
She turned her laptop toward me.
"Marianne's email."
E.S. WILL HANDLE THE REST.
"Evelyn just put three denials under oath."
"And we have evidence challenging all three."
"Exactly."
Amelia closed the laptop.
"She may have just made the biggest mistake of this entire case."
An hour later, Marco called with something even worse.
Northstar had identified its client under subpoena threat.
The surveillance contract had not been signed by Bianca.
It had been signed by Evelyn.
Three years earlier.
May you like
Which meant Luca's wife had been tracking my children since they were three years old.
