Chapter 5 - The Son Vincent Couldn’t ClaimVincent watched Gabriel from across Anna’s townhouse courtyard.
He had been invited for exactly twenty minutes.
Anna had made the rules clear.
No bodyguards inside.
No questions about paternity in front of Gabriel.
No promises.
Especially no promises.
Gabriel sat on the stone steps pushing a wooden toy airplane.
The sight nearly destroyed Vincent.
“You gave him an airplane?”
Anna stood beside him.
“Elias did.”
“He knows about the crash?”
“He knows there was a crash. He doesn’t know his father left me inside it.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“You plan to tell him?”
“When he’s old enough to understand that adults can fail people they love.”
Vincent looked at her.
“That’s what you think happened?”
“What would you call it?”
“I made a decision in an emergency.”
“You chose Sophia.”
“I thought I could get her out and return.”
“You didn’t know you had time.”
“No.”
“You didn’t know the plane would hold.”
“No.”
“You didn’t know whether I could reach the exit alone.”
“No.”
Each answer reduced him.
Finally Vincent said, “I was wrong.”
Anna looked surprised.
He continued.
“I have replayed those seconds every night for three years. I can create a thousand explanations. None changes the fact that you called my name and I walked away from you.”
Anna’s eyes became wet.
She hated him less when he stopped defending himself.
That frightened her.
Gabriel looked up.
“Mommy, look.”
The wooden plane rolled across the stones.
Vincent crouched.
“That’s fast.”
Gabriel examined him with fearless curiosity.
“You’re the man from the party.”
“I am.”
“You made Mommy mad.”
Anna closed her eyes briefly.
Vincent almost smiled.
“I did.”
“Why?”
Vincent looked toward Anna.
She didn’t rescue him.
“Because I hurt her.”
Gabriel considered this.
“Did you say sorry?”
“Yes.”
“Did it work?”
Anna covered a laugh with her hand.
Vincent shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Gabriel returned to his airplane.
Anna whispered, “Twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
Vincent took an envelope from his coat.
“What is that?”
“Not money.”
“Good.”
“It’s a copy of the original trust agreement between our fathers.”
Anna opened it.
Vincent pointed to a clause.
“If Gabriel is legally recognized as my son, Carlo’s claim collapses permanently.”
Anna stared at him.
“So now you want paternity confirmed because it protects your company?”
“No.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because Carlo will.”
Anna went silent.
Vincent continued.
“He’ll challenge Gabriel’s status. He’ll accuse you of creating an heir to seize Moretti assets.”
“My son is not an asset.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Vincent forced himself not to react defensively.
“I want him protected before Carlo attacks.”
Anna folded the paper.
“He has been protected for three years.”
“By hiding.”
“By surviving.”
Vincent accepted that.
Gabriel suddenly ran toward the garden fountain.
Anna followed him with her eyes.
Vincent said quietly, “Is he mine?”
Anna didn’t answer.
He looked at her.
“I’m not asking because of the trust.”
“That question stopped being simple when you left us.”
“I know.”
“No, Vincent. You knew I was pregnant. You knew he existed before you ever saw his face.”
“I believed he died.”
“And I believed my husband would come back.”
Silence.
Vincent looked down.
Anna’s voice softened despite herself.
“I gave birth four hours after the explosion.”
Vincent’s head snapped up.
“He was early.”
“How early?”
“Eleven weeks.”
His face drained.
“He was in an incubator for almost two months.”
“Were you alone?”
“Mostly.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Because men wearing your family crest were searching the wreckage for survivors.”
Vincent froze.
“You saw them?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see faces.”
“But you recognized the ring.”
“Carlo’s security division.”
Vincent stepped away, struggling with fury.
Anna continued.
“And because of you.”
He looked at her.
“That part matters too.”
She wiped one tear angrily.
“I was terrified. Injured. Pregnant. And the last thing I had seen was my husband leaving with the woman he loved before me.”
“I loved you.”
“Then you had a terrible way of showing it.”
“Anna—”
“No.”
Gabriel returned carrying a small flower.
“Mommy.”
Anna bent.
“For me?”
He nodded.
She kissed his forehead.
Vincent watched them.
The boy’s left eyebrow lifted when he smiled.
Exactly like Vincent’s.
Anna noticed Vincent noticing.
Her expression hardened again.
The twenty minutes ended.
At the doorway Vincent stopped.
“I won’t force a test.”
Anna looked at him carefully.
“I mean it.”
“Carlo might.”
“Then Carlo will have to get through me.”
Anna almost laughed.
“That’s exactly what everyone says before they become the danger.”
Vincent left.
Across the street, a camera lens lowered inside a parked van.
Carlo Moretti received the photographs fifteen minutes later.
Anna.
Gabriel.
Vincent.
He studied the boy’s face.
Then he called his attorney.
“I need an emergency petition prepared.”
The attorney hesitated.
“Regarding what?”
“Fraudulent inheritance.”
Carlo opened another photograph.
Gabriel was holding Vincent’s hand for one brief second while stepping over a curb.
“Also find out where the boy was born.”
“That information may be sealed.”
“Then unseal it.”
Carlo ended the call.
Someone entered his study.
Sophia.
Carlo looked surprised.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
She closed the door.
“You threatened me.”
Carlo smiled.
“You’ll need to be more specific.”
Sophia placed the note from the gala on his desk.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
“I know you arranged the crash.”
Carlo laughed.
“You know nothing.”
“I know why Marcus chose me.”
His smile faded slightly.
Sophia leaned closer.
“Because my father left something behind too.”
Carlo’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
She smiled.
“The one thing you never found.”
Then she turned and walked away.
Carlo waited until the door closed.
He picked up his phone.
“Follow Sophia Carter.”
A voice answered.
“And Anna?”
Carlo looked again at Gabriel’s photograph.
“No.”
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He tapped the child’s face.
“Follow the boy.”
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