Chapter 4 - Luca’s Real Name
“No,” Luca said.
The word came out quietly.
He said it again, louder.
“No.”
Hélène moved toward him.
“My darling, listen to me.”
He stepped back.
“Do not call me that.”
“Luca.”
“Is it true?”
Philippe answered before Hélène could.
“No.”
Antoine leaned back in his chair.
“The identification numbers match.”
“Documents can be forged,” Philippe said.
“The firm’s seal cannot.”
“Anything can be forged.”
“Then open the packet.”
Philippe’s jaw tightened.
“You do not dictate what happens in my family.”
Margaret rose.
The movement surprised everyone, including herself.
For thirty-four years, she had carried grief like a private punishment. She had never challenged the official story because she believed there was nothing left to recover.
Now a man stood a few feet away who might be the child she had mourned.
She looked at Luca’s face.
She searched for Julien in him.
The shape of his eyes.
The line of his mouth.
The slight crease between his brows when he was angry.
She saw possibilities everywhere.
That frightened her more than certainty would have.
“Luca,” she said.
He looked at her.
Neither knew what expression to wear.
“I will not claim anything from you,” Margaret said. “Not tonight. Not without proof. You have parents. You have a life. I will not enter it and demand a place.”
Hélène made a broken sound.
Margaret continued.
“But I need the truth.”
Luca’s eyes shone.
“So do I.”
Philippe picked up the packet.
“This ends now.”
He turned toward the outdoor fireplace.
Antoine moved first.
He caught Philippe’s wrist before the packet reached the flames.
The two men struggled.
A chair overturned.
Claire shouted.
Luca stepped between them and pulled the packet from his father’s hand.
“Stop!”
Philippe froze.
Luca held the packet against his chest.
“You were going to burn it.”
“I was preventing a stranger from destroying us.”
“If it is false, why are you afraid of it?”
Philippe looked at his son.
The answer was visible, but he could not speak it.
Hélène sank into her chair.
“Because it is not false.”
Philippe turned on her.
“Hélène.”
“I cannot do this anymore.”
“You have done it for thirty-four years.”
“And it has poisoned every year.”
Luca stared at her.
“What did you do?”
Hélène’s tears fell silently.
“I wanted Julien.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“You wanted him, so you took his child?”
“No. It was not like that.”
“Then explain it.”
Hélène looked toward the lake, gathering a past she had spent decades avoiding.
After Julien disappeared, Philippe’s father, Étienne Delacroix, took control.
Julien had obtained evidence that could destroy the Delacroix business and expose several banking families, including Hélène’s.
Étienne arranged the false death.
Julien was moved between private medical facilities while Étienne’s associates searched for copies of the evidence.
Margaret was considered a risk.
When her pregnancy became known, Étienne saw an opportunity.
A child could be used to control Julien.
Hélène claimed she had originally helped Margaret escape.
But Étienne discovered the clinic.
He threatened Margaret’s life.
He also threatened Hélène’s younger sister, whose medical treatment depended on money controlled by the family.
“He gave me a choice,” Hélène said. “Tell you the child died and allow the baby to be moved, or watch both of you disappear.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with rage.
“You chose for me.”
“I chose the only path in which you remained alive.”
“And my son?”
Hélène looked at Luca.
“Étienne planned to place him in an institution under a false name.”
Philippe interrupted.
“My father believed it was temporary.”
“You knew?” Luca asked.
Philippe’s face tightened.
“I learned afterward.”
Hélène shook her head.
“That is a lie. You knew before the adoption.”
Philippe stared at her.
She continued.
“I begged Philippe to help me save the baby. We had been married for less than a year. I could not have children. The doctors had already told me.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Margaret understood before Hélène finished.
“You adopted him.”
Hélène nodded.
“We gave him a home.”
“You gave him a lie.”
“We loved him.”
“You let me mourn him.”
“I was told you had returned to America and wanted no contact.”
“You knew that was false.”
“I knew what I needed to believe.”
Luca stared at the people who had raised him.
“What was my name?”
Hélène whispered, “Gabriel.”
The name moved through the night air.
Margaret’s knees nearly failed.
She remembered choosing it with Julien.
Gabriel Moreau Bennett.
A name never written on any official certificate.
A name spoken only in a small apartment while Julien rested his hand on her stomach.
Luca looked at Margaret.
“You named me Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
Claire stepped toward him, but he moved away from everyone.
“I need space.”
He walked down the steps toward the dock.
Claire followed at a distance.
Margaret watched them go.
Then Antoine spoke quietly.
“The adoption is not the only secret in that packet.”
Philippe’s face turned gray.
Hélène looked at him.
“What else did your father do?”
May you like
Antoine’s answer was simple.
“He made Luca the legal owner of everything.”
