Chapter 2 - Shadows of the Past
Matteo’s jaw tightened, the automatic defense mechanisms of a billionaire magnate snapping back into place. The momentary vulnerability he had shown while holding his crying son vanished, replaced by a guarded, intimidating mask.
"You're the new maid," Matteo stated, his voice a low, baritone rumble that usually made subordinates cower. "How dare you bypass security? And more importantly, what do you think gives you the right to question me about my son?"
Despite his imposing glare, Liana didn't flinch. She couldn't. The phantom weight of her own lost child was burning in her arms. She looked down at Nico, who had fallen into a deep, untroubled sleep against her shoulder, his breathing steady and soft.
"Look at him, Mr. Varric," Liana whispered, stepping closer despite the guards stiffening around her. She carefully pulled back the collar of Nico's custom cashmere sweater just a fraction, exposing the pale, faint crescent-shaped scar near his left collarbone. "Weeks ago, I lost my baby. A little boy. He had a surgical revision done on his clavicle just days after birth due to a rare complication. I kissed that exact scar every single hour he was alive. I buried him twenty-two days ago."
Matteo’s breath caught. For a split second, the color drained from his olive skin. He stared at the maid's uniform, then at the baby, his mind racing through the impossible implications of her words.
"That's absurd," Matteo scoffed, though the conviction in his voice wavered. "Nico is my biological son. Born in this very city, at the elite Mercy General Hospital, under my direct supervision. My wife—my late wife, Elena—gave birth to him."
"Was she alone in the delivery room?" Liana asked sharply, her eyes burning with a sudden, fierce intelligence that caught Matteo off guard. "Were you there for every single second of the birth, Mr. Varric? Or were you called away by one of your emergency corporate crises while your wife was heavily sedated?"
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Matteo fell silent. The memory hit him like a physical blow. Nine months ago, right during Elena's scheduled delivery, a catastrophic security breach at Varric Global had demanded his immediate attention. He had left the hospital for three critical hours, returning only to be handed a swaddled infant and told that both Elena and the baby were resting. Elena had passed away from postpartum complications just weeks later, leaving him alone with a child who did nothing but scream—a child who rejected every nurse, every formula, every soothing technique known to modern medicine.
"Check the security logs," Liana urged quietly, shifting Nico gently as the baby sighed in his sleep. "Check what really happened at Mercy General Hospital the night your son was born. Because the baby you've been trying to quiet for weeks isn't just reacting to a stranger... he's reacting to his mother."
