THE MAFIA BOSS SAW HIS ELDERLY MOTHER BEGGING A WAITRESS AT A LUXURY DINNER—THEN DISCOVERED WHAT HIS FIANCÉE HAD DONE TO HER

Chapter 09 - The Brother Nobody Mentioned

Evelyn looked at Dr. Bell as though the restaurant floor had shifted beneath her.

“Children? Plural?”

Nora nodded. “Margaret gave birth to twins.”

Evelyn's fingers went numb. “Where's the other baby?”

“I don't know where he is today. I know the boy was taken from the hospital records by someone claiming to represent his father.”

Nora explained that she had been a junior nurse at the time. She'd reported the irregularity, but the facility later closed and the record trail became confused. Laura had escaped with the girl while Margaret searched for the boy.

“Was the boy alive?” Evelyn whispered.

“When I last saw him, yes.”

Evelyn sat down hard.

For twenty-six years she'd believed she was an only child, then the older sister responsible for Ben after Laura died. Now somewhere in the world there might be a twin brother who'd grown up without her.

She called Dante from the empty staff corridor. When he answered, she couldn't immediately speak.

“Evelyn?”

“I think I have a brother.”

He didn't demand proof or issue orders. “Tell me where you are. I'll come if you'd like.”

“I would.”

***

That evening, Rose listened to the account and grew pale. She remembered Margaret writing about a difficult pregnancy but nothing about twins. A family tree once so certain had become a puzzle of missing pages.

Dante offered to pay for professional record research. Evelyn accepted only after agreeing with Simone on boundaries: any information about her would be shared with her first, and she would decide whether to pursue contact.

Then Anthony called.

A young man named Samuel Marconi had contacted Simone's office. He claimed to have been adopted through an intermediary connected to Dominic Marconi and had recently received an anonymous photograph of a woman named Margaret. His birthday matched Evelyn's.