He Chose Another Heir Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 24
“What Maria said is true.” His voice was hoarse. “I never touched Ophelia.”
I said nothing.
“Six years ago, she came to me and said she was pregnant. I was drunk that night. There’s a period I can’t remember. She threatened me with an asthma attack, said that if I didn’t acknowledge the child, the De Luca and Rossi families would treat her as a traitor who had deceived them both.”
He closed his eyes.
“Hotel records proved she entered my room. After the child was born, a Rossi doctor submitted a bloodline verification stating a match. I believed the report because it carried the family seal.”
“So you acknowledged him in front of witnesses, entered him into the line of succession, and married her.”
“Rossi rules don’t allow an heir’s blood to be left unaccounted for. At the time, I was the underboss, the only confirmed successor. Several capos were watching that record. If I had denied her and the child had truly been mine, the entire Rossi family would have believed I’d abandoned my own blood for you.”
He looked at me, his eyes filled with exhaustion.
“I married a woman I had never touched and raised a child I thought was mine. For six years, I accepted everything both families said about me. Because I believed that was the price I had to pay.”