The Don’s Double Standard: She Vanished with His Child Chapter 07

The Don’s Double Standard: She Vanished with His Child Chapter 07

At the Moretti estate, Dante sat back against the sofa.

A little girl sat quietly at the other end of the sofa.

His head was pounding. He’d been planning to talk to Clara about custody on his own terms.

He hadn’t expected his mother to move this fast, or to bring a whole entourage.

Clara Vale probably knew by now.

Dante pinched the bridge of his nose. The headache was getting worse.

Helena Moretti sat nearby, beaming at her new granddaughter.

The more she looked at Talia, the more smitten she became.

This child had to be brought into the family, no question. Moretti blood didn’t stay outside the family.

Talia sat in silence. People tried to talk to her, asking her questions, and she would look up for a second, then drop her gaze again, refusing to say a word.

Mostly she just stared at her shoes, her hair falling forward until her face disappeared behind it.

She looked up and saw a woman standing over her, impeccably dressed, perfectly polished. Serena.

Serena crouched down with a slice of cake and held it out. “Here. Have some.”

Talia shook her head. Then, she finally spoke.

“Mommy says I’m allergic to cream. I can’t have cake.”

Serena smiled, soft and warm. “Oh, sweetie. She only told you that. Your daddy isn’t allergic, so you’re probably not either.”

Then, quieter, just for Talia: “She just can’t afford cake, honey. That’s why she told you that.”

“But now you’re here with us. You have a daddy, a grandma, and you can have anything you want.”

“And pretty soon, you’ll have a new mommy too.”

Serena kept her voice feather-light. No one else in the room could hear what she was saying, only the child in front of her.

From a distance, it looked like she was just being sweet.

When I got to the estate, this was what I walked into.

Helena sat stiff on the sofa. Dante had one leg crossed over the other, dark eyes lowered, impossible to read.

Serena was hovering over Talia, her smile perfectly soft, her whole face arranged into something tender.

Anyone walking in would’ve thought they were looking at a happy family.

The second Talia saw me, she bolted. Her whole body sagged with relief the moment she reached me.

“Mommy.”

The word rang through the room. Every pair of eyes turned to me.

I dropped to my knees and pulled her in, rubbing slow circles on her back.

Her bottom lip trembled. She wanted to sob, but she held it in.

She was four years old, ripped away from everything she knew by people she’d never met. Of course she was terrified.

Something inside me cracked. I pressed my lips to the top of her head.

Once she’d calmed down, I stood and put her behind me. Then I turned to face the room.

“If anything like this happens again, I’m calling the police.”

Helena slammed her cup down on the table and laughed, short and dismissive.

“Who do you think you are? I don’t need permission from someone like you to bring my own granddaughter home.”

Talia pressed herself against my legs, hiding.

I reached back and stroked her hair. “It’s okay,” I whispered.

Then I looked Helena straight in the eye.

“You made it clear I’m not family. So when a child gets taken from her mother without consent, a judge calls that kidnapping.”

Helena’s eyes narrowed, her face tightening with fury.

Serena rushed to her side, placing a hand on her arm. “Donna, please.
Calm down.”

“This child isn’t just hers. She’s Dante’s too.”

Then she turned to me with that same polished smile. “Clara, I get it.
Dante left you. You had the baby in secret because you still loved
him.”

“But then you show up at his company? Set up a little reunion so he
finds out about the kid? You’re going to tell me that was all just a
coincidence?”

“And now that he knows she exists, you want to drag her back to that
apartment? A life where she can’t even have cake? She’s not a pawn
for you to use to claw your way into this family!”

“You came between Dante and me years ago. You seduced him away
from me, and I let it go. But going after a child? That’s a new low, even
for you.”

In Serena’s version, she was the loyal girlfriend who gracefully
stepped aside.

And I was the scheming homewrecker who couldn’t accept being
thrown away, so I hid a baby and used her as leverage to crawl back
in.

Pathetic.

I stared her down. “Keep telling yourself that, Serena. Maybe one day
you’ll believe it.”

When Helena saw I wasn’t backing down, she slammed her hand on the table.

“You have no shame at all! Having a child out of wedlock, what kind of example is that? What could she possibly learn from a woman like you?”

Talia burst into tears. I gathered her up and held her tight, stroking her hair.

Serena stepped forward, crouched down, and waved at Talia.

“Don’t be scared, Talia. Come here. Come to your new mommy.”

Something inside me snapped.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.