Logan looked at Adam, then back to Aurora in disbelief. "Our...son?"
She shook her head. "You're not his father."
"Who is?"
Aurora pressed her lips together, refusing to speak or face her husband.
"Who is his father?" Logan repeated aggressively.
"Nicholas." She finally whispered.
"What..."
"It's the truth."
Two emotions clashed inside Adam. Joy and anger both flared through his veins and burned in his chest, energising him. He wanted to run, to scream, to hit something. His entire life was a lie. That's why she always said he wasn't her son. Then...
"Why did you abandon me?!" Adam screamed at her.
"Why didn't you abort him?!" Logan shouted, rising to his feet.
Horrified, Adam turned to watch the man who had affectionately called him 'son' earlier. Logan's chest heaved, and his nostrils flared. For the first time, the boy was truly afraid of him. A violent rage clung to Logan, and Adam subconsciously stepped away from him.
"Because of him, we lost our children. Because of him—our first child—we would have had a family. My God, Aurora, Nicholas is his father— Why would you keep him?! After everything you suffered,"
"Because he is my son!" Aurora shouted, turning around. Her hand clutched at the shirt over her heart. Aurora was panting and crying, a pained expression on her face. "He's my child. Regardless of his father, he is my child!"
"Hey!" Sophia called from the entryway. "I'm all for shouting if you want to see your coffin early; otherwise, calm down."
After Sophia's outburst, everyone took a breath. Aurora slumped to the floor, wheezing and coughing. Following Sophia's ministrations, Aurora made a phone call to a person named Manuel, asking him to bring her documents. These documents, she said, would prove she was Adam's mother. While they waited, Aurora explained the circumstances of Adam's birth and other events.
"Ten years ago, after we met, Nicholas caught me again. We were in Aruba when I found out I was pregnant. After one of our 'sessions', I was desperate to get away from him, I ran without a plan. I was so sick and disoriented, by the time I made it to Sophia's door, I collapsed."
"And against better judgement, I took you in instead of sending you off to the hospital."
"You've been handsomely recompensed." Aurora reminded her. "Sophia kept me at her home while she treated me. Nicholas had my passport, so we had to forge documents and sneak off the island. Then we got here and split up. I moved to Austin. With Manuel's help, I went unnoticed. That's also where I met Sarah. Sarah had...aspirations. We came to an agreement, I would pay her enough to live comfortably in exchange for adopting Adam as her son."
Aurora turned to Adam. "Two hours; I only had you for two hours after you were born. I sent Sarah money through Manuel and had him keep an eye on you. Then, six years ago, Nicholas tracked me down, and I was running again. So he couldn't find me, I cut off my regular contacts. That also meant you. I couldn't risk him finding you. I moved around the Caribbean before coming back here. One day I saw Rochelle's work and promised to support her."
Aurora looked at her husband. "That's when we met again. Then we married under contract. Carrying your name allowed me to move around more freely. I reconnected with Manuel and asked him to find Sarah. But she had left Austin, and he couldn't find her. Part of me died when I thought I had lost Adam. Then, seven months ago, Manuel found Sarah. She was worse off than when I left her, and Adam was no different from a homeless child. When he told me about the abuse Adam experienced from Sarah's boyfriend, I was determined to make him and, to a lesser extent, Sarah pay. Then Adam ran away, and I saw a chance to take him back. The rest, you know."
Adam and Logan remained quiet after Aurora's explanation. Both were deep in thought about the events that occurred in their relationship with her. In the midst of their silence, the door chimed, and Sophia permitted the visitor.
The man, Adam recognised as the one who gave him the ride and dropped him off at the mall.
"The gardener?" Logan asked, surprised.
The man took off his hat and nodded in greeting at Logan and Adam. He handed a bulky envelope to Aurora and left without saying a word.
Aurora emptied the contents of the envelope onto the table. A birth certificate, a contract, and pictures. Logan took the contract and read through it. Adam recognised the pictures; he used to flip through them when he still lived with that woman. These ones had the date, his age, and his name written on the back in Aurora's handwriting. The boy picked up the birth certificate. The only fields different from the one he knew were the birth name and the name of the mother. The name on the certificate read, Adam Francesco Baggio, with Aurora Maddalena Baggio listed as mother and an empty field for father.
"That's why I'm different from Sammy?" Adam asked softly, looking up at Aurora.
Aurora nodded.
"What parent would let go of their child?!"
"Micino, I had to protect you. Between Nicholas and my father—"
"Why didn't you tell me after you took him from the mall?" Logan interjected.
"Would you have accepted him?"
"Then? Yes! Now I know the blood of that bastard is in his veins...I can't."166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFxN6sg38q
