Chapter 5 - What Mr. Halpern Was Hiding
Mr. Halpern was found that afternoon.
Not by Dominic’s men.
By Detective Marquez.
He had checked into a cheap motel near O’Hare Airport under his mother’s maiden name, carrying one suitcase and a passport.
Sophie, Dominic, and Detective Marquez met him in an interview room at Chicago Police Headquarters.
Halpern looked smaller than Sophie remembered.
At Bellavita, he had always seemed polished—white shirt, perfect tie, expensive cologne, a constant nervous smile for wealthy customers.
Now his tie was crooked. His face was gray. His hands shook around a paper cup of water.
When Sophie entered, he looked at her with desperate relief.
“Sophie.”
“Why?” she asked.
He looked down.
“I didn’t know they would use the baby.”
Dominic’s hand tightened on the back of an empty chair.
Detective Marquez raised a warning finger.
Halpern swallowed.
“Three months ago, a man came to Bellavita asking about Dominic Moretti. He said he represented a private security firm. He wanted to know his habits. Which nights he came in. Which entrance he used. Who he trusted.”
“And you told him?” Sophie asked.
“I didn’t tell him anything at first.”
“But then?”
“He offered money.”
Dominic laughed once.
It was a cold, empty sound.
“How much did they pay you to sell out a child?”
Halpern’s eyes filled.
“Twenty thousand.”
Sophie stared at him.
Twenty thousand dollars.
That was all Matteo’s suffering had been worth to him.
“What did you give them?” Detective Marquez asked.
“Reservation patterns. Delivery schedules. The names of staff assigned to the private rooms.”
“And the baby’s medication?”
Halpern shook his head violently.
“I didn’t order it. I swear. I only introduced someone to the pharmacy contact.”
“Who?”
Halpern hesitated.
Dominic leaned forward.
The detective slammed her palm on the table.
“Name.”
“Victor Caruso.”
The room went silent.
Sophie had heard the name before.
Even outside Dominic’s world, everyone in Chicago knew it.
Victor Caruso was the public face of the Caruso family. Real estate developer. Donor. Television personality.
But the city’s rumors said he had inherited more than property from his father.
He had inherited enemies.
And a talent for making problems disappear.
“Why would Victor Caruso target Matteo?” Sophie asked.
Halpern looked at Dominic.
“Because he thinks Matteo isn’t your son.”
Dominic went still.
Sophie’s breath caught.
“What?” she whispered.
Halpern licked his lips.
“Victor said he had proof. He said your wife had secrets.”
The room changed.
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
But Sophie saw his hands.
They were shaking.
Only slightly.
Detective Marquez closed her notebook.
“That is enough for now.”
“No,” Dominic said.
His voice was low.
“Not even close.”
The detective leaned toward him.
“Mr. Moretti, if you want this case to survive in court, you will let me do my job.”
Dominic’s eyes met hers.
For a second, Sophie thought the room might explode.
Then he stepped back.
“Find Caruso.”
Outside the station, Sophie followed Dominic toward the black SUV waiting at the curb.
“Is it true?” she asked.
He stopped.
Rain fell lightly around them.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know whether Matteo is your son?”
His jaw tightened.
“My wife, Isabella, died before I could ask her anything.”
Sophie regretted the question immediately.
But Dominic continued.
“Victor has hated me since we were boys. If he says he has proof, it could be a lie. It could be another way to break me.”
Sophie looked at him.
“And if it isn’t?”
Dominic’s expression cracked.
For the first time, she saw real fear.
“Then I lost my wife,” he said. “And I may have spent three weeks loving a child who was never mine.”
Sophie stepped closer.
Matteo slept in a car seat inside the SUV, unaware that adults were trying to turn his existence into another battlefield.
“Listen to me,” she said. “You fed him. You stayed up with him. You were terrified when he cried. You are trying to keep him safe.”
Dominic looked at her.
“That’s what a father does.”
The rain slid down his face.
“And blood?”
“Blood matters medically,” Sophie said. “It matters legally. But love? Love is what you do when nobody is watching.”
For several seconds, Dominic said nothing.
Then he opened the SUV door for her.
“Come home with us,” he said.
Sophie almost laughed.
“You say that like I have a choice.”
“You do,” Dominic replied. “I’m asking.”
It was the first time he had asked her for anything.
May you like
And that made it more dangerous than any threat.
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