Chapter 9 - Massimo Had Suspected Adrian Long Before The Pregnancy
Mara eventually asked her father why he had looked into Adrian’s old medical file.
Massimo hesitated.
Then answered:
“Because I didn’t trust how quickly he changed after you became pregnant.”
“What change?”
“He stopped asking me for investments.”
Mara frowned.
“That made you suspicious?”
“Adrian never stopped asking for things.”
It was painfully accurate.
Before pregnancy, Adrian constantly proposed ventures.
Real estate.
Private lending.
Hospitality projects.
Massimo refused most.
Then Mara became pregnant.
Suddenly Adrian stopped courting Massimo.
He began talking instead about “long-term family positioning.”
Trust structures.
Insurance.
Mara’s estate plan.
The baby.
Massimo began reviewing everything Adrian had touched.
That included the old insurance records.
When he saw the vasectomy, he did not immediately assume fraud.
He first assumed Mara knew.
Then he asked her obliquely whether she and Adrian had used donor material.
Her confusion told him she hadn’t.
Three days later he went to the Cross mansion intending to confront Adrian privately.
Instead he arrived at the driveway just as Adrian and Sienna were dragging his pregnant daughter from the SUV.
The line—
That baby might not be yours
—was not intended to humiliate Mara.
It was a test.
Massimo wanted to see Adrian’s reaction before he had time to construct one.
Adrian failed.
Fear appeared before denial.
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That reaction told Massimo the secret was real.
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