Who's my father?
1293 Words
Chapter Five
Who's my father?
The house was finally quiet.
The hired cleaners were finishing up downstairs. The sound of chairs being stacked and glass clinking softly echoed faintly through the hall.
She walked to her brothers’ bedrooms. Gabriel had passed out in his full outfit. She smiled and helped him remove his shoes, switched off the lights, and closed his door gently.
She went to Leo’s room and didn’t find him there, only to discover him passed out on the lobby sofa. She had to calmly wake him and guide him to his room, half-asleep and mumbling.
Calista showered and changed into a soft cotton set. Her face was bare again. The glamorous version of her had washed away.
She decided to go check on her parents and thank them for today — the happiest day she could remember.
She walked down the hallway to her parents’ room.
Their bedroom door was slightly open.
Smiling, she raised her hand to knock.
Then she heard—
“…there’s an auction tomorrow night,” Dominic was saying quietly. “One of my undercovers confirmed it. The artifact is attracting attention from several mafia clans.”
Mafia?
Calista froze. Is that even a thing here?
“Santino Moretti is specifically interested in this one. He’ll be in town,” Dominic added.
She could half-see her mother’s face losing color.
“Santino Moretti? He shouldn’t be here. Dominic, nobody should know—”
“Unfortunately, I can’t stop his arrival. I heard that artifact was once in his ancestral line. And the person holding the auction is unknown too. You know how these mafias work underground.”
“Calista can’t be seen… Honey, we have to protect her.” Her voice sounded devastated.
“Calista can’t be anywhere near that world,” Eveline said urgently.
“I’ll protect her,” Dominic assured her, but Eveline still didn’t seem convinced.
“He must never meet her,” Eveline pressed. “If he sees her, if he becomes curious— You know Calista resembles—”
Dominic suddenly lowered his voice sharply.
“Enough.”
Silence followed.
Then footsteps.
Calista slipped away before the door fully opened.
She didn’t stop walking until she reached her room.
After locking her door, confusion swallowed her whole. Why does some auction have anything to do with her? And mafias are a real thing? She thought they only existed in dark romcoms, not in real life.
And who is this Santino Moretti that her mom is so scared of? Did they cross paths sometime back?
She opened her laptop immediately.
She searched the name.
Articles came up. They all described him as an international investor, private collector, high-profile businessman.
No criminal accusations.
No photographs.
Not one clear image.
Now she was even more curious.
It felt like her detective mode had been activated. Turns out her perfect family had secrets, and she wanted to understand why they were keeping them from her — claiming to protect her. But protect her from what?
She began to question everything. Why had her life always felt organized… yet controlled? Structured… yet limiting? Were they hiding her from something? Or someone they had crossed?
With her father’s line of work, she was sure he had dangerous enemies. Maybe someone had once threatened him using her.
If Dominic knew about undercover investigations and mafia movements, then the real information wouldn’t be online. It would be in his files.
She had to get access.
She didn’t move immediately.
She sat there thinking.
Her heart wasn’t racing.
It was calculating.
If she was going to do this, she had to do it properly.
Her father’s office was always locked. He probably carried his key everywhere. It wouldn’t be easy to trick him.
But her mother always carried a bunch of keys. She was sure one of them would open the office. Eveline was the only one who regularly went in and out to clean.
She walked quietly downstairs.
The cleaners were still near the back entrance. Dominic was outside on the driveway, speaking with one of them, inspecting the cleanup.
Good.
Her mother was alone in the kitchen, wiping the counter absentmindedly.
Calista moved toward the sink casually.
While Eveline’s back was turned, she bent down and loosened the pipe joint just enough to cause a slow drip.
Good. That would definitely make her check.
Her mother’s small purse lay on the other counter, not far away.
Calista turned the tap slightly.
Water began to gather under the cabinet.
“Mom?” she called lightly. “I think the sink is leaking.”
Eveline turned immediately. “Leaking? That wasn’t happening earlier.”
She hurried over and crouched down.
“Oh dear…”
Water dripped steadily now.
“Can you grab a cloth?” Eveline asked.
Calista handed one over.
“I’ll call your father,” Eveline said, wiping her hands quickly. “He’ll need to check this before it worsens.”
Perfect.
Eveline rushed outside to get Dominic.
Calista moved fast, taking the keys from the purse, her heart beating hard but her movements controlled.
Her mother wouldn’t notice the missing key until morning.
She waited until everyone was asleep before silently going to her father’s office, shutting the door softly behind her.
The air smelled like leather and old paper.
She locked the door from inside.
Her hand trembled slightly as she inserted the different keys into the drawer locks.
Click.
The first drawer opened.
Auction files.
Shipment records.
Nothing unusual at first glance.
Second drawer.
More documents.
Her breathing tightened as she sifted through folders quickly but carefully. This drawer held more personal files — her brothers’ academic certificates, birth certificates, marriage documents.
She opened the third drawer.
Case files labeled “Undercover.” Some were closed cases, but the papers looked recent, as if her father was still digging deeper.
She assumed these were the files where she might finally find something about mafias.
Then she saw it.
Something different.
A cream-colored file tucked deeper than the others.
No label.
She pulled it out.
Carefully opening it, hoping this was the one.
But then—
Her eyes scanned the first page.
Birth Record.
Child: Calista ——
Mother: Eveline West.
Father: Unknown.
Below it:
Adoptive Father: Dominic West.
The room suddenly felt too small.
She read it again.
Mother: Eveline West.
Father: Unknown.
Adoptive Father: Dominic West.
Adoptive.
The word settled heavily in her chest.
Dominic was not her biological father?
How?
Was this some mistake? Maybe it wasn’t her file.
She checked the date.
Her birthday.
It was definitely her file.
She had come here out of curiosity.
And now she had landed herself into something entirely different.
Her breath hitched. Her chest tightened. Before she could completely break down, she quickly returned everything into place — except the file.
She locked the office and ran to her room.
Once inside, hands shaking, she opened the file again.
She flipped through the remaining pages.
Legal adoption documentation.
Signatures.
Dates.
Everything finalized only a few weeks after she was born.
That meant her mother married Dominic while pregnant with her.
Her whole life was built on something she was only discovering now.
Her hands went cold.
All this time. So many years.
And they never told her.
She had come looking for answers about some dangerous businessman.
She found herself instead.
She didn’t know whether to regret it or be grateful. Maybe they would have never told her. Maybe she would have lived her whole life without knowing about her real father.
Turns out her perfect protector wasn’t her real father.
She didn’t realize when she fell asleep — the file still beside her — until a knock came at her door the next morning.
- Writer
