Chapter 15 Luca
LUCA
The door opens, and Viktor walks in first.
He looks older than he did at the wedding. Thinner. The debt and stress have carved lines into his face that weren’t there two months ago. Svetlana follows behind him, her expression worried. They both stop when they see Anna sitting rigid in the chair across from my desk.
“What’s going on?” Viktor asks. “Pavel said it was urgent.”
“Sit down,” I tell them.
“Luca, it’s late. If this is about the shipping contracts—”
“Sit. Down.”
The tone cuts through whatever Viktor was about to say. He and Svetlana take the chairs on either side of Anna. She won’t look at them. Just stares at her hands folded in her lap.
“Someone tell me what this is about,” Viktor says.
I pick up the DNA report from my desk and hold it up. “This is a paternity test. It confirms that I’m the biological father of Mila and Alexei.”
Silence.
Viktor’s face goes blank. Svetlana’s hand flies to her mouth.
“What?” Viktor’s voice is barely a whisper.
“Your daughter has been lying. To all of us. The twins aren’t the children of some dead stranger. They’re mine.”
“That’s not possible,” Viktor says.
“The DNA test says otherwise. 99.97% probability. No room for error.”
Svetlana turns to Anna. “Anna, is this true?”
Anna doesn’t answer.
“Answer your mother,” I say.
“Yes.” Anna’s voice is flat. “It’s true.”
“You—” Viktor stands up so fast his chair tips backward. “You knew? This entire time, you knew?”
“Yes.”
“When we signed those contracts. When we arranged this marriage. You knew Luca was their father?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?!”
“I was protecting them!”
“Protecting them?” Viktor’s face is turning red. “You lied to us! To everyone! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“I did what I had to do!”
“You kept our grandchildren away from their father! You lied about their paternity! You—” He turns to me. “And you! You didn’t recognize her? Didn’t remember?”
“It was five years ago. One night. I was drunk. She never told me her name.”
“So you just sleep with random women and forget about them?”
“I did then. Not anymore.”
Viktor looks between us, fury radiating off him. “This is insane. Both of you. This entire situation is insane.”
“Sit down, Viktor,” Svetlana says quietly.
“Don’t tell me to sit down! Our daughter has been lying to us for years!”
“I know. But screaming at her won’t change it. Sit down.”
Viktor stays standing. “Do you understand what this means? Luca has even more leverage over us now. Not just the debt, not just the company. He has our grandchildren!”
“I always had them,” I say. “I just didn’t know it.”
“And now that you do? What are you planning?”
“I want what any father would want. Access to my children. Recognition as their father. A real relationship with them instead of being blocked at every turn.”
“You’re going to take them from Anna.”
“I’m considering it.”
“No.” Anna jumps to her feet. “You can’t.”
“I can. And I will if this doesn’t change.”
“Papa, do something!” Anna turns to her father. “Don’t let him do this.”
Viktor laughs. It’s bitter, harsh. “Do something? What exactly do you want me to do, Anna? We’re in debt to him for millions. He owns our company. He married you as part of the deal. And now we find out he’s also the father of your children? We have no leverage here. None.”
“Papa, please—”
“Please, what? You created this mess. You lied to everyone. You kept his children from him!” Viktor’s voice cracks. “How could you do this?”
“Because I was scared! Because I saw what he is and I knew I couldn’t let him have them.”
“What he is? He’s their father, that’s what he is.”
“He’s a criminal. A killer.”
“And you still married him. You still took his money and moved into his house.” Viktor throws his hands up. “You can’t have it both ways, Anna. You can’t take everything he provides while refusing to acknowledge what he is to those children.”
“Viktor, stop.” Svetlana’s voice cuts through. “Both of you, stop.”
“Svetlana—”
“I said stop!” She stands, placing herself between Viktor and Anna. “Screaming at each other solves nothing.”
“She lied to us.”
“I know. And it was wrong. But destroying each other over it helps no one. Least of all Mila and Alexei.”
“Don’t talk to me about those children. She kept them secret. She kept them from their own father!”
“Yes. She did. And that was wrong.” Svetlana turns to Anna. “It was wrong, Anna. No matter how scared you were. Luca had a right to know.”
“He would have taken them from me!”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Look at him. Look at what he does. How could I trust him with my children?”
“They’re not just your children!” Svetlana’s voice rises for the first time. “They’re his too! You don’t get to make that decision alone.”
Anna’s face crumples. “Mama—”
“No. You listen to me. I understand you were scared. I understand you wanted to protect them. But what you did was cruel. To Luca. To those children. To all of us.”
“I was protecting them!”
“From what? From having a father who could provide for them? From security and resources we couldn’t give them? From a man who’s been trying to connect with them since they moved in here?”
“From a monster!”
Svetlana turns to me. Her eyes are hard. “And you. Threatening to take children from their mother? That does make you a monster.”
“I’m protecting my rights as their father.”
“By traumatizing two four-year-olds? By ripping them away from the only parent they’ve ever known?”
“She kept them from me!”
“And that was wrong, but fighting over them like they’re property instead of children? That’s worse.” Svetlana looks between us. “Both of you need to stop thinking about yourselves and start thinking about Mila and Alexei.”
“I am thinking about them,” Anna says. “I’ve always been thinking about them.”
“No. You’ve been thinking about your fear. About your anger. About punishing Luca for being who he is.” Svetlana’s voice softens slightly. “I know you’re scared. But those children need their father. Whether you like it or not.”
“He’ll hurt them.”
“Has he hurt them yet?”
“No, but—”
“Has he threatened them? Raised his voice at them? Done anything to make them afraid?”
“No.”
“Then what are you protecting them from? Your fear isn’t their reality.”
Anna sinks back into her chair. She’s shaking.
Viktor is still standing, fists clenched at his sides. “This is a disaster.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Svetlana says. “If both of them can act like adults instead of children.”
“Adults?” Viktor’s laugh is hollow. “Adults don’t lie about paternity for years. Adults don’t threaten to take children from their mothers.”
“You’re right. They don’t. Which is why both of them need to stop.” Svetlana looks at me. “What do you actually want, Luca? Not threats. Not leverage. What do you want for those children?”
I consider the question. “I want to be their father. I want them to know who I am. I want access to them without Anna treating every interaction like a threat.”
“And if Anna agrees to that? You won’t pursue custody?”
“If she stops blocking me? If she lets me be part of their lives? Then no. I won’t take them from her.”
Svetlana turns to Anna. “Can you live with that?”
“I don’t trust him.”
“That’s not what I asked. Can you let him be part of their lives?”
Anna’s hands twist in her lap. “I don’t know.”
“You need to know. Because if you keep fighting him, you’ll lose. Not just custody. You’ll lose everything. Is your fear worth that?”
“It’s not just fear. It’s reality. I saw him kill someone.”
“For business. Not family.” Svetlana kneels in front of Anna’s chair. “Listen to me. I know you’re terrified. But Luca is right about one thing. Those children are his. You can’t change that. And fighting it will only hurt them.”
“How do I know he won’t hurt them?”
“You don’t. You have to trust.”
“I can’t trust him.”
“Then you need to learn. Because the alternative is losing them entirely.” Svetlana stands and faces me again. “And you. If you take those children from their mother out of spite, you’ll damage them forever. Is that what you want for your son and daughter?”
“No.”
“Then you need to find a way to work with Anna. Not against her.”
“She’s been working against me since the wedding.”
“And that needs to stop. From both of you.” Svetlana looks at Viktor. “Help me here.”
Viktor hasn’t moved. He’s staring at Anna like he doesn’t recognize her. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Papa—”
“Don’t. Just don’t.” He turns to me. “What happens now?”
“Now we move forward. The twins need to know I’m their father. Not their stepfather. Their actual father.”
“They think their father is dead,” Anna says quietly.
“Because you told them that.”
“What am I supposed to say? That I lied? That the man I told them was dead is actually alive and living in the same house?”
“You say the truth. However painful it is.”
“They’re four years old!”
“Old enough to know who their father is.”
Anna stands. “I need time. I need to figure out how to tell them.”
“You have until tomorrow.”
“That’s not enough time!”
“It’s more than enough. You’ve had four years. Tomorrow, I’m telling them. With or without you.”
“Luca, please. Give me a few days. Let me prepare them.”
“No. This has gone on long enough.”
“You can’t just drop this on them!”
“Watch me.”
Viktor steps forward. “Luca, be reasonable. The children need—”
“The children need to know their father. That’s what they need. And they’re going to learn tomorrow.”
Svetlana places a hand on my arm. “Give her one day. Just one. Let her prepare them. Then you tell them together.”
I look at Anna. She’s pale, trembling, and her eyes are wet.
“One day,” I say. “Tomorrow evening. We tell them together. If you try to run or hide from this, I’ll assume you’re choosing a custody battle. Understood?”
Anna nods once.
“Say it.”
“Understood.”
“Good. You can go.”
She stands and walks to the door. Her parents follow. At the threshold, Svetlana turns back.
“Don’t make this worse than it has to be,” she says and leaves.