Chapter 5 - INSIDE THE SANCTUARY
Natalie didn't speak for a long time.
The wind howled softly across the porch, carrying cold snowflakes against our faces. She stood behind the chained door, her chest heaving as years of buried grief, humiliation, and self-doubt resurfaced all at once.
Slowly, with trembling hands, she reached out and unlatched the heavy brass chain.
She pulled the door open.
"Come inside," she whispered, turning her back on me and walking toward the living room. "Before the cold gets to the babies."
I stepped into her home, carefully shutting the door behind me and taking off my snow-dusted boots.
The interior of her house was warm, smelling of cinnamon tea, vanilla, and fresh baby powder. It was modest, furnished with comfortable thrifted furniture, colorful handmade quilts, and framed sketches of children’s book illustrations on the walls. It was small, but it felt a thousand times more like a home than my twelve-thousand-square-foot mansion.
In the center of the living room sat two cribs side by side.
Natalie stood near the cribs, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at the floor. She looked fragile, yet remarkably strong.
I walked slowly into the room, stopping a respectful six feet away from her.
"Natalie..." I started.
"Why tell me now?" she interrupted, her voice dangerously quiet, keeping her eyes fixed on the rug. "Why track me down four years later just to drop this on me, Luca? What does it change?"
"It changes everything about who you think you were during those years," I said, my voice thick with emotion. "You spent three years believing your body failed us. I watched you cry in the shower, Nat. I watched you apologize to me over and over again for something that was a manufactured lie! I couldn't live another day knowing you carried that shame."
Natalie let out a bitter, breathless laugh, finally looking up at me. Her eyes were red-rimmed and fierce with anger.
"You think I care about the shame anymore?!" she shouted softly, mindful of the sleeping children. "I spent TWO YEARS after our divorce in therapy, Luca! I spent two years rebuilding my sanity because the man I gave my youth to looked at me like I was a broken appliance and walked away!"
"I know," I choked out, dropping my head. "I know."
"You didn't fight for me!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face now. "Even if the medical reports were fake, Luca—you stopped loving me! You stopped holding my hand! You started looking at me with disgust every time I walked into the room! Dr. Vance didn't make you do that! Evelyn Shaw didn't make you do that! YOU chose to stop loving me!"
Her words carved straight through my chest, exposing the bloody, unvarnished truth.
"You're right," I wept, dropping to my knees on her living room rug, unconcerned with pride, wealth, or dignity. "You're completely right, Natalie. I was a coward. I let ambition and social pressure poison my heart. I blamed you because it was easier than looking at my own flaws. I am a monster for what I did to you."
Natalie froze, staring down at me kneeling on her floor. In all our years together, through corporate battles and family disputes, she had never seen Luca Moretti—the ruthless billionaire—kneel or weep.
From the crib nearby, a soft, high-pitched whimper broke the silence.
One of the babies had stirred from the raised voices.
Natalie blinked away her tears, immediately shifting her focus away from me. She leaned over the crib and gently lifted a tiny infant into her arms. It was the baby girl, dressed in a soft pink onesie, her dark eyes blinking sleepily as she reached tiny, star-like fingers into the air.
"Shh... it's okay, Clara," Natalie whispered tenderly, swaying back and forth. "Mommy’s here. You're safe."
I looked up from the floor, my breath hitching in my throat as I looked at the tiny child. She had soft dark hair—the exact same dark wavy hair I had as a child.
In the neighboring crib, the second baby boy kicked his legs and let out a small coo, waking up.
Natalie looked down at me, her anger momentarily giving way to exhaustion. "Can you... can you hand me Leo's blanket from the chair?"
I stood up immediately, grabbing the soft blue blanket from the armchair, and handed it to her with utmost care, being careful not to touch her skin.
Natalie took the blanket, wrapped the baby boy gently, and sat down on the rocking chair near the window, holding both children close to her chest.
I stood there in the quiet room, watching the woman I had discarded nurture two precious lives she had fought so hard to bring into the world alone.
"They are beautiful, Natalie," I whispered, my heart aching with a profound, unbearable sweetness.
"They are my entire world," she replied quietly, kissing the top of her daughter's head. "They don't have a father with a billionaire's trust fund, Luca. They don't have a mansion or a lakefront penthouse. But they have love. Real, unbroken love."
I swallowed hard, looking at the little family in front of me.
"I’m getting a divorce from Evelyn," I declared quietly. "I’ve already initiated legal proceedings against her and Dr. Vance. I’m going to make sure everyone involved in destroying our past faces justice."
Natalie looked up at me, her expression neutral, untainted by malice or triumph. "Do what you need to do for your own conscience, Luca. But don't do it for me. I don't belong to your world anymore."
"I know," I said, taking a step back toward the front door. "I don't expect you to forgive me, Nat. Not today. Maybe not ever. But I’m not going to disappear this time. I’m going to make sure you and these babies are safe, protected, and provided for—whether you accept my presence or not."
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"I don't want your money, Luca," she said firmly.
"It’s not about money," I replied, looking into her eyes one last time before opening the front door. "It’s about duty. And love—the love I was too blind to fight for four years ago."
