within families, but a public failure to unite the bloodlines was impermissible.
Grieving the loss of my love, I was numb to everything around me. I had plans to go through with the marriage. After all, I saw the power of the Foscari firsthand, the brutality of them. What choice did I have?
But then I realized I was pregnant with you.
For myself, I was willing to be a sacrificial lamb. But God knows what they would’ve done if they’d realized I was pregnant with a peasant’s child. The child of a man they had no qualms about murdering. What would they do to you to protect their own family name, their own legacy?
I went to the Catholic Church to seek guidance, and there I crossed paths with a nun, Sister Agatha, who was sympathetic to my situation. She saw my marriage to your father as valid in the eyes of God and believed her duty was to protect you and me from such horrible people at all costs. You were not even born yet, but she knew what would happen when you were. Risking her own life, she helped me escape to the United States and stayed with me here until you were more than a year old. I changed my last name to Miller, wanting nothing more than to disappear and to blend in, leaving the Moretti name behind forever. I wanted to shield you from what I feared most in this world…
I know it sounds like I’ve lost my mind, but you need to trust me, Sterling. It’s all so very real.
I know how hard it’s been all these years, never settling down long enough for you to form lasting friendships, never letting you get too close to anyone except for Tiffany. Against my better judgement, I let you have one summer. A golden summer of fun and laughter. It was dangerous, but necessary. I’ve never seen your smile so carefree as I did that summer. Tiffany saved you in a way that I couldn’t.
I’m sorry I had to rip you away from that small glimmer of normal life. I’m sorry for the years of animosity between us, but I hope you can understand why it had to be this way.
You are in great danger, Sterling.
The Foscari have never stopped hunting me, and even though I’ve managed to evade them, they finally found Sister Agatha. Something went wrong. A slip of the tongue, a comment in passing, someone she knew who had connections back home. She died a horrible death to try to protect us, but no one can withstand torture. She knew you were alive, knew your given name, and she had already seen you begin to grow as a child. There was no hiding your eyes from her…
You have a genetic trait called heterochromia. That in and of itself is not unheard of, but once or twice every generation, a Moretti woman is born with one turquoise colored eye and the other a vibrant green. It wasn’t random like I told you when you were a child.
Though Sister Agatha knew about your Moretti trait, that was all she knew. She couldn’t lead them directly to you, only tell them that twenty-four years ago, I had born a healthy baby girl.
But I know everything. What you look like as an adult, where you’ve lived in the past, people you’ve known, everything. If they find me, they’ll torture me until I tell them where you are.
And Tiffany? I can’t let your best friend get hurt too. If the Foscari find me, you’ll both be in danger.
You must disappear. You have to acquire a new identity. Leave everything and everyone you know behind. Sever all ties. Say nothing of your life, me, or anything you know to be true about who you are. Conceal your eyes from the world. Don’t speak Italian and try to blend in. If you must, use the information I’ve given you to avoid anyone connected with the Foscari and never look back.
The Foscari have been wronged and I don’t want to imagine your future if they find you.
There are some things worse than death.
This next part is the most important of all—you cannot go to my family. The Moretti will not protect you. They would rather turn you over to the Foscari to honor their debt than they would defend you. Even though you’re only half Moretti, they still value your bloodline. I have dishonored the family in an irrevocable way, and I have no