Dolores Catania was accused by her boyfriend Paul Connell of "hiding her stepchild" - a series of old messages showed she once paid hush money to a woman in Florida.

She built her brand on loyalty, transparency and being the no-nonsense Jersey girl with a heart of gold – but now Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania is facing the most personal and damaging allegation of her reality TV career yet.

In a shocking turn of events, sources close to her longtime partner Paul Connell say the Irish entrepreneur confronted Dolores earlier this summer with claims she had “deliberately hidden the existence of a stepchild” from a prior relationship – and that he only discovered the secret after a former friend of Dolores sent him screenshots of old payment messages and texts dating back to 2015.

According to the leak, Dolores allegedly wired over $30,000 across two years to a woman based in Naples, Florida — a woman who now claims she once raised a child with Dolores’s former partner and was paid to keep the child’s existence quiet, specifically to avoid public scrutiny once Dolores signed her Bravo contract.

“The receipts don’t lie,” said one insider familiar with the alleged hush payments. “There were Venmo notes disguised as ‘car repairs’ and ‘dog boarding,’ but the frequency and amounts were impossible to ignore. Paul was livid.”

Sources say Paul only became suspicious when Dolores refused to travel with him to Florida in May for a family wedding, citing “unfinished business” in the area. That’s when a mutual acquaintance, who once worked for a private investigation firm, sent him the alarming tip that would soon spiral into a full-blown personal betrayal.

Even more damning, an email thread allegedly between Dolores and a friend from 2017 was also leaked, in which she referred to the woman in Florida as “the liability with the baby problem” and admitted she was “terrified it could ruin everything if it got out.”

While Dolores has yet to address the accusations publicly, those close to her insist she was “trying to protect the child’s privacy” and was never formally a stepmother, as the relationship between her ex and the woman in question had ended years before. But Paul, insiders say, felt manipulated.

“Paul thought they were building a future together. He felt blindsided,” one friend shared. “This wasn’t just about a secret child. It was about trust, about Dolores controlling the narrative of her life while asking him to be fully transparent with his.”

As news of the alleged cover-up spreads, fans are already speculating whether this bombshell will play out on the next season of RHONJ, or whether Dolores will attempt to “handle it off-camera,” as she’s been known to do with past personal drama.

Meanwhile, social media has erupted into chaos, with some calling Dolores a “master manipulator,” while others believe she’s being unfairly targeted and insist the story is being twisted to harm her image amid ongoing tensions within the cast.

Regardless of the spin, the damage appears to be done. One thing is clear: the Jersey housewives have seen their share of scandals, but few have hit this close to home – or come with this many receipts.

And if Paul Connell walks away from the relationship over this breach of trust?
Well, Dolores might find herself facing the next season with more than just one storyline to clean up.