Chapter 9 - The Blood Test
Matteo did not allow Liana to leave.
She argued for ten minutes.
Then she saw the photograph of Ava's grave again and stopped.
The threat had done what money, authority, and logic could not.
It made the danger undeniable.
Matteo moved Liana into a guest suite beside Nico's nursery and changed the access codes himself.
He assigned two guards who had worked for him before Dominic became head of security.
Then he called Dr. Evelyn Shaw, a pediatric geneticist who had treated Nico after his premature birth.
She arrived at the estate before sunset carrying a medical case and an expression that said she did not appreciate secrecy.
"You told me this was urgent," she said.
"It is."
Matteo brought her into the private study.
Liana sat on the sofa with Nico.
Rosa stood by the window.
Matteo showed Dr. Shaw the Saint Arden records.
He did not show her Elena's videos yet.
He wanted an independent reaction.
Dr. Shaw read the transfer forms twice.
Then she removed her glasses.
"These specimen numbers are inconsistent."
"Could it be clerical?" Matteo asked.
"Yes."
Liana looked disappointed.
Dr. Shaw continued.
"But the same inconsistency appears on three separate chain-of-custody records."
"Could that still be clerical?"
"Anything is possible."
She looked at Matteo.
"It is not what I would assume."
Matteo told her Elena's claim.
The doctor became very still.
"You are saying the gestational carrier believes her own egg was used without consent?"
"Yes."
"And you believe Nico may be genetically related to Ms. Graves?"
Matteo nodded toward Liana.
"To her family."
Dr. Shaw looked at Liana.
"Are you willing to provide a cheek swab?"
"Yes."
No hesitation.
"And Nico?"
Matteo said, "Yes."
The samples took less than a minute.
The waiting felt endless.
Dr. Shaw had access to a private laboratory capable of expedited kinship testing within hours.
Matteo paid for the rush processing and then hated himself for noticing how easily money could move time for him.
Liana had waited days for updates about Ava in a crowded hospital.
He had once complained because a specialist made him wait forty minutes.
The difference sat badly in his stomach.
While the samples were transported, Matteo finally called his mother again.
Marisol answered on the first ring.
"You locked me out of my own son's property."
"It's my property."
"Do not become childish."
"Then stop treating me like a child."
Silence.
Matteo stood at the window overlooking the driveway.
Marisol's car waited beyond the closed gates.
She had arrived twenty minutes earlier.
He had refused entry.
"Did you know Elena was Nico's biological mother?" Matteo asked.
His mother did not answer immediately.
"Come outside and speak to me."
"Answer the question."
"Not over the phone."
"Then the answer is yes."
"Matteo."
His mother's voice sharpened.
"There are things you do not understand."
"That sentence has ruined enough lives today."
He ended the call.
Liana had been standing in the doorway.
"You think she knew."
"I think everyone who says I don't understand is terrified I finally will."
Liana looked toward the gate.
"She's your mother."
"That is not evidence of innocence."
"No."
Liana's voice softened.
"But it makes the truth harder."
Matteo looked at her.
She understood because Elena made her own truth harder too.
Love did not simplify betrayal.
It complicated it.
Nico woke from his nap an hour later.
Matteo went into the nursery alone.
He expected the crying to begin when Liana remained in the hall.
Nico watched him cautiously from the crib.
Matteo sat on the floor.
He did not reach for the baby.
He simply stayed.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said.
Nico blinked.
Matteo talked because silence felt worse.
"Your mother used to say I negotiated with babies."
He smiled painfully.
"She said you can't make an infant sign terms."
Nico sat holding the rail.
"She was right about almost everything."
The baby made a small sound.
Matteo waited.
After several minutes, Nico reached through the crib slats.
Matteo offered one finger.
Nico grabbed it.
The simple contact nearly destroyed him.
Behind him, Liana stood in the doorway without speaking.
Matteo did not turn around.
He did not want Nico to think he was leaving.
The waiting hours moved strangely.
No one was hungry, but Rosa brought sandwiches that went mostly untouched.
Dr. Shaw sat at the dining table marking inconsistencies in the Saint Arden records with a pencil.
Liana walked the nursery with Nico until he slept.
Matteo remained nearby, forcing himself not to turn anxiety into instructions.
At one point Liana caught him checking his phone for the sixth time in two minutes.
"The lab will call whether you stare at the screen or not."
"I know."
"Do you?"
He put the phone face down.
Five minutes later she slid it back toward him.
"Now you're staring at it while pretending not to. That's worse."
Matteo laughed despite himself.
Then Liana looked toward the crib.
"If Elena is his biological mother, what happens?"
Matteo had been avoiding that question.
"I don't know."
"Would you keep her away?"
A day earlier, he would have answered instantly.
Now certainty felt dangerous.
"If she is safe for him, no."
"And if she wants him back?"
The fear in Matteo returned so quickly he could taste it.
He forced himself to answer honestly.
"Then I fight for my son without pretending she has no right to be heard."
Liana studied him, then nodded.
When the laboratory called, it was almost ten at night.
Dr. Shaw returned to the study with the report printed in a sealed envelope.
Matteo, Liana, and Rosa gathered around the desk.
"This is a preliminary kinship analysis," Dr. Shaw said.
"A full forensic report requires additional processing."
"Tell us," Liana said.
The doctor looked at her first.
"The results strongly support that you are Nico's biological maternal aunt."
Liana closed her eyes.
Matteo gripped the desk.
Even after Elena's recording, part of him had expected the test to break the nightmare apart.
It did the opposite.
"How strong?" he asked.
"The probability of the stated relationship is greater than 99.9 percent based on the markers tested."
Liana began to cry.
Not loudly.
She pressed both hands over her face and folded forward.
Rosa placed an arm around her shoulders.
Matteo stared at the report.
His son had a living biological connection to the woman in front of him.
A connection hidden from every legal document that mattered.
"And me?" Matteo asked.
Dr. Shaw looked uncomfortable.
"We compared the paternal markers using your previous sample on file from Nico's neonatal workup."
Matteo's stomach dropped.
"And?"
"You are Nico's biological father."
He exhaled so hard his knees weakened.
He had not realized until then that he feared losing even that certainty.
Liana looked up.
For one second, relief passed between them.
Then Dr. Shaw did not close the folder.
Matteo noticed.
"What else?"
The doctor hesitated.
"There is an additional finding."
"What?"
"The laboratory identified a stored sample in Saint Arden's archived database with a near-identical maternal profile to the Graves family."
Liana wiped her face.
"Whose sample?"
Dr. Shaw looked at Matteo.
"It was labeled Camila Varric."
No one moved.
Matteo felt the room tilt.
"That's impossible."
"Genetically, yes."
Dr. Shaw's voice remained careful.
"The sample labeled as your wife's did not belong to your wife."
Liana whispered, "Then whose was it?"
Dr. Shaw turned the page.
"The profile is consistent with Elena Graves."
Matteo's face went cold.
The switch had not happened once.
May you like
Someone had been replacing Camila's identity in the medical system long before Nico was born.
And whoever did it had access deep enough to rewrite the evidence afterward.
