Chapter 3 - The DNA Test
The private study on the third floor smelled of old leather, rich tobacco, and expensive bourbon.
Matteo sat behind a massive mahogany desk, his hands clasped tightly together. Sitting across from him was Dr. Julian Mercer, the Varric family’s personal physician for over twenty years. Dr. Mercer was a silver-haired man with nervous eyes that kept darting toward the two armed men standing guard by the door.
Liana sat on the leather sofa near the window. She refused to lay Nico down in his crib. The baby was awake now, quietly chewing on his soft cloth blanket, his small hazel eyes tracking Liana’s every movement.
“You’re telling me this is medically impossible, Julian?” Matteo asked, his voice disturbingly calm.
Dr. Mercer cleared his throat, adjusting his gold-rimmed spectacles with a trembling hand. “Matteo, please listen to reason. Giulia was admitted to St. Vincent in critical condition after the collision. We performed an emergency Cesarean section to save the child. Giulia passed away on the operating table. The birth certificate for Nico Varric was signed by me personally.”
“And Liana’s child?” Matteo pressed.
Dr. Mercer glanced nervously at Liana. “Mrs. Graves gave birth on the public ward the same night. Her infant unfortunately suffered severe respiratory distress three weeks ago and passed away. It was an unfortunate tragedy, but these things happen.”
“Do they?” Liana spoke up, her voice trembling with rage. “Then why did your nurses refuse to let me see my son's body after two o'clock that morning? Why did the hospital insist on a closed casket and offer to pay for the cremation services?”
Dr. Mercer’s jaw tightened. “That was standard hospital charity protocol for indigent patients—”
“Bullshit,” Matteo interrupted, leaning forward over his desk.
Dr. Mercer flinched.
Matteo pulled a sterile silver briefcase from his desk drawer and flipped the latches open. Inside lay two sterile cotton swabs and two glass vials.
“We are going to run a rapid 4-hour DNA sequence,” Matteo said, his dark eyes locked onto the doctor's face. “We will test Nico’s DNA against mine, against the tissue sample we have on file from Giulia, and against Liana.”
Dr. Mercer went pale. “Matteo, this is an insult to your late wife’s memory! To allow a servant girl to claim your heir—”
“If she’s lying, I will personally deal with her,” Matteo said, his voice dropping an octave. “If she’s telling the truth, Julian... someone in my family stole a child and handed me a lie. And you signed your name to it.”
Dr. Mercer swallowed hard, his throat making a dry clicking sound. He didn't argue further. With shaking hands, he took the sterile swab, swabbed the inside of Nico’s cheek, and placed it in the first vial. Then he swabbed Liana’s mouth, sealing the second vial.
“Four hours,” Matteo told the doctor. “You will stay in this room until the lab results are delivered directly to my phone. If you try to leave, my men will shoot you on the stairs.”
Dr. Mercer nodded frantically, sinking into an armchair.
Matteo walked around his desk and stood over Liana. The harsh afternoon light through the window caught the side of her face, highlighting the exact same bone structure that had belonged to his dead wife.
“If this child is yours,” Matteo murmured, his voice laced with a dark, complex pain, “it means my biological son died three weeks ago. It means I spent nine months loving a child that wasn't mine, while my real blood was buried under six feet of dirt.”
Liana looked up into the eyes of the city's most feared man. She didn't see a ruthless mob boss. She saw a father whose entire world was balancing on the edge of a blade.
“And if he is mine,” Liana whispered, tears burning her eyes as she looked down at the baby in her lap, “it means someone let me mourn my living child while you raised him in gold.”
Matteo’s phone buzzed on the desk.
He picked it up. It was a text message from his head of security down in the courtyard.
Boss. We checked the city archives on Liana Graves. She has a twin sister who was put up for adoption at birth twenty-six years ago. The adoptive family’s name was Moretti.
Matteo dropped the phone onto the leather blotter. He stared at Liana, the breath leaving his chest.
May you like
Giulia hadn't just been his wife.
She was Liana’s identical twin sister.
