Chapter 9 - The DNA TestOne blood test turned three families into suspects.
The DNA results arrived at midnight.
I didn't want to open them.
Alessandro did.
Elise stood beside the window.
Mia slept against my shoulder.
Three women.
Three possible identities.
One family.
One inheritance worth billions.
Alessandro read the report.
“Tell me.”
He handed it to me.
Mia was not biologically my daughter.
I stared at the sentence.
No maternal relationship.
I couldn't breathe.
“No.”
My knees weakened.
Elise caught my arm.
“I'm sorry.”
“No.”
I looked at Mia.
“She is my daughter.”
“She is still your daughter.”
Alessandro's voice softened.
“Blood doesn't erase eight months.”
I shook my head.
“But who is her mother?”
He looked at Elise.
The second test came back.
Elise was not Mia's biological sister.
We were looking at the wrong bloodline.
Then the third result arrived.
Mia matched Marina Bellini's DNA.
Seventy-nine percent.
Not enough for mother-daughter.
But enough for something else.
Alessandro frowned.
“This is mitochondrial DNA.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Mia descends from Marina.”
Elise stepped closer.
“So she is family.”
“Yes.”
“But not Elena's daughter.”
Correct.
I stared at the screen.
Then the realization came.
“My mother had another child.”
Alessandro nodded.
“A third.”
My blood went cold.
“How many babies were born that night?”
We searched every record.
The hospital had two birth certificates.
Three newborn bracelets.
One missing.
The third baby was listed as deceased.
Name:
SOPHIA.
Date:
The night Mia was born.
I felt dizzy.
“Where is Sophia?”
No one answered.
Then Elise said:
“My mother told me there were three.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“When I was a child, she kept a photograph.”
“Of the babies?”
“Yes.”
“Three infants.”
My heart hammered.
“Where is the photograph?”
“Destroyed.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
“Who was your father?”
She looked at Alessandro.
“Vittorio Duca.”
Silence.
The blood drained from Alessandro's face.
“My father had three daughters?”
“Yes.”
“Then the succession clause…”
Elise nodded.
“Doesn't belong to me.”
“Who gets it?”
She looked at Mia.
“The first female heir born from the hidden line.”
My baby.
Mia was the legal heir.
Not biologically mine.
But descended from the Duca line.
Someone had placed her with me because I was the perfect cover.
A poor housekeeper.
A single mother.
A woman no one would suspect.
Then the penthouse door opened.
Margaret walked in.
No guards.
No fear.
She looked straight at me.
“Give me the baby.”
Alessandro stepped in front of us.
“Who let you in?”
“Your security did.”
“That isn't possible.”
Margaret smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
She looked around the room.
“I built your security system.”
Alessandro's expression changed.
“You worked for my father.”
“I did.”
“For thirty years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect the family.”
She looked at Mia.
“And to protect the heir.”
“From whom?”
Margaret's smile vanished.
“From you.”
She pulled a folder from her coat.
Inside was a death certificate.
My name.
Elena Bellini.
Date of death.
Tomorrow.
My blood turned cold.
May you like
She whispered:
“By sunrise, Elena Bellini officially doesn't exist.”
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