Chapter 5 - The Trap at Dawn
Matteo Varric stood motionless, the paper clutched in his hand.
The room seemed to shrink.
He looked down at Liana, who was gently stroking the sleeping boy’s hair, completely oblivious to Gabriel’s second revelation. She only knew that her son was alive. She didn't yet comprehend the monstrous, intricate conspiracy that had linked her life to the most dangerous man in the state long before either of them had met.
Matteo leaned in close to Gabriel, his voice a lethal hiss. “Explain. In words that don't leave room for error.”
“Fourteen months ago, Liana Graves was hospitalized after an apartment fire,” Gabriel murmured rapidly, keeping his voice beneath the hum of the air vents. “She required an emergency laparotomy. Dr. Vance Sterling was the consulting surgeon on call. Sterling was also managing Elena’s failed IVF cycles using your preserved genetic samples. Elena was desperate. Her family was threatening to cut her off if she didn't produce an heir. Sterling took harvested ovarian tissue from Liana during that surgery, fertilized it with your sample in his private lab, and implanted it back into Liana under the guise of an experimental regenerative procedure to repair her uterine wall.”
Matteo’s blood ran colder than ice. “They used her as an unwitting surrogate.”
“Yes,” Gabriel whispered. “Liana believed she had naturally conceived from a brief relationship that ended before the fire. She carried the child for nine months, completely unaware that the boy growing inside her carried the Varric bloodline. Sterling kept her under surveillance the entire time. When she delivered at his hospital, Marcus Valenti and Sterling enacted the final phase: tell the poor girl her baby was deformed and dying, take the child, and hand him to Elena as your biological heir.”
“And then Elena died,” Matteo said, the pieces snapping together with terrifying clarity. “Which wasn't part of their plan.”
“Exactly,” Gabriel agreed. “Elena’s sudden hemorrhage threw Marcus into a panic. If the baby died or was taken back, Marcus lost the Varric estate. So Marcus doubled down. He paid Sterling to keep Liana trapped in a web of fake medical debt, watching an empty incubator, until they finally staged the baby's 'death' three weeks ago to eliminate the only loose end.”
A sudden, sharp vibration shattered the tension.
Matteo reached into his pocket and pulled out his encrypted satellite phone. The screen flashed with an incoming call from Marcus Valenti.
Matteo looked down at Nico. The boy was sleeping peacefully, his tiny cheeks flushed pink with natural warmth. Then he looked at Liana.
She had stood up, wiping her eyes with the cuffs of her maid uniform. She had heard the murmur of their voices. Her maternal instincts were already on high alert.
“Mr. Varric?” she asked, her voice guarded. “What is it? What does that paper say?”
Matteo did not answer immediately. He walked over to her. He stood towering above her, but for the first time, there was no shadow of intimidation in his frame.
“Liana,” he said gently. “You will never wear that uniform again.”
She blinked, confused. “What?”
“And you will never clean another room, wash another floor, or answer to anyone in this city,” Matteo continued, his voice steady, solemn, and unshakeable. “From this second forward, you are under my protection. You and our son.”
Liana’s breath stopped. “Our... what did you say?”
Matteo held out the DNA analysis.
Before she could read the lines, Matteo answered the vibrating phone. He pressed the speaker button.
“Matteo, thank God you picked up,” Marcus Valenti’s smooth, aristocratic voice echoed into the room. “I’ve been trying to reach your estate line. Mrs. Gable hasn't sent her morning update on Nico. How is my nephew doing? The doctors in Zurich have agreed to take his case. I have a private medical jet landing at the executive terminal at six AM. We need to move him immediately.”
Matteo’s eyes locked onto Liana’s as she read the words on the paper: *Biological Father: Matteo Varric. Match: 99.99%.*
Her eyes widened in absolute shock, her hand flying to her mouth.
Matteo spoke into the phone, his tone perfectly even, masking the slaughter waiting behind his teeth.
“Nico is sleeping peacefully, Marcus,” Matteo said smoothly. “For the first time in his life.”
A brief, uneasy pause hung on the other end of the line.
“That’s... that’s wonderful news, Matteo,” Marcus said, though his tone had sharpened with subtle tension. “Then he’s stable enough for transport. I’ll meet you at the private hangar with Dr. Sterling. We’ll oversee the transfer personally.”
“Don't bother coming to the airport, Marcus,” Matteo said softly.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Matteo replied, his voice dropping into the terrifying cadence that had made kings and politicians kneel, “I’m bringing Nico to St. Sebastian’s Hospital right now. I think it’s time Dr. Sterling and I had a conversation about blood.”
Matteo ended the call.
He slipped the phone into his pocket and turned to Dante, who had appeared silently at the open doorway.
“Dante,” Matteo barked.
“Boss.”
“Mobilize the first and second tactical units. Seal the perimeter of St. Sebastian’s Hospital. Nobody enters. Nobody leaves. If Dr. Vance Sterling attempts to leave his office, break his legs and hold him until I arrive.”
“Understood.” Dante vanished down the hall.
Liana stood frozen, her hands trembling as she held the document. “You’re... you’re his father?”
Matteo stepped closer. For the first time, he reached out and gently laid his palm against Nico’s back, feeling the tiny, miraculous heartbeat that belonged to both of them.
May you like
“I am,” Matteo said, his eyes burning with an ancient, ferocious promise. “And the men who made you cry over an empty grave are about to find out what happens when you steal from a Varric.”
***
