Chapter 3 - The Blood Test
An hour later, the private study inside the Varric mansion felt like a courtroom awaiting a death sentence.
Dr. Hayes, a white-haired physician loyal to the Varric family for three decades, stood beside a mobile lab kit. Nico was asleep on a soft plush velvet couch, his tiny hand firmly locked around Liana’s index finger. She hadn't moved an inch, ignoring the stiffness in her legs and the burning strain in her back.
Matteo stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, pouring two fingers of amber whiskey. He hadn't touched the glass.
"The blood samples have been processed through the high-speed thermal cycler, Matteo," Dr. Hayes said softly, holding a sheet of printout paper. His hands were visibly shaking.
Matteo didn't turn around immediately. "Read it, Hayes."
"The infant, Nico Varric..." Dr. Hayes paused, swallowing hard. "Shares zero genetic markers with you, Matteo. Nor does he share any maternal DNA with the late Elena Varric."
Liana gasped, her chest heaving as tears flooded her eyes anew. She buried her face in her free hand, letting out a ragged, heartbroken weep.
Matteo slowly turned around. His face was a mask of cold marble, but the vein pulsing at his temple gave away the storm raging inside him. "And the woman?"
Dr. Hayes looked at Liana with profound sympathy. "Liana Graves is a 99.99% genetic match. She is this child’s biological mother."
The room fell into an agonizing silence.
Liana pulled Nico into her lap, kissing the crown of his dark hair, burying her face in his soft skin. "My baby," she sobbed. "You’re alive. My sweet boy... you didn't die."
Matteo walked over to the couch and sank onto his knees before Liana and the baby. The feared mob boss, a man who controlled half the city's underworld, looked completely destroyed.
"If Nico is yours..." Matteo’s voice was barely a whisper. "Then where is my son? What happened in that clinic nine months ago?"
Before Liana could answer, the heavy double doors of the study burst open. Marcus walked in, dragging a trembling, pale man in an expensive tailored suit. Dr. Julian Vance, the chief of surgery at Saint Jude’s, looked as though he had already seen his own ghost.
"Matteo!" Vance whimpered, sweating profusely. "What is the meaning of this? Your men pulled me out of a charity gala! I am a respected surgeon—"
Matteo stood up. The sudden movement was so swift and lethal that Vance stumbled backward, hitting the wall. Matteo grabbed Vance by the throat, pinning him against the wood paneling, lifting the doctor two inches off the floor.
"Nine months ago," Matteo growled, his face inches from Vance’s terrified eyes. "You handed me a baby boy and told me Elena died giving him life. Tonight, I found out this baby belongs to a woman you told was stillborn twenty-two days ago."
Vance’s eyes bulged with terror. "Matteo... please... listen to me..."
"Where is my child, Julian?" Matteo tightened his grip until the doctor’s face turned purple. "And why did you swap a dead baby for Liana’s newborn?"
"I... I didn't!" Vance choked out. "It wasn't my idea! I was forced!"
"Who forced you?" Matteo demanded, easing his grip just enough for the man to gasp for air.
"It was... it was your stepmother, Beatrice!" Vance squealed, weeping openly. "Nine months ago, Elena’s baby was born dead! The cord was wrapped around his neck! Beatrice told me that if Matteo found out his heir died and his wife was gone, he would dismantle the family business and destroy the syndicate. She paid me two million dollars to keep quiet and find a surrogate baby when the time was right!"
Liana stared at the doctor in horror. "So you kept my baby in an illegal incubation ward for eight months until you needed him?"
"No!" Vance cried out. "You gave birth twenty-two days ago! Beatrice knew you were an orphan with no family, no money, and no power to fight back! She ordered me to fake your baby’s death, falsify the birth certificate, and hand him to Matteo to secure his position as the head of the Varric syndicate!"
Matteo let go of Vance’s throat. The doctor collapsed onto the carpet, coughing violently.
Matteo stood motionless, looking down at the sniveling doctor, then back at Liana and the child. The betrayal went to the absolute core of his life. His stepmother, Beatrice Varric, had orchestrated the theft of an innocent child and concealed the truth of his own son's death just to keep control of the mafia empire.
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"He’s telling the truth about one thing," Liana whispered, looking down at Nico. "Nico wasn't crying because he was sick. He was crying because he was being slowly poisoned."
Matteo’s head snapped toward her. "What?"
