Chapter 3 - The Child's DNA Changed Everything—Because Elsie Was Connected to My FamilyI didn't sleep that night.
Neither did Sienna.
Neither did Marco.
The entire estate remained under lockdown.
Elena had been moved to a guest room under guard.
She insisted she was innocent.
She cried.
She pleaded.
She accused Marco of framing her.
She accused Sienna of using her child to get attention.
She even accused me of becoming paranoid.
But she never explained the photograph.
Or the blue room.
Or the surveillance device.
Or the recording.
Most importantly, she never explained the DNA report.
At six in the morning, I summoned Dr. Gabriel Monroe.
He had been our family physician for years.
I placed the report in front of him.
He read it once.
Then again.
"What is this?"
"I don't know."
He looked toward Sienna.
"Where did you get it?"
"My security team found it."
His expression became grave.
"This is not a standard paternity report."
"What is it?"
"A genetic kinship analysis."
"Between whom?"
He pointed at the name.
"The child and someone from your family."
"Who?"
He hesitated.
"That is what I don't understand."
I stared at the paper.
"Explain it."
Dr. Monroe lowered his voice.
"An autosomal match of 99.8 percent suggests an extremely close biological relationship."
"How close?"
"Parent and child is possible."
My heart stopped.
"Or?"
"Identical twins."
I looked at Sienna.
She was crying.
"I didn't know."
"I believe you."
"But you think my daughter—"
"I think somebody knew more about her origins than you did."
Sienna looked at me.
"What do you mean?"
Before I could answer, Elsie walked into the room.
She was carrying her teddy bear.
Nero followed.
She climbed onto the chair beside her mother.
"Mister Alessio."
"Yes?"
"Are you mad?"
"No."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
She nodded.
Then she looked at Dr. Monroe.
"That's the doctor from the blue room."
Everyone froze.
Dr. Monroe's face went white.
I turned toward him.
"You've been there?"
He didn't answer.
"Have you?"
He swallowed.
"Once."
"Why?"
He looked at Sienna.
Then at Elsie.
"I was asked to perform a test."
"By whom?"
"Elena."
The room became silent.
"Three years ago?"
He nodded.
"Why?"
"I was told it was confidential."
"What did the test show?"
He closed his eyes.
"It showed that Elsie wasn't Sienna's biological daughter."
Sienna cried out.
I caught her before she fell.
"What?"
Dr. Monroe reached for the chair.
"I was told the result was to be destroyed."
"But you kept it."
"I kept nothing."
"Then where did this report come from?"
He looked at the paper.
"Someone copied it."
I turned toward Elsie.
Three years old.
Tiny.
Innocent.
Unaware that adults had been hiding her identity since the day she was born.
"Who is her father?"
Dr. Monroe didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
I could see the fear in his eyes.
"Tell me."
"I can't."
"You will."
"The father is dead."
My stomach tightened.
"Who?"
He looked directly at me.
"Your older brother."
Silence.
I hadn't had an older brother.
Not according to every document I had ever seen.
My mother had died believing I was the only child.
My father had never spoken of another son.
But suddenly everything was different.
An older brother.
A hidden child.
A dead father.
A three-year-old girl.
I looked at Sienna.
"Did you know?"
She shook her head violently.
"I swear."
Dr. Monroe spoke softly.
"Sienna was pregnant three years ago."
"Yes."
"She was told the baby's father died before the birth."
Sienna stared at him.
"I was told the father was someone I had loved."
"Who?"
"I never knew his name."
I felt cold.
Someone had erased the father's identity.
Then my phone rang.
Marco.
"We found something in the old records."
"What?"
"Your father's private ledger."
I went downstairs.
The ledger was dusty.
Old.
Written in black ink.
Page after page contained coded entries.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Deaths.
Then one entry caught my eye.
A.B. — CHILD SECURED.
Beside it was a date.
The date was three days after Elsie's birth.
Another line read:
IF THE GIRL SURVIVES, THE RUSSO LINE SURVIVES.
I stared at the words.
"What does that mean?"
Marco shook his head.
Then he turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
It showed a young man.
I looked at him.
My heart stopped.
The face was mine.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
Only one difference.
He was smiling.
I had spent my entire life believing I had no brother.
But I was looking at his photograph.
His name was Adrian.
May you like
And underneath the photograph were four words.
Never let Alessio know.
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