Chapter 5 - The Test in the Dark
The waiting was a form of torture that surpassed anything Liana had ever experienced.
At 2:00 AM, a trusted, private physician bound by strict non-disclosure agreements arrived at the Varric estate. Dr. Harrison, a silver-haired man who had served the Varric family for three decades, took cheek swabs from both Liana and baby Nico in the privacy of the second-floor study.
Nico remained calm, holding onto Liana’s little finger the entire time. Every time Liana tried to put him down in his crib, the infant would begin to whimper, reaching his tiny arms out until she lifted him back against her chest.
“He knows you,” Dr. Harrison murmured, watching the baby closely as he sealed the swab vials in sterile glass tubes. “In my forty years of medicine, I have rarely seen an infant forge an immediate, unbreakable attachment to a stranger like this. The biological markers are responding to your presence.”
“How long until the rapid PCR panel gives us a match?” Matteo asked, standing by the dark window, looking out over the heavily guarded estate grounds.
“Three hours,” Dr. Harrison replied. “I brought the mobile analysis unit in my vehicle. I will run the sequence in the basement lab.”
When the doctor left the room, silence settled over the study like a heavy blanket.
Liana sat on the leather sofa, cradling Nico, who had fallen back into a deep, peaceful sleep. Matteo poured two fingers of amber whiskey into a crystal glass, but he didn't drink. He simply stared into the liquid, lost in dark thoughts.
“If the test is positive...” Liana began, her voice barely audible, “what does that mean?”
Matteo turned around slowly. “If Nico is your biological child, it means the Morettis orchestrated a monstrous crime. It means they stole your newborn daughter from the hospital, faked her death by substituting a deceased infant, lied about her gender on official records, and placed her here in my nursery as ‘Nico’ to secure their grip on the Varric bloodline.”
Liana’s hands shook so violently she had to press Nico closer to her chest to keep him steady. “Why would they make me think she was a boy? Why swap the gender?”
“Because in the old-world laws of the syndicate, only a male heir can claim the throne of the Varric empire,” Matteo explained grimly. “If Isabella failed to produce a son, the treaty between our families would have collapsed, and full-scale war would have erupted. The Morettis needed a boy. They took your baby, falsified the birth records, and used medical alterations or forced silence to present the child as my son.”
“That is sick,” Liana gasped, tears pouring down her face. “That is monstrous!”
“It is the world I live in,” Matteo said bitterly. “A world where human lives are traded like currency.”
He walked over to her, kneeling on the floor beside the sofa so he was at eye level with Liana and the sleeping child. For the first time, the terrifying mafia don looked vulnerable.
“If this baby is yours,” Matteo whispered, looking up into Liana’s eyes, “I will give you everything you need to take her and leave. I will fund your life, protect you from the Morettis, and ensure you never suffer again.”
Liana looked at him, seeing the profound grief in his eyes. “And what about you? You’ve loved this baby for nine months thinking he was your son.”
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Matteo closed his eyes, a muscle jaw twitching in his cheek. “I would rather suffer the heartbreak of losing a child than keep a stolen baby from her real mother.”
At 5:15 AM, the study door clicked open. Dr. Harrison walked in, holding a single sheet of paper.
