Chapter 7 - THE TEST THEY STOLE
The stolen DNA kit was not random.
Someone wanted proof of paternity before Mara and Matteo controlled who saw it.
Julian arranged a new noninvasive prenatal test through a hospital with chain-of-custody protocols.
Mara signed only after reading every page.
Matteo noticed.
"Good," he said.
She looked up. "Good what?"
"Read everything. Never sign because my lawyer says it's fine."
"That sounded almost healthy."
"Don't spread it around. I have a reputation."
The result came the next afternoon.
99.99 percent probability of paternity.
Matteo read it once.
For all his power, the paper reduced him to a man staring at the word father.
Mara watched carefully.
"Say something."
"I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"Becoming my father by accident."
Mara softened despite herself.
"Then don't."
"That simple?"
"No. That daily."
Before he could answer, Chen arrived with news.
Victor Saye had disappeared.
His accounts showed a payment from Thorne Strategic three days before the cemetery attack.
And Bianca had filed an emergency petition claiming Mara had assaulted her at the grave.
Mara laughed in disbelief.
"She hit me."
"She has photographs of scratches on her wrist," Chen said.
Matteo's mouth hardened.
"From me catching her arm."
"Exactly. Her lawyers are claiming you threatened her and abducted Mara afterward."
Mara stood.
"I wasn't abducted."
"Then say that in court."
Bianca's strategy became clear.
Make Mara look unstable.
Make Matteo look coercive.
Challenge the paternity test.
Delay recognition of the child.
Keep the Bellandi trust unresolved.
That evening, Preston called Mara from a blocked number.
"Bianca knows the baby is Matteo's."
"How?"
"Her father has the first test."
Mara closed her eyes.
"What does he want?"
May you like
Preston whispered, "He wants you declared legally incompetent before the baby is born."
Then the line went dead.
