Chapter 8 - The Test
The DNA test happened the next morning in a private medical suite guarded by two off-duty detectives and Luca’s new security team.
I hated every second of it.
Not because I feared the result.
Because my children thought they were there for a “family cheek-swab game.”
Mila went first. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” the nurse said.
Micah looked at Luca. “You have to do it too?”
“Yes.”
“Because we have the same eyes?”
Luca’s hand tightened around the swab packet.
“Something like that.”
When the twins left with Lena, I turned on him.
“You don’t get to bond with them because of eye color.”
“I know.”
“You missed birthdays. Fevers. First words. Their first day of school.”
“I know.”
“You weren’t there when Micah needed stitches or when Mila woke up screaming for three months after a dog bit her.”
His voice broke. “I know.”
That silenced me.
Luca Moretti did not break in public. He barely broke in private when we were married.
He sat down.
“I thought you hated me enough to disappear,” he said. “Then I thought you had built a life without me. I told myself not to destroy it.”
“You believed Victor.”
“Yes.”
“That was always your weakness.”
He looked up.
“You trusted men who sounded certain more than the woman standing next to you.”
He had no defense.
Three hours later, the lab director entered with sealed results.
Lena returned. Evelyn stood near the window.
The doctor set the paper in front of Luca.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998%.
Luca stared at the number.
Then at me.
His eyes filled.
“They’re mine.”
“Yes.”
He covered his mouth with one hand.
But Lena was reading the second page.
“Nia,” she said slowly, “there’s a note here.”
“What note?”
“The twins’ original hospital blood cards were accessed four years ago.”
Luca stood.
“By whom?”
May you like
Lena looked at us.
“Someone already ran a paternity comparison.”
