Chapter 3 - Blood Does Not LieThe DNA test was done before noon.
Dante did not need it.
He knew it in the way Emily frowned when she concentrated. In the way she tilted her head before asking questions. In the stubborn set of her little chin when the nurse tried to take her temperature and she insisted she was “not spicy anymore.”
Still, the world required paper.
Dante had built an empire on paper.
Contracts. Titles. Ownership. Proof.
So when the envelope arrived the next morning, carried by Marco Bell, Dante’s head of security, Dante took it into the hallway and opened it alone.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998%.
He read it once.
Twice.
Then he folded the paper carefully and slipped it inside his jacket pocket.
Not because he doubted.
Because it was the first official record in the world that said Emily Harper belonged to him.
Marco stood nearby, broad-shouldered and silent.
“Well?” he asked.
Dante looked through the glass wall at Emily sitting cross-legged beside Sarah’s bed, drawing something with hospital crayons.
“She’s mine.”
Marco’s hard face softened.
“Congratulations.”
Dante almost laughed.
Congratulations.
The word felt too small for gaining a daughter and losing six years in the same breath.
“Find Claudia?” Dante asked.
Marco’s expression changed. “Her townhouse staff says she left for Palm Beach three days ago.”
“Did she?”
“No. Her jet never departed.”
Dante looked at him.
Marco handed over a tablet. “She had lunch yesterday at The Aurelia Club with Victor Lanza.”
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
Victor Lanza was not family. He was worse.
A rival wrapped in charity boards and clean money, a man who smiled for cameras while buying judges behind curtains. For years, he had tried to force Dante into a merger that would give him access to Romano shipping routes, real estate holdings, and private security contracts.
Dante had refused every time.
“What does Victor want with Claudia?”
Marco lowered his voice. “Maybe the same thing she wants from him.”
Before Dante could answer, the ICU doors opened.
A woman in a navy suit approached, carrying a leather folder. Her hair was tight, her smile professional, her eyes dead.
“Mr. Romano?”
Dante did not move.
“Yes.”
“I’m Beverly Crane from Child Protective Services. We received a report concerning a minor, Emily Harper.”
Dante felt the air shift.
Marco stepped forward.
Dante lifted one hand. Not yet.
“What report?”
“Medical neglect. Possible endangerment. A child found wandering alone at night in Midtown.”
From inside the room, Emily laughed at something Sarah said.
Dante’s voice went quiet. “That child walked through a storm because this hospital was about to discharge her dying mother.”
Beverly’s smile did not change. “I understand emotions are high, but we must follow procedure.”
“Who filed the report?”
“I’m not permitted to disclose that.”
Dante looked at the folder.
“Show me your badge.”
She did.
It was real.
That made him angrier.
Because real systems could be used by false people.
Sarah saw the woman through the glass and went pale.
“No,” she whispered.
Emily looked up.
Dante entered the room before Beverly could.
“Sarah.”
“They found us,” Sarah said.
“No one is taking Emily.”
Beverly stepped in. “Ms. Harper, I need to ask you some questions.”
Sarah clutched Emily instinctively.
Emily stared at the woman. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, sweetheart,” Beverly said. “We just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m safe with Mommy.”
Beverly wrote something down.
Dante hated her pen.
He hated the calm way she reduced fear into notes.
Dr. Reed appeared at the doorway. “Ms. Harper is not medically stable for questioning.”
“I only need a few minutes.”
“You’ll get them when I clear it,” Dr. Reed said.
Beverly’s eyes narrowed. “Doctor, refusing cooperation could complicate the family’s situation.”
Dante stepped between them.
“Then complicate mine.”
Beverly looked up at him.
“I beg your pardon?”
“My daughter is safe. Her mother is under medical care. Any further concern can go through my attorneys.”
Sarah looked stunned.
Beverly closed her folder. “You are claiming paternity?”
Dante removed the folded paper from his pocket.
“I am not claiming anything. I am stating fact.”
Beverly read the test.
Something flickered in her expression. Calculation.
“Very well. This investigation remains open.”
“Then keep it honest,” Dante said.
She left.
Marco followed her with his eyes.
“She was sent,” Marco said after the door closed.
“I know.”
Sarah’s voice shook. “Dante, you don’t understand. Claudia won’t stop because you’re angry.”
Dante looked at Emily.
May you like
Then at Sarah.
“No,” he said. “She’ll stop because I finally know where to aim.”
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