Chapter 14 - The Ledger
Internal Affairs arrested Vale before he could climb over the barrier.
Denise made it three levels before police caught her.
Alessandro survived.
David had six stitches above his eyebrow.
Nathan had powder burns on one hand.
I had the phone.
Nobody could stop me from reading it.
The message thread with Dr. Elena Morales went back three years.
Before Logan's birth.
Vale discussing blood samples.
Romano identifiers.
Witness-family leverage.
Then a payment.
$200,000.
To Morales.
I looked at Alessandro.
"Did you know her?"
"No."
"Did your father?"
He hesitated.
"Possibly."
"That's not good enough."
"My father had relationships with many doctors."
David said, "For private treatment."
Alessandro looked at him.
"And other things."
I wanted to scream.
Instead I opened the ledger.
Phase II restored from a backup Internal Affairs captured from Vale's server.
Logan's file.
Paternity panel.
David stood beside me.
"Open it."
I did.
PATERNITY PROBABILITY — DAVID WINTERS: 0.0%
The room disappeared.
I heard someone say my name.
Maybe David.
Maybe my mother.
I scrolled.
SECONDARY MATCH: ROMANO PATERNAL LINE — 99.8%
Alessandro stood too fast for a man who had nearly died.
"Impossible."
I turned on him.
"Did you sleep with me?"
His face hardened.
"No."
"Then explain it."
"I can't."
David stared at the screen.
He looked destroyed.
"Catherine, I never tested him."
"Apparently everyone else did."
Nathan said quietly, "Romano paternal line doesn't mean Alessandro."
We all looked at him.
He pointed at the wording.
"It means a male relative. Father. Brother. Son. Uncle."
Alessandro went pale.
"My brother."
"What brother?" I asked.
He did not answer.
David did.
"Gabriel Romano."
The name meant nothing to me.
Then my mother made a sound.
I turned.
She knew it.
"Mom?"
Elaine looked at Alessandro.
"Gabriel wasn't his brother."
Alessandro stared.
My mother whispered:
"He was Marcus Vale's father."
Vale, in custody two rooms away, suddenly began shouting for a lawyer.
I looked back at the screen.
Logan's paternal match.
Romano line.
Vale connection.
Nothing made sense.
Then another file opened automatically.
MATERNAL IDENTITY REVIEW.
My name was not listed.
May you like
CUT.
