Chapter 3 - TWO BABIES, THREE BLOOD TESTS
Roman had frightened judges, prosecutors, executives, union bosses, and men who carried guns for a living.
A neonatal nurse named Claire Jennings was not impressed.
“You wash your hands for the full twenty seconds.”
Roman stared at her.
“I did.”
“You did twelve.”
“I counted.”
“So did I.”
Behind Claire, Roman’s daughter slept inside an incubator.
Roman silently returned to the sink.
Claire nodded.
“Better.”
For the first time in twenty-four hours, Luca almost smiled.
Roman noticed.
“Enjoying yourself?”
“Immensely.”
“Keep it up and you’re transferring to Alaska.”
Claire pointed toward the door.
“No threatening people in my NICU.”
Luca actually laughed.
Roman glared at both of them.
Then his daughter moved.
Everything else disappeared.
He approached the incubator.
The nurse showed him how to place one finger near the baby’s hand.
Tiny fingers closed around it.
Roman stopped breathing.
“Her name?” Claire asked.
Roman looked through the glass.
Naomi had chosen names months ago.
“Isabella.”
“And your son?”
“Matteo.”
Claire smiled.
“Talk to her.”
Roman stiffened.
“What do I say?”
“Anything.”
Roman D’Angelo, who could command a room of fifty men without notes, had absolutely nothing.
“Hello.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
Luca looked at the ceiling.
Roman lowered his voice.
“I’m your father.”
Isabella squeezed his finger.
Something inside him cracked.
“I’m sorry your mother isn’t here.”
The words nearly failed.
“I’m going to make mistakes.”
Claire quietly walked away.
Roman continued.
“But I’m staying.”
His phone vibrated.
Luca checked the message.
“We have the preliminary DNA results.”
Roman withdrew his hand reluctantly.
The hospital had agreed to expedited testing after Margaret explained the legal threat.
Roman followed Luca into the hallway.
Margaret waited there.
“Well?”
She handed him the results.
“Both children are biologically yours and Naomi’s.”
Roman’s shoulders loosened.
“Then Sabrina’s claim dies.”
“No.”
Margaret’s expression remained troubled.
“She never actually claimed Naomi wasn’t their biological mother.”
Roman frowned.
“You said she challenged their identity.”
“She did.”
Margaret opened Sabrina’s filing.
“The wording is extremely specific. She claims hospital records may have been manipulated during delivery.”
Roman stared at her.
“Why would she say that?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, then immediately turned serious.
“What?”
Roman asked.
Luca ended the call.
“The blood samples from the first test are missing.”
Margaret blinked.
“Missing?”
“The lab technician logged them into secure storage at 10:12. At 10:31, someone used a staff credential to access the refrigerator.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Aaron Bell.”
Roman looked toward the NICU.
“Find him.”
“They’re trying.”
“Trying?”
“He left the hospital twenty minutes ago.”
Roman’s voice dropped.
“Lock down every camera feed.”
Claire appeared from the NICU.
“What happened?”
Roman ignored her question.
“Can anyone remove my children?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Without authorization?”
“No.”
“What if someone has hospital credentials?”
Claire’s face changed.
She immediately reached for her radio.
Within minutes, security doubled outside the NICU.
Roman returned to the consultation room and reread Naomi’s letter.
Trust Elena Ruiz.
He had forgotten the name in the chaos.
“Find Elena Ruiz.”
Luca began searching.
It took fourteen minutes.
There were hundreds in New York.
Then Margaret remembered.
“Naomi’s college roommate.”
Roman looked at her.
“She was a journalist, wasn’t she?”
“Investigative reporter.”
Luca found her.
Elena Ruiz, forty-one, investigative producer for a national news network.
Roman called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
On the third attempt, someone picked up.
No voice.
Roman listened.
“Ms. Ruiz?”
Breathing.
Then a woman whispered.
“Roman?”
“Yes.”
“Where are the twins?”
“NICU.”
“Are they safe?”
“For now.”
A long silence.
“Elena, Naomi told me to trust you.”
The woman began crying.
Roman gripped the phone tighter.
“What did my wife discover?”
“You need to go to her deposit box.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Roman froze.
“What?”
“They know about it.”
“Who?”
“Roman, listen carefully. Naomi discovered Sabrina wasn’t trying to replace her as your wife.”
Roman looked toward Luca.
“Then what did she want?”
“She wanted access to you.”
“For what?”
“Your shipping network.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
D’Angelo Maritime controlled cargo terminals along the East Coast.
Legal cargo.
And other operations Roman preferred governments not examine too closely.
Elena continued.
“Naomi discovered Sabrina had been feeding information to Malcolm Vane for months.”
“Why?”
“Because Vane believes your company is hiding something that belonged to him.”
Roman glanced at Margaret.
“The twelve million?”
“No.”
Elena’s next words changed everything.
“The twelve million was never the real theft.”
“What was?”
“A ledger.”
Roman said nothing.
“Naomi found evidence her father used Vane to create secret accounts for powerful people. Judges. Contractors. Politicians. Organized-crime families. When Vane threatened to expose everything, her father framed him for theft.”
Roman felt the floor shift beneath the story he thought he understood.
“Where’s the ledger?”
“That’s what Sabrina was looking for.”
“And Naomi found it?”
“I think so.”
Roman heard a noise through Elena’s phone.
A door.
“Elena?”
Her breathing changed.
“Someone’s here.”
“Where are you?”
She didn’t answer.
“Elena.”
“Roman, if anything happens to me, don’t look in the bank.”
The line crackled.
“Where?”
“Naomi hid the truth where you would never voluntarily go.”
Then the call ended.
Roman immediately ordered Luca to trace it.
Before Luca could respond, the NICU alarm sounded.
Roman spun toward the doors.
A nurse came running.
“Mr. D’Angelo!”
His blood turned cold.
“What?”
“It’s your son.”
Roman moved.
May you like
The nurse grabbed his arm.
“Matteo’s incubator is empty.”
