Chapter 4 - The Second Secret
“Tell her.”
Carmine’s voice echoed through the warehouse.
Dr. Vale trembled.
“The embryo was not genetically modified.”
Norah nearly collapsed with relief.
Then the doctor continued.
“But the insemination was deliberately matched.”
“Matched to what?” Norah demanded.
Dr. Vale looked directly into the camera.
“To you.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you know Elaine Gibson’s research.”
Dr. Vale swallowed.
“Elaine discovered a rare genetic marker in the Lombardi bloodline. A mutation associated with unusually aggressive leukemia.”
Dante became motionless.
“She also discovered another marker.”
Dr. Vale looked at Norah.
“In her own family.”
Norah’s mouth went dry.
“What marker?”
“One capable of suppressing it.”
Silence.
Dante stared at Norah.
Dr. Vale continued.
“Carmine believed a child conceived from both lines could inherit a combination worth billions in regenerative medicine.”
Norah felt sick.
“This baby is an experiment?”
“No,” Dr. Vale said desperately. “Your baby is a normal human child. But Carmine chose the conception because of the potential genetic combination.”
Carmine leaned into frame.
“And because blood creates ownership.”
Dante stepped toward the monitor.
“You touch either of them, I will bury you.”
Carmine smiled.
“There he is.”
The screen went black.
Seconds later, gunfire erupted outside.
The warehouse had been compromised from within.
Dante grabbed Norah.
“Stay behind me.”
Men ran across the loading floor.
A guard collapsed.
Marco returned fire.
Norah saw a familiar figure moving toward the emergency exit.
Elias.
The man who had helped Mrs. Kessler.
He held a phone and an access card.
Dante saw him too.
“Elias.”
The man froze.
For a terrible moment, nobody moved.
Then Elias aimed at Norah.
Dante fired first.
Elias fell.
Norah screamed.
Dante pulled her into a corridor as bullets tore into the wall.
They reached an underground garage.
A sedan waited.
Marco drove.
Dante sat beside Norah, blood spattered across his cheek.
She stared at him.
“You killed your own man.”
“He aimed at you.”
“You did not hesitate.”
“No.”
That answer should have terrified her.
Instead, what terrified Norah was the realization that she believed him when he said he would protect her.
They escaped to a small house on Bainbridge Island owned through an untraceable trust.
There were no armed guards inside.
Only Dante, Marco, Norah, and an elderly housekeeper named Rosa who greeted Dante by smacking his shoulder.
“You are bleeding on my floor again.”
Dante looked almost embarrassed.
Norah blinked.
Rosa noticed her stomach.
Then Dante.
Then Norah again.
“Oh.”
“It is complicated,” Dante said.
Rosa raised an eyebrow.
“You always say that when you make something catastrophic.”
Norah laughed before she could stop herself.
Dante stared at her.
It was the first time he had heard her laugh.
Something changed in his expression.
Later, Norah found him on the porch.
The rain had softened to mist.
“Elias betrayed you,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Did you trust him?”
“For 11 years.”
“I am sorry.”
Dante looked at her.
“You are apologizing to me?”
“Do not become sentimental.”
“Impossible.”
She sat beside him.
“What happens now?”
“We find Carmine.”
“And Dr. Vale?”
“We recover her alive if possible.”
Norah disliked the final 2 words.
“Alive.”
Dante understood.
“Alive.”
“And Genesis?”
“Closed this morning.”
“How?”
“I purchased the building.”
She stared at him.
“You bought my fertility clinic?”
“The corporation owning it.”
“That is insane.”
“It was faster than obtaining a warrant.”
“You cannot solve everything with money.”
“No.”
He looked at her stomach.
“Apparently not.”
The quiet became intimate.
Norah felt it before she understood it.
Dante was not touching her.
Yet she was acutely aware of the distance between their hands.
“I still do not know what you want from the baby,” she said.
His jaw tightened.
“Nothing.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I want the child alive.”
“And afterward?”
He stared toward the dark water.
“I had accepted that I would never become a father.”
“Because of the leukemia?”
“Because of my life.”
Norah said nothing.
Dante continued.
“A child should not have to memorize escape routes before learning multiplication.”
Something inside her softened.
“You could leave.”
He laughed quietly.
“You believe men like Carmine permit retirement?”
“No.”
“I leave, people loyal to me die. Carmine takes everything.”
He looked at her.
“And now he takes you.”
The words landed differently than they should have.
Norah’s breath slowed.
“I am not yours to take.”
“I know.”
Dante’s voice became quieter.
“That is the problem.”
Their eyes held.
For one dangerous second, Norah thought he might kiss her.
He did not.
Dante stood.
“Sleep.”
He walked inside.
Norah remained on the porch with her pulse racing.
At 3:00 a.m., she woke to shouting.
Marco had found another file.
Elaine Gibson had maintained a safe-deposit box in Seattle.
It had been untouched for 18 years.
By morning, they stood inside a private bank room while an employee placed the box before Norah.
Only Norah could open it.
Inside rested a silver necklace.
A stack of letters.
A flash drive.
And an envelope labeled:
FOR MY DAUGHTER, IF CARMINE EVER FINDS YOU.
Norah’s hands shook.
She opened it.
The first line destroyed everything she thought she knew.
Norah, Carmine Lombardi believes you are my daughter. I needed him to believe that.
She stopped breathing.
Dante took one involuntary step closer.
Norah continued reading.
But biologically, you are not my child.
Norah looked at Dante.
Then at the letter.
Beneath those words, Elaine had written the identity of Norah’s biological father.
May you like
Salvatore Lombardi.
Dante’s father.
