Chapter 3 - THE DNA TEST SAID 99.99 PERCENT, BUT SOPHIA REFUSED TO LET DOMINIC BUY BACK SIX YEARS
The laboratory used no Moretti doctor.
That had been Sophia’s first condition.
“No family physician.”
“Fine.”
“No clinic owned by one of your companies.”
“Fine.”
“No sample handled by anyone Carlo DeSantis can call.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened at the name.
“Fine.”
Sophia looked suspicious.
“You’re agreeing too easily.”
“I lost six years because someone else decided what information I was allowed to receive.”
His voice hardened.
“I’m not starting fatherhood by controlling the test.”
So an independent family-law clinic in Manhattan collected the samples.
Sophia’s attorney attended.
Dominic had encouraged her to hire one.
Then immediately corrected himself.
He gave her a list of three independent legal-aid and family-law referrals and told her to choose none of them if she preferred.
She chose a fourth.
Good.
Lily enjoyed the cheek swab far more than any adult expected.
“Can I see my DNA?”
The nurse smiled.
“Not with your eyes.”
“Then how do you know it’s there?”
Dominic looked toward Sophia.
“She’s going to be expensive academically.”
Sophia almost laughed.
Almost.
Three days later, the results arrived.
Probability of paternity: greater than 99.99%.
Dominic read the line inside his attorney’s office.
Then stopped.
Everyone else disappeared.
Almost six years.
He had a daughter.
Not possible daughter.
Not likely daughter.
His.
He sat down.
No dramatic speech.
No rage.
He simply looked at the page until the words blurred.
His attorney quietly left.
When Dominic finally went to Sophia’s apartment that evening, he did not bring flowers.
He did not bring money.
He did not bring a doll the size of Lily.
He brought the report.
And one children’s book Lily had mentioned at the clinic.
Nothing else.
Sophia opened the door.
“Come in.”
Lily appeared instantly.
“Well?”
Dominic crouched.
“Yes.”
Her face lit.
“Yes what?”
“I’m your father.”
Lily launched herself at him.
Dominic almost fell backward.
Her arms wrapped around his neck.
The stuffed rabbit smashed between them.
His eyes closed.
Something inside him broke cleanly.
“Daddy.”
One word.
First time.
Sophia looked away.
Dominic held Lily carefully.
Then even more carefully because he had no idea how hard fathers were allowed to hug daughters they had only met three days earlier.
Lily solved it.
“Tighter.”
He obeyed.
After ten seconds, Sophia said:
“Sweetheart, let him breathe.”
“He’s big.”
“That doesn’t mean he has extra lungs.”
Dominic laughed.
A real one.
Lily pulled back.
“Do I get your last name now?”
Sophia went still.
Dominic answered immediately.
“Only if someday you want it and your mom agrees.”
“Carter is Mommy’s.”
“Yes.”
“I like Carter.”
“Then Carter is good.”
Sophia watched him.
That answer mattered.
He knew it.
Later, after Lily fell asleep on the couch halfway through the book, Dominic and Sophia sat at the tiny kitchen table.
No guards inside.
No attorneys.
No children listening.
For the first time, they were alone.
Sophia looked at the paternity report.
“What happens now?”
Dominic had spent three days preparing answers.
Trusts.
Child support.
Schooling.
Medical insurance.
Housing.
Security.
Then remembered her warning.
Do not calculate me into submission.
So he said:
“What do you want to happen?”
Sophia stared.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s allowed.”
“I want Lily safe.”
“So do I.”
“I want her to know you.”
His throat tightened.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Sophia’s voice hardened.
“You don’t get unlimited access because a laboratory says she’s yours.”
“I know.”
“You are a stranger to her in every way except biology and one very dramatic Tuesday.”
“I know.”
“She thinks you’re a hero because you picked her up in a black car and didn’t yell when she came to your house.”
“I did yell internally.”
Sophia’s mouth twitched.
Then:
“We do this slowly.”
“Yes.”
“Public places first.”
“Yes.”
“No taking her overnight.”
“Not until we agree.”
“Yes.”
“No private-school transfer.”
Dominic blinked.
“I didn’t—”
“You thought it.”
He had.
Fair.
“No private-school transfer.”
“No security men standing inside her classroom.”
“I can manage outside.”
“Dominic.”
“Fine.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“We negotiate security.”
“Not dictate.”
“Negotiate.”
Better.
Then Sophia leaned back.
“And money.”
Here it came.
Dominic said nothing.
“You will support her.”
“Yes.”
“That is her right.”
“Yes.”
“But I will not move into one of your apartments.”
“I haven’t asked.”
“You will.”
He almost smiled.
“You remember me.”
“I remember what power does to men who believe they are solving problems.”
That erased the smile.
Dominic nodded.
“I want to pay your rent arrears.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“No.”
“You lost your job at my company.”
“Not your company directly.”
“Moretti Harbor Analytics is wholly owned by Moretti Holdings.”
“You didn’t even know I worked there.”
That still burned.
Four months earlier, Sophia had taken an accounting position at a small freight-analysis company called Harbor Axis.
Six weeks later, Moretti Holdings acquired it as part of a regional logistics consolidation.
Sophia considered quitting the day she learned.
She stayed because the pay was good, Lily needed dental work, and Dominic never visited the subsidiary.
Then last Friday she was terminated.
Official reason:
Departmental restructuring.
Dominic had not ordered it.
He had not even seen her employee record.
Lily only understood one thing:
Moretti owned the company.
Therefore Dominic fired Mama.
Now Dominic asked:
“Who terminated you?”
“The controller gave me the paperwork.”
“Who approved it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did they say restructuring?”
“Because apparently asking why one vendor has three different addresses makes you redundant.”
Dominic went still.
“What vendor?”
Sophia looked away.
There.
He saw it.
“Tell me.”
“This is not why I came back into your life.”
“No.”
“You’re asking as CEO now.”
“Yes.”
Sophia folded her arms.
“North Crown Logistics.”
Dominic recognized the name.
A regional freight-routing vendor.
Old.
Established.
Used heavily by Carlo DeSantis.
“What did you find?”
“Duplicate service invoices.”
“Same route numbers.”
“Different dates.”
“Payments divided below internal review thresholds.”
Dominic’s mind shifted automatically.
“How much?”
“I found about six hundred thousand.”
“Across what period?”
“Eleven months.”
“Did you report it?”
“Yes.”
“To?”
“Harbor Axis controller first.”
“He told me it was a legacy arrangement and to leave it.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then?”
“I sent an internal concern through Moretti compliance.”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“And you were fired last Friday.”
“Yes.”
“Did compliance respond?”
“No.”
Dominic reached for his phone.
Sophia immediately said:
“No.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“You do not call Carlo from my kitchen.”
“I wasn’t going to call Carlo.”
“Who?”
“My independent counsel.”
She stared.
He continued.
“I’m not confronting anyone.”
“I’m preserving records.”
Sophia relaxed slightly.
Progress.
Dominic called his general counsel and asked for immediate preservation of all Harbor Axis employment, vendor, and compliance files related to Sophia Carter.
No accusations.
No firings.
No private retaliation.
Then he hung up.
Sophia looked surprised.
“Old Dominic would already have someone against a wall.”
He met her eyes.
“Old Dominic is how we lost six years.”
Silence.
That sentence sat between them.
Then he added:
“I’m trying not to repeat expensive mistakes.”
“Expensive?”
“Not money.”
Good correction.
Sophia looked toward sleeping Lily.
“Carlo knew I worked there.”
Dominic’s head turned.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“But three days before I was fired, he visited the office.”
“What?”
“He said he was reviewing acquisition integration.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Sophia’s fingers tightened.
“He looked at my name badge.”
“Then at me.”
“And said…”
She stopped.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What?”
Sophia looked directly at him.
“You always did have trouble knowing when to leave Moretti business alone.”
Dominic went completely still.
Carlo had known.
Not just six years ago.
Now.
He knew Sophia had returned.
Knew where she worked.
Knew she had discovered suspicious invoices.
Then she was fired.
Dominic’s phone buzzed.
His general counsel.
Fast.
He answered.
“What?”
A pause.
Then his face changed.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Preserve everything.”
He hung up.
Sophia stared.
“What happened?”
Dominic’s voice became cold.
“Your termination directive did not originate with Harbor Axis.”
“Then where?”
“Moretti Holdings.”
Sophia’s face tightened.
May you like
Dominic finished:
“It was approved using Carlo DeSantis’s executive credentials.”
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