Chapter 9 - THE DNA TEST THAT COULD END EVERYTHING BEFORE IT STARTED
Gia vomited in a trash can.
Not elegant.
Dante stood six feet away because neither of them knew what distance was appropriate while possibility of accidental incest existed.
Marco looked as though he wanted the earth to swallow everyone.
“This is not funny.”
Gia said.
“No one is laughing.”
Dante answered.
“Good.”
“Stop.”
He closed eyes.
She rinsed mouth with bottled water.
Rebecca arrived twenty minutes later with documents.
Corrado’s filing cited:
A 1981 letter from Dante’s grandfather Vittorio Moretti to a woman named Elaine Parker.
Payments.
School records.
One line:
Michael should never know what he is to Salvatore.
Gia’s skin went cold.
“Who is Elaine Parker?”
“My grandmother.”
She whispered.
Dante stared.
Rebecca continued.
“If authentic, it suggests Salvatore Moretti fathered Michael before marrying Lucia.”
Gia covered face.
“That makes Dante my uncle.”
“Yes.”
“Potentially.”
“Please stop adding potentially like it helps.”
“It is legally important.”
Dante moved farther away.
Gia almost cried.
That mattered too.
He did not say love conquers.
Did not touch.
Did not minimize.
“We test.”
Gia looked.
“What?”
“DNA.”
Dante’s voice was hoarse.
“Independent.”
“Immediate.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca nodded.
“We can arrange kinship testing.”
Gia laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful.”
“Best second date ever.”
Dante actually made a strangled sound that might have been laugh.
Then stopped.
The tests were collected next morning.
Gia.
Dante.
Luca volunteered.
If Michael was Salvatore’s son, Gia would show predictable close-family relationship with Dante and Luca.
Results expedited.
Forty-eight hours.
Longest forty-eight hours Gia could remember.
She worked.
Dante did not call unless legal update.
Good.
She missed him.
Annoying.
Then Gia went to Ellen Vale.
“Did Mom know?”
Ellen looked horrified by allegation.
“No.”
“Grandma Elaine?”
“She died before I knew Nora.”
“Did Dad ever suspect?”
“Never told me.”
Gia pulled old photographs.
Michael Parker.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
Did he look Moretti?
Maybe.
Once suggestion enters mind, every face becomes evidence.
She stopped.
No.
Facts.
DNA.
Then Rebecca called.
“Come to office.”
Gia’s knees weakened.
“Tell me now.”
“I prefer—”
“Rebecca.”
A pause.
“You are not biologically related to Dante Moretti in any degree consistent with uncle-niece or close kinship.”
Gia sat down.
“What?”
“The filing is false or misinterpreted.”
Her eyes filled.
“Say it simpler.”
“You and Dante are not related.”
Gia laughed.
Then cried.
Then laughed again.
Dante’s result with Luca confirmed full brothers.
Gia’s kinship probability with them normal unrelated population.
Good.
But why documents?
Forensic review.
The 1981 letter was genuine.
The interpretation was wrong.
Michael should never know what he is to Salvatore.
Not son.
Informant.
Elaine Parker had worked as bookkeeper for Moretti grocery distribution.
She discovered Salvatore using legitimate business accounts to shield undocumented cash? Michael was child then. Wait 1981 Michael adult? Gia 38 in 2026, born 1988; father could be 25 in 1981, plausible. Hmm. Need explain.
Michael had been a young accountant apprenticing under Salvatore.
Elaine feared criminal proximity.
The next paragraph omitted from Corrado filing read:
He thinks Salvatore sees him as employee. The truth is Salvatore wants him as successor to finance if Luca refuses business. Do not let the boy become another Moretti without the name.
So "what he is to Salvatore" = protégé, almost son emotionally.
Corrado selectively quoted.
Gia felt rage.
“He made us think—”
“Yes.”
Rebecca said.
“Defense tactic.”
Dante’s face went hard.
“Can that be sanctioned?”
Rebecca smiled slightly.
“We are exploring.”
Gia looked at Dante.
Now what?
The kiss existed again.
Still.
Something had changed.
Fear.
She said:
“I need a day.”
Dante nodded.
“Take ten.”
“No dramatic suffering.”
“I make no promises.”
“That is actually appropriate.”
He smiled.
Two days later, Gia asked him over.
Her apartment had been repaired.
New locks.
No Moretti security.
Independent company outside for known threat only.
She opened door.
Dante stood carrying nothing.
“Good.”
“What?”
“No flowers.”
“I was told not to create debt.”
“Flowers are not debt.”
“Your rules are difficult.”
“They change.”
“I noticed.”
She let him in.
They sat.
Gia said:
“I hated how fast you stepped away.”
Dante’s face tightened.
“When we thought relation possible?”
“Yes.”
“I was relieved.”
“Relieved?”
“Yes.”
“Because you did not try to reason around it.”
Dante looked.
“There was nothing to reason.”
“Exactly.”
She breathed.
“I trust you more because you stopped.”
His eyes softened.
“Gia.”
“Not yet.”
He stopped.
She smiled.
“See?”
“This is torture.”
“Maybe.”
Then Gia became serious.
“Corrado used the idea of family to contaminate something he couldn’t control.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want him deciding whether I date you either.”
“No.”
“So.”
She leaned forward.
“Kiss me again.”
Dante smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He kissed.
This time Gia laughed halfway through.
“What?”
Dante asked.
“I’m checking for family resemblance.”
“That is deeply disturbing.”
“I know.”
They laughed against each other.
Then the door buzzer sounded.
Gia pulled away.
“Who?”
Building desk.
“Ms. Parker, there is a woman downstairs asking for you.”
“Name?”
“Isabella Maretti.”
Gia looked at Dante.
His face changed.
Maretti.
Luca’s alias.
Dante stood.
“Luca’s wife?”
“Maybe.”
The woman came upstairs with independent guard escort.
Early forties.
Dark-blonde hair.
Terrified.
Beside her stood nineteen-year-old girl.
Gray Moretti eyes.
Sofia.
Luca’s daughter.
The woman held an envelope.
“We need Dante.”
Dante stepped forward.
“I’m here.”
She looked at him.
Then started crying.
“Luca is gone.”
Silence.
“What do you mean gone?”
“He left Toronto yesterday after someone sent him a photograph of Sofia walking to university.”
Dante went cold.
“Who?”
The woman handed envelope.
Inside:
A photograph of Sofia.
And a message.
ONE DEAD BROTHER WAS ENOUGH. WITHDRAW YOUR TESTIMONY.
Gia’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Corrado was in custody.
Which meant someone else inside the Moretti system wanted the secret buried badly enough to continue without him.
