Chapter 5: The Result They Bought
The laboratory director arrived before noon with a sealed envelope.
Dr.
Ellis placed it on Alessandro’s desk while Vincent and Isabella sat opposite Rosa.
Marco remained near the door, and Mr.
Bruno held Lily on his lap.
“This test compares Mr.
Moretti’s stored medical sample with material provided as Lily Mendes’s,” Dr.
Ellis said.
Rosa frowned.
“I never provided anything.”
Isabella folded her hands.
“A strand of hair was taken from the child’s brush.”
“Without my permission?”
“A mother seeking truth should welcome certainty.”
Alessandro broke the seal.
He read the page once.
Then he read it again.
Rosa watched his face.
“What does it say?”
Vincent answered for him.
“Zero probability of paternity.”
Rosa’s chair scraped backward.
“No.”
Isabella stood.
“You agreed to leave.”
“I agreed to a real test.”
“The laboratory director brought it himself.”
Rosa looked at Alessandro.
“You know what happened between us.”
“I know.”
“Then say it.”
His eyes remained on the report.
Vincent buttoned his coat.
“He cannot change science to spare your feelings.”
Lily climbed down from Mr.
Bruno’s lap and walked to Alessandro.
“Why Mama crying?”
Alessandro crouched, but Rosa lifted Lily before he could touch her.
“Do you believe them?” she asked.
Alessandro’s silence lasted one second too long.
Rosa’s mouth trembled.
“That was your answer.”
“No.
I am trying to understand.”
“I have spent 4 years understanding what powerful people can do to paper.”
Isabella pointed toward the door.
“Pack your things.”
Alessandro rose.
“Sit down.”
“You saw the result.”
“I also heard your call.”
“A recording without context.”
Dr.
Ellis cleared his throat.
“The sample arrived under proper chain of custody.”
Marco approached the desk.
“May I see the intake time?”
Dr.
Ellis covered the report.
“That is confidential.”
“You said it was proper.
Why hide it?”
Vincent stood between them.
“This guard is finished here.”
“That is Alessandro’s decision,” Rosa said.
Vincent turned on her.
“You have no voice in this room.”
Lily buried her face in Rosa’s neck.
Alessandro moved beside them.
“She has more voice here than you do.”
Marco unlocked his phone.
“The lab courier entered through the service gate at 10:12 last night.
The security camera shows what he carried.”
He played the footage.
A courier stepped from a gray car and handed a small packet to Isabella.
Dr.
Ellis leaned forward.
“That is not our standard collection kit.”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed.
“The picture is blurred.”
“The license plate is not.” Marco enlarged the image.
“The car belongs to a Romano company.”
Vincent pointed at him.
“You can still walk away with your position and a year’s salary.”
Marco set his security badge on the desk.
“My mother cleaned your house for 11 years.
You dismissed her while she was receiving treatment because she missed three mornings.”
“That is irrelevant.”
“It is why you thought I could be bought cheaply.”
Dr.
Ellis reached for the report.
“I need to verify the laboratory file.”
Isabella seized the envelope first.
Alessandro caught her arm.
“Put it down.”
She tore the report in half.
“You already read it.”
Marco’s phone chimed.
He glanced at the screen, and his face changed.
“The security archive found a second camera angle.”
Vincent moved toward the door.
“We are finished.”
“No,” Marco said.
“This angle shows who replaced the packet inside Isabella’s car.”
He turned the phone toward the room.
On the screen, Isabella opened the courier’s case while Vincent’s attorney stood watch.
But another figure sat behind the steering wheel.
Dr.
May you like
Ellis stared at the frozen image.
“That is my deputy director.”
