Chapter 13 - The Second DNA Test
Celeste placed the certificate on the table.
Cause of death:
Blunt force trauma.
Time:
2:16 a.m.
She placed another document beside it.
A hospital intake form.
Daniel Marsh.
2:41 a.m.
Alive.
I stared.
"My father survived the crash."
"For eleven hours."
Nobody had told me.
Celeste had reached him first.
Dad had been conscious.
He knew he was dying.
He spent those hours making copies and recording testimony.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"He begged me not to."
Anger rose.
"You listened?"
"Vittorio had people watching you and Maryanne."
"I could have said goodbye."
"Yes."
That single word destroyed every defense.
Celeste didn't excuse herself.
"I'm sorry."
Dad's final recording required a password.
I knew it immediately.
My nursing graduation date.
The file opened.
Dad looked terrible.
Bandaged.
Pale.
But alive.
"Ellie."
Nobody called me that anymore.
"If you're watching this, I'm gone."
I cried silently.
"I wanted to tell you who I was. I didn't because being a Raldi is not an inheritance I wanted for you."
Cassian lowered his head.
Dad explained everything.
His adoption.
Bellwether.
Vittorio.
The archive.
Then he said something that changed the room.
"Cassian didn't order my death."
Cassian looked up.
"He ordered his men to stop my truck, and someday he'll have to answer for that. But Vittorio changed the order."
Dad knew.
He had known the distinction.
Then he smiled weakly.
"If you two somehow end up in the same room, try not to kill each other. You're both stubborn enough to attempt it."
I laughed through tears.
Cassian did too.
Dad's final instruction was simple.
Destroy the genetic archive after giving evidence of crimes to authorities.
Don't let another Raldi inherit it.
Information about innocent people's bodies wasn't power anyone deserved.
We followed his wish.
Relevant criminal records went to investigators through attorneys.
Private medical information unrelated to crimes was destroyed.
Bellwether's leverage machine died.
The second paternity reports arrived in writing that evening.
99.99+%.
Cassian held the page.
"Can I?"
He meant my stomach.
I nodded.
He placed his palm gently against me.
Nothing happened.
He waited.
Then a tiny movement.
His eyes widened.
"Was that—"
"Yes."
He laughed.
I'd never heard that sound from him.
Not controlled.
Not restrained.
Just surprised joy.
Then the study door opened.
Ezra entered.
His face was grim.
"Vittorio requested a meeting."
"No," Cassian said.
"He says he'll confess."
"He's already buried."
"Not about Bellwether."
Ezra looked at me.
"About Elena's father."
I stood.
"What else could there possibly be?"
Ezra handed me a note written by Vittorio.
Seven words.
DANIEL MARSH DID NOT DIE THAT NIGHT.
I stared at Celeste.
May you like
Her face lost all color.
Because according to her, she'd been there when my father took his final breath.
