I hesitated.
Just for a second.
Then accepted it.
Careful.
As if the paper itself could burn me.
My eyes scanned the header first.
Paternity Analysis Report – Short Tandem Repeat (STR)
DNA Profiling
My pulse slowed.
Then spiked.
My gaze dropped lower.
The conclusion sat there.
Clean. Unambiguous. Undeniable.
The alleged father, Vincenzo Orsini, cannot be excluded as the biological father of the child.
A pause.
My breath caught.
The world seemed to tilt.
Then the final line.
Probability of paternity: 99.9999998%.
The numbers blurred for a moment.
Then sharpened.
Seared into my brain.
My grip tightened on the paper.
Not in disbelief.
In realization.
In something closer to shock than anger.
Matteo had just confirmed Elena had never been touched during those four weeks of captivity, and now a DNA test had swiftly backed it up.
Pain ripped through me, raw and relentless, as memories of every time I had rejected her, every time I had doubted her and her pregnancy, surged through me.
My chest tightened, my fists clenched—rage at myself mingling with a grief so sharp it felt like knives biting into my heart.
Renzo’s voice cut through the silence, steady and controlled.
