Chapter 6 - The Truth About Isabella
The DNA test arrived two days later.
Dominic refused to open it without Sophie in the room.
She did not know why he asked her to stay.
Maybe because she had already seen him at his worst.
Maybe because he trusted her with silence.
Maybe because Matteo had fallen asleep in her arms more than once, and Dominic no longer looked at her as only a waitress.
They sat in his office overlooking the gray Chicago skyline.
Matteo slept in a bassinet beside the desk.
Detective Marquez had arranged the test through an independent lab. The sealed envelope lay between Dominic and Sophie like a bomb.
Dominic stared at it.
Then he said, “Open it.”
Sophie shook her head.
“It’s yours.”
His eyes met hers.
“Please.”
So she opened it.
Her hands trembled as she read the result.
Then she looked up.
Dominic’s face was pale.
“What does it say?”
Sophie smiled through sudden tears.
“You’re his father.”
Dominic did not move.
For one second.
Two.
Then he covered his face with both hands.
A sound escaped him—not quite a sob, not quite a laugh.
Sophie looked toward Matteo.
The baby stirred in his sleep.
Dominic lowered his hands.
“He’s mine,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“He’s mine.”
Sophie nodded.
And then Dominic stood, crossed the room, and lifted his son from the bassinet.
He held Matteo against his chest like he had been afraid to fully claim him before.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the baby. “I’m sorry I let them make me doubt you.”
Matteo made a small sleepy sound.
Sophie turned away to give them privacy.
But Detective Marquez’s call shattered the moment.
“Victor Caruso has been located,” she said when Sophie answered.
“Where?”
“At a warehouse near the river. We believe he is preparing to leave the city.”
Dominic heard every word.
“I’m coming,” he said.
Detective Marquez’s voice turned sharp through the speaker.
“No. You are not.”
“He targeted my son.”
“And that is exactly why you stay away from this operation.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You expect me to sit here?”
“I expect you to keep your infant son safe while trained officers arrest Victor Caruso.”
The call ended.
For ten minutes, Dominic paced the office like a caged animal.
Sophie watched him.
“You should listen to her.”
“She doesn’t understand.”
“She understands more than you think.”
“She didn’t lose Isabella.”
“No,” Sophie said. “But she understands that revenge doesn’t make people safe.”
Dominic stopped.
His eyes fixed on hers.
“You think I want revenge?”
“I think you’re angry.”
“I am.”
“You have every right to be.”
“And then?”
“And then you decide whether Matteo grows up with a father who protects him or a father who lets rage control him.”
The words were harsh.
But Dominic needed harsh.
He looked at his son.
Then at Sophie.
Finally, he picked up his phone.
“Double the security,” he told one of his men. “No one leaves this building without Detective Marquez’s approval.”
Sophie exhaled.
But the calm lasted less than an hour.
A fire alarm sounded throughout the penthouse building.
Guards rushed into the hallway.
The elevator doors opened and closed repeatedly as residents evacuated.
Smoke began curling under the nursery door.
Sophie grabbed Matteo.
Dominic reached for her arm.
“Service stairwell,” he said.
They moved quickly through the hall, surrounded by guards.
But when they reached the emergency exit, Sophie saw something that made her stop.
The stairwell door had been propped open.
A thin wire ran along the floor.
And at the bottom of the stairs, a small red light blinked.
“Dominic,” she whispered.
He turned.
Sophie held Matteo closer.
“That isn’t a fire alarm.”
Dominic’s eyes followed hers.
The red light blinked again.
A bomb.
Someone had not targeted the building.
They had targeted the escape route.
May you like
And as Dominic pulled Sophie and Matteo backward, the stairwell exploded.
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