Wendy stared at the phone as if it were something dangerous.
MARA.
The name kept glowing on the screen.
Luca whispered, “Answer it.”
Wendy didn’t move.
“Mother.”
Her fingers trembled.
“I haven’t heard her voice in almost three years.”
My chest tightened.
“You know her?”
Wendy looked at me.
“Yes.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You told me you didn’t know who she was.”
“I said I didn’t know who her father was.”
His expression hardened.
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
Wendy looked back at the ringing phone.
“I don’t know.”
Luca grabbed her wrist gently but firmly.
“Answer it.”
Wendy finally pressed the green button.
She lifted the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Wendy’s face changed.
“Mara?”
I could hear faint breathing through the speaker.
Then a young woman’s voice.
“Wendy?”
Luca froze.
Wendy closed her eyes.
“Oh my God.”
The girl’s voice trembled.
“Is he there?”
Wendy looked at Luca.
“Who?”
“Luca.”
My husband stepped forward immediately.
“I’m here.”
Silence again.
Then the girl began crying.
Luca’s face softened instantly.
“Mara?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re watching me.”
The room went cold again.
Luca looked at Wendy.
“Who is watching you?”
Mara took a shaky breath.
“The same people who watched Adrian.”
Wendy whispered, “No.”
Mara continued.
“I found his files.”
Luca’s eyes widened.
“What files?”
“The ones he hid before he died.”
“Where?”
“I can’t say.”
“Mara, listen to me. You need to go to the police.”
A bitter laugh came through the phone.
“I tried.”
Luca went still.
“What happened?”
“They already knew my name.”
Nobody spoke.
Mara continued.
“They asked me questions they shouldn’t have known to ask.”
Wendy gripped the edge of the table.
“What questions?”
“About Elena.”
My heart pounded.
“Your mother?” I asked.
Mara paused.
“Who is that?”
Luca looked toward me.
“This is my wife, Jessi.”
Another silence.
Then Mara whispered, “You have a wife?”
“Yes.”
“And a baby?”
Luca’s face changed.
“How do you know that?”
The breathing on the other end grew faster.
“That’s why I called.”
Luca stepped away from the bed.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone sent me a photograph.”
My stomach dropped.
“Of what?”
Mara answered.
“Your daughter.”
Every muscle in Luca’s body tightened.
“When?”
“This morning.”
Wendy whispered, “Richard.”
Mara heard her.
“Who is Richard?”
Luca looked at his mother.
Then he said carefully, “Possibly your father.”
The line went silent.
Completely silent.
Finally Mara whispered, “What?”
Luca swallowed.
“We found Adrian’s recording.”
“What recording?”
“He said you might not have been his daughter.”
I could hear her breathing change.
Then she said, “I already know.”
Luca’s face went blank.
“What?”
“I did a DNA test.”
Wendy sat down abruptly.
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“With who?”
“No one.”
Luca frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I used a genealogy database.”
My heart began racing.
“What did it show?”
Mara answered slowly.
“It showed I had a close relative.”
Luca’s eyes widened.
“How close?”
“Parent-level.”
The room became silent.
Wendy whispered, “Richard?”
“No.”
Luca looked confused.
“Then who?”
Mara’s voice cracked.
“The match was listed under a woman.”
Wendy stared at the phone.
“What woman?”
Mara took a breath.
“Wendy Vance.”
The silence that followed felt unreal.
Wendy slowly shook her head.
“No.”
Mara began crying again.
“I didn’t understand it either.”
Luca looked at his mother.
“Mother?”
Wendy’s face was completely drained of color.
“I never took a DNA test.”
Mara said, “Then someone used your DNA.”
Wendy’s eyes widened.
I whispered, “How would anyone get it?”
Nobody answered.
Then Luca suddenly turned toward the envelope.
“The medical technology company.”
Wendy looked at him.
“What?”
“You said the family invested in medical technology.”
“Yes.”
“Did Father ever fund genetic testing?”
Wendy’s expression shifted.
“Years ago.”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Then he could have had access.”
Mara suddenly said, “There’s more.”
Luca gripped the phone.
“What?”
“I didn’t match Wendy as my mother.”
Wendy looked confused.
“Then what kind of match?”
Mara whispered, “Grandmother.”
Everything stopped.
I stared at Wendy.
She stared at Luca.
Luca looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
“No.”
Mara continued.
“The system predicted Wendy Vance was most likely my biological grandmother.”
Luca’s voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Then one of her children is your parent.”
Wendy covered her mouth.
Adrian.
Luca.
Those were the only two sons she had ever mentioned.
Mara whispered, “Adrian can’t be my father.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Then…”
I looked at my husband.
Wendy looked at him too.
Mara finished the sentence.
“Luca may be.”
My blood turned cold.
Luca stumbled backward.
“No.”
Wendy whispered, “Impossible.”
Mara said, “I thought so too.”
Luca shook his head violently.
“No. I never met Elena.”
Mara was silent.
“I never met her,” he repeated.
“I believe you.”
“Then how?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca ran both hands through his hair.
“This is insane.”
Mara said quietly, “There is one way it could happen.”
Luca froze.
“What?”
“Adrian’s files.”
“What do they say?”
Mara hesitated.
“He found records from a fertility clinic.”
My stomach tightened.
Luca’s eyes met mine.
Neither of us spoke.
Mara continued.
“The clinic was partly owned by a Vance subsidiary.”
Wendy whispered, “No.”
“There were samples stored there.”
Luca’s face changed.
“What samples?”
“Genetic material.”
His voice dropped.
“Whose?”
Mara paused.
“Yours.”
Luca looked sick.
“No.”
Wendy stood.
“That cannot be true.”
“It is.”
Luca stared at the phone.
“Why would they have my sample?”
Mara answered.
“According to the files, you were tested when you were nineteen.”
Luca suddenly remembered.
His expression changed.
“The sports physical.”
Wendy closed her eyes.
Luca turned on her.
“You told me Father wanted a full medical screening before college.”
Wendy said nothing.
“Mother.”
“I didn’t know.”
His voice rose.
“You signed the forms!”
“I thought it was routine!”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“Nothing in this family was routine.”
I held Fiona tighter.
A horrible thought was forming.
I didn’t want to say it.
But I had to.
“So someone could have used Luca’s genetic material without his knowledge?”
Mara whispered, “Yes.”
Luca stared at me.
His face showed pure horror.
I asked the question no one else wanted to ask.
“To create Mara?”
The girl on the phone began crying quietly.
“I think so.”
Wendy shook her head.
“No.”
Mara said, “Adrian suspected Elena had been implanted.”
Luca’s face twisted.
“With my embryo?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Mara took another shaky breath.
“I found the lab code.”
“Tell me.”
“It wasn’t a complete embryo.”
Luca looked confused.
“It was your sperm sample.”
The room went silent.
I shut my eyes.
Luca sat down hard.
Mara continued.
“According to Adrian’s notes, Elena became pregnant through artificial insemination.”
Wendy whispered, “Without Luca’s consent.”
“Yes.”
Luca’s face looked empty.
I reached for his hand.
For the first time since Wendy arrived, he let me.
Mara said, “Adrian thought he was the father for years.”
Luca looked toward the floor.
“And Father knew?”
“I think so.”
Wendy whispered, “Richard arranged it.”
Mara answered.
“That’s what the files suggest.”
Luca’s voice broke.
“Why?”
Wendy slowly sat beside him.
“Because Adrian had fertility problems.”
Luca looked at her.
“What?”
She stared at the floor.
“Your father believed Adrian might never have children.”
My stomach turned.
“So he used Luca?”
Wendy’s eyes filled with shame.
“To preserve the family line.”
Luca pulled his hand away from mine and stood.
He began pacing.
“He used me like livestock.”
“Luca—”
“He stole part of me.”
Wendy started crying.
“I didn’t know.”
“He made my brother raise my daughter.”
The word daughter hit all of us.
Luca stopped moving.
Mara stopped breathing on the phone.
My heart broke for both of them.
Luca whispered, “Oh God.”
Mara finally said, “You don’t have to call me that.”
Luca’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know what to call anything anymore.”
Neither of them spoke.
Then Mara whispered, “I don’t blame you.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“You should.”
“For what?”
“For not knowing?”
His voice broke.
“For not being there.”
“You couldn’t be there for a child you didn’t know existed.”
Luca sat beside my bed again.
Tears rolled down his face.
I squeezed his hand.
This time he held on tightly.
Mara continued.
“Adrian loved me.”
Luca looked at the phone.
“I know.”
“He was my father.”
Luca nodded even though she couldn’t see him.
“Yes.”
“Biology doesn’t erase that.”
“No.”
“But I needed to know the truth.”
Luca whispered, “You deserved it.”
Then Mara suddenly lowered her voice.
“I called because the files mention Fiona.”
Every trace of emotion left Luca’s face.
“What?”
My pulse jumped.
“She was born yesterday.”
“I know.”
“No. I mean Adrian’s files mention a future child.”
Wendy stood.
“What exactly does it say?”
Mara rustled papers.
Then she read.
“SECOND-GENERATION FEMALE DESCENDANT REQUIRED FOR FINAL TRANSFER.”
I looked at Luca.
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head.
Mara continued.
“There’s a trust amendment.”
Wendy whispered, “Richard’s trust.”
“Yes.”
Mara’s voice became urgent.
“It says control of a private account transfers only when Luca has a biological daughter.”
I felt physically sick.
Luca looked at Fiona.
“No.”
Mara said, “That’s why they were watching your wife.”
My arms tightened around my baby.
Wendy whispered, “What private account?”
Mara answered.
“I don’t know.”
“But Adrian did?”
“I think he was trying to find out.”
Luca suddenly stood.
“Then Fiona wasn’t added to the trust this morning.”
Mara said, “No.”
Luca looked at Wendy.
“Father had been waiting for her.”
Wendy’s face showed horror.
“For years.”
My voice shook.
“What is in that account?”
Mara became quiet.
Then she said, “I found one number.”
“What number?”
“Eight hundred forty-two million.”
Nobody moved.
I almost thought I heard her wrong.
“Dollars?”
“Yes.”
Luca stared at the wall.
“That’s impossible.”
Mara said, “I thought so too.”
Wendy whispered, “That is more than the public Vance holdings.”
“Exactly.”
Luca looked at her.
“Then where did it come from?”
Mara answered before Wendy could.
“That’s what Adrian died trying to discover.”
Another silence.
Then a sound came through Mara’s side of the call.
A door closing.
She immediately stopped speaking.
Luca noticed.
“Mara?”
Nothing.
“Mara?”
Her voice returned as a whisper.
“Someone’s here.”
Luca stood.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Forget that. Tell me now.”
Footsteps sounded faintly through the phone.
Mara began breathing faster.
“They found me.”
Wendy moved toward the speaker.
“Hide.”
“I’m already hiding.”
Luca’s voice became urgent.
“Mara, send me your location.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“If I do, they’ll trace you too.”
“They already know where I am!”
The footsteps grew louder.
Then Mara whispered something that made every hair on my arms rise.
“Luca…”
“What?”
“If anything happens to me, find Elena.”
Luca froze.
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“I thought she disappeared.”
“She did.”
“Where is she?”
Mara’s voice dropped even lower.
“She’s alive.”
Wendy gasped.
Luca said, “How do you know?”
“Because she called me yesterday.”
Everyone went silent.
Mara whispered, “And she told me one thing.”
“What?”
“She said Richard Vance isn’t the person who ordered Adrian killed.”
Wendy’s face changed.
Luca stared at the phone.
“Then who did?”
Before Mara could answer, someone slammed against a door on her end.
She screamed.
Luca shouted, “MARA!”
The line erupted with noise.
Footsteps.
A crash.
Then a man’s voice.
“Give me the phone.”
Mara screamed again.
The call disconnected.
Luca immediately called back.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
He looked at Wendy.
“Find her.”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Then use your investigators.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
Wendy grabbed her phone.
Before she could dial, mine suddenly vibrated beside my bed.
An unknown number.
I stared at it.
Luca noticed.
“Don’t answer.”
Then a message appeared.
One photograph.
I opened it.
And nearly dropped the phone.
It showed a young woman crouched behind a door.
Mara.
The photograph had been taken only seconds earlier.
Underneath it was a message.
WE HAVE THE WRONG GIRL.
BRING US FIONA.
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