Chapter 14 - THE SECOND SAMPLE
My father’s drive contained a folder we had overlooked.
M-17-CROSS.
Inside were two identifiers.
M-17.
And B-04.
Luka was M-17.
Nobody knew B-04.
Rachel traced the laboratory number.
The record was sealed.
Ethan called again before we could finish.
“I know where the envelope is.”
“Tell me.”
“Meet me.”
Luka shook his head.
I ignored him.
“Where?”
“The Bennett house.”
Rachel immediately objected.
“That property could be monitored.”
“It is.”
Ethan sounded defeated.
“But there’s something in my grandfather’s study you need to see.”
We went with law enforcement nearby.
I carried my daughter inside a house where Ethan and I had once celebrated our engagement.
Now every portrait on the wall looked different.
Robert Bennett watched from an oil painting above the fireplace.
Ethan stood beneath it.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Red-eyed.
No expensive coat.
No confidence.
He looked like a man watching his life collapse.
“Where’s Vanessa?”
“With investigators.”
He nodded.
Then he looked at Luka.
For a moment, jealousy flashed across his face.
It vanished quickly.
“You’re really her father.”
Luka’s voice was cold.
“Biologically.”
Ethan looked at the baby.
“I thought I was ready for this.”
“You were ready to use her.”
I stepped between them.
“Show me the envelope.”
Ethan led us to his grandfather’s study.
Behind a bookshelf was a wall safe.
Inside sat an old laboratory envelope.
My father’s handwriting covered the front.
DNA COMPARISON.
DO NOT DESTROY.
Rachel put on gloves.
Ethan grabbed my wrist.
Luka moved instantly.
“Take your hand off her.”
Ethan released me.
“Please.”
He looked at me.
“Don’t open it yet.”
“Why?”
“Because once you do, there’s no version of my life left.”
I stared at him.
“You should have thought of that before destroying mine.”
“It isn’t just about the baby.”
“Then what?”
Ethan’s face collapsed.
“B-04 is me.”
The room went silent.
I looked at the envelope.
Then at him.
“What does that mean?”
“My grandfather had me tested when I was a child.”
“What kind of test?”
“I didn’t know until years later.”
Ethan looked toward Robert Bennett’s portrait.
“I’m not Robert Bennett’s biological grandson.”
Rachel inhaled sharply.
Ethan continued.
“My father wasn’t his biological son.”
“The Bennett trust has been built around a bloodline that doesn’t exist.”
I stared at him.
“And you knew?”
“I found out four years ago.”
“That’s why you were desperate for an heir.”
“Yes.”
“If the trustees learned I was infertile and not genetically Bennett, I would lose everything.”
I almost pitied him.
Almost.
Then Rachel opened the outer envelope.
Inside was a sealed DNA report.
Ethan dropped to his knees.
Not dramatically.
Not for forgiveness.
His legs simply stopped holding him.
“Ava.”
He looked up at me.
“Please don’t open that.”
May you like
And I finally understood the sentence Luka had unknowingly walked into my life to fulfill.
My ex-husband was begging me not to open the last DNA envelope.
