Chapter 3 - Blood Doesn't Lie
The DNA report lay on Dominic's library desk beneath a cone of warm lamplight.
Hannah had read the same paragraph seven times and still felt detached from the words.
The laboratory could not identify Elena directly because no stored sample had been provided, but the genetic relationship between Hannah and the triplets was unmistakable.
Hannah shared the exact degree of maternal genetic overlap expected from an identical twin of their biological mother.
In ordinary language, she was their aunt.
In the strange mathematics of identical twins, she was genetically almost indistinguishable from their mother.
Hannah lowered the pages.
"So that's why they called me Mama."
A developmental specialist had joined them by secure video and had offered a cautious explanation.
The girls might have recognized facial geometry, scent similarities, vocal resonance, or simply a powerful resemblance to a mother they had lost before they could form normal language.
No one could say which.
Dominic sat opposite Hannah.
"They remembered her."
"Maybe."
"They remembered enough."
Hannah glanced toward the nursery upstairs.
Since returning from Queens, all three girls had refused to sleep unless Hannah sat in the room.
Lily had touched Hannah's face for nearly ten minutes as if comparing it to an old memory.
Grace had said only one word.
"Mama."
Emma had fallen asleep holding the sleeve of Hannah's sweater.
The tenderness of it felt almost unbearable because it belonged to someone else.
"I don't want them to think I'm her."
Dominic's gaze stayed on the DNA report.
"Neither do I."
The bluntness hurt more than Hannah expected.
She reminded herself that Elena had been his wife.
Hannah was simply a stranger wearing a dead woman's face.
"Good."
Dominic looked up.
"That's not what I meant."
"It sounded clear."
"I don't want my daughters losing their mother twice."
Hannah went quiet.
He leaned back.
"If they become attached to you because they think you're Elena and then you leave tomorrow, I don't know what that does to them."
"I have a life."
"I know."
"A job."
"Several, apparently."
"Rent."
"I know what rent is."
"Do you?"
Dominic almost smiled again.
The expression disappeared when the library door opened.
Luca entered with a thin file.
"We traced the call to Hannah's phone."
"Where?"
"Burner purchased in Newark yesterday."
"Camera footage?"
"Cash purchase, hat, mask."
"Of course."
Luca set the file down.
"But I found something on Matteo."
Hannah straightened.
Dominic's eyes sharpened.
"What?"
"He flew to Montreal this morning."
"Why?"
"According to him, a shipping meeting."
"According to records?"
"There is no meeting."
Dominic stood.
Hannah watched a transformation she was beginning to understand.
The father disappeared behind the man people whispered about.
"Call him."
Luca hesitated.
"If he knows we're looking—"
"Call him anyway."
Luca dialed and put the phone on speaker.
Matteo answered on the fourth ring.
His voice was warm and slightly irritated.
"Luca, if this is about the Harbor account, tell Dominic I signed it yesterday."
Dominic spoke.
"Where are you?"
There was a tiny pause.
"Montreal."
"Doing what?"
"Working, which is a habit someone in this family still has to maintain."
"Who are you meeting?"
Another pause.
"Why?"
"Answer me."
Matteo sighed.
"A broker named Lefevre."
Luca silently typed the name into his tablet and shook his head.
Dominic's face did not change.
"Did you know Elena was born Helena Mercer?"
The silence on the line lasted too long.
Hannah felt every hair on her arms rise.
Then Matteo laughed.
"What kind of question is that?"
"A simple one."
"Elena was born Elena Rossi."
"No."
"Dominic, what's going on?"
"Did you know she had a twin sister?"
This time Matteo answered quickly.
"No."
Too quickly.
Dominic looked at Luca.
Luca's face confirmed he heard it too.
"Come home."
"I will tomorrow."
"Tonight."
"I'm in another country."
"Then use the plane I pay for."
Matteo's warmth vanished.
"Careful how you speak to me, nephew."
Dominic's eyes went flat.
"Come home tonight."
He ended the call.
Hannah let out the breath she had been holding.
"He knows something."
"Yes."
"How can you tell?"
"Because Matteo never answers a question before deciding what the questioner already knows."
Luca closed the file.
"You think he'll come back?"
"No."
"Then why tell him?"
Dominic looked toward the rain-dark windows.
"Because now he'll move."
Hannah stared at him.
"You want him to move?"
"People make mistakes when they think they're about to lose something."
"That's comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
A cry sounded upstairs.
Hannah stood automatically.
Dominic noticed but said nothing.
She reached the nursery before the nanny.
Grace sat upright in her crib, eyes wide with panic.
The other two girls were waking.
Hannah moved slowly.
"Hey, Grace."
Grace stretched her arms out.
"Mama."
Hannah picked her up and held her against her shoulder.
"I'm Hannah."
The child buried her face against Hannah's neck.
"Han-na."
Hannah froze.
Dominic had entered behind her.
His face changed.
"Say it again."
Grace lifted her head.
"Han-na."
Hannah's eyes filled before she could stop them.
"That's right."
Grace touched Hannah's cheek.
"Han-na."
Lily stood in her crib.
"Hanna."
Emma joined her.
"Hanna."
The room seemed to contract around the sound.
For the first time, the girls were not calling Hannah by their mother's name.
They were learning hers.
Dominic sat on the edge of a chair as if his legs had stopped working.
Hannah smiled through tears.
"You three are going to make every specialist in New York angry."
Grace patted Hannah's face.
"Hanna."
Dominic turned away briefly.
Hannah pretended not to notice him wiping one hand across his eyes.
Later, after the girls slept, Hannah returned downstairs and found Rosa making tea in the kitchen.
"You should rest."
Rosa poured hot water into a cup.
"I don't think that's happening tonight."
Hannah sat at the island.
"Did Elena drink tea?"
Rosa smiled sadly.
"Chamomile with too much honey."
"I hate honey."
"Good."
Hannah looked at her.
Rosa's smile faded.
"You need to be different from her for their sake."
"I am different."
"I know."
Rosa placed the cup in front of her.
"Dominic may forget sometimes."
Hannah frowned.
"Why would he?"
"Because grief is selfish."
Hannah wrapped both hands around the cup.
"Were they happy?"
Rosa considered the question.
"They loved each other."
"That wasn't what I asked."
The older woman gave her a tired look.
"You're sharper than she was."
"That doesn't sound flattering to her."
"Elena was kind, but she spent too much energy keeping peace between men who enjoyed war."
"Dominic and Matteo?"
Rosa's hand paused over the sugar bowl.
"Among others."
Hannah leaned forward.
"Did Elena fear Matteo?"
Rosa did not answer.
"Rosa."
"She disliked being alone with him."
"Why?"
"She never said."
A metallic sound came from the hallway.
Rosa looked up.
Hannah turned.
Nothing moved beyond the kitchen door.
"What was that?"
Rosa walked toward the hall.
Hannah noticed her tea smelled faintly bitter beneath the chamomile.
She stared into the cup.
A thin film floated on the surface.
Her father had taken dozens of medications during cancer treatment, and Hannah had become familiar with the chalky smell of crushed tablets.
She lifted the cup carefully.
"Rosa."
The older woman turned.
"Did you put anything else in this?"
"No."
Hannah's heartbeat accelerated.
She set the cup down.
A second later, the kitchen lights went out.
Rosa screamed.
Hannah heard footsteps behind her.
Someone grabbed her hair and jerked her backward.
She drove her elbow behind her as hard as she could.
The person grunted.
Hannah twisted free and struck blindly with the ceramic mug.
It shattered against something solid.
A hand closed around her throat.
Then the kitchen door exploded inward.
Dominic's voice cut through the darkness.
"Let her go."
A gunshot cracked.
The grip vanished.
Emergency lights flashed red along the baseboards.
Hannah dropped to the floor.
Luca rushed past her.
A masked man ran through the service corridor.
Dominic started after him, then stopped when Hannah coughed.
He crouched beside her instead.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Your neck is bleeding."
"That's not mine."
He looked at the broken mug in her hand.
"You hit him?"
"I hope so."
Luca shouted from the corridor.
"He got out through the service exit."
Dominic's expression turned furious.
"How?"
"The alarm was disabled from inside."
Every person in the kitchen went silent.
Inside.
Someone in Dominic's own house had opened the way.
Hannah looked toward the untouched cup of tea.
"And someone put something in that."
Luca picked it up with a towel.
"We'll test it."
Dominic stood slowly.
"Lock the house."
Luca nodded.
"Nobody leaves."
Rosa's face went white.
Dominic looked at every doorway.
"Nobody."
Hannah rubbed the red marks on her throat.
"You said Matteo would move."
Dominic's gaze returned to her.
"Yes."
"Was this the mistake you were hoping for?"
His jaw tightened.
"No."
A security guard appeared in the doorway.
"Mr. Vale, we found the service door open, but there's something else."
"What?"
"The nursery camera feed was looped for six minutes."
Dominic's face emptied.
He ran.
Hannah followed.
They reached the nursery seconds later.
Lily and Emma were asleep.
Grace's crib was empty.
Hannah's blood went cold.
Then a tiny sound came from the closet.
"Hanna."
Dominic tore the door open.
Grace sat on the floor hugging the stuffed rabbit.
She was unharmed.
Pinned to her pajamas was a folded piece of paper.
Dominic removed it with shaking hands.
There were only six words written inside.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE DEAD WOMAN.
After Grace was found in the nursery closet, Dominic carried her downstairs himself.
He refused to let anyone else touch her until Luca confirmed every room had been cleared.
Grace rested her head beneath his chin and repeated Hannah's name drowsily.
"Hanna."
Dominic looked at Hannah.
"She never said Elena's name."
"Maybe she couldn't."
"She couldn't say anything."
Hannah watched his hand move over Grace's hair in slow circles.
"You keep blaming yourself."
His eyes lifted.
"You don't know me well enough to say that."
"You don't hide it as well as you think."
He gave her a hard look.
"I wasn't home when Elena left that night."
"You said you met her at the hospital."
"I was supposed to drive her to the federal meeting the next morning."
"Why weren't you home?"
Dominic's mouth tightened.
"Matteo called about a warehouse problem."
Hannah immediately understood.
"He got you out of the house."
"Maybe."
"And while you were gone, Elena left alone."
"Yes."
"Did Matteo know she was planning to meet the prosecutor?"
"I believed no."
Hannah looked at the note pinned to Grace's pajamas.
"You're starting to say believed a lot."
Dominic looked down at his daughter.
"I know."
The admission contained more fear than anger.
For years, certainty had been part of his power.
Now almost every certainty around his wife's death was being stripped away one piece at a time.
Hannah realized that was why he kept tightening control over doors, guards, and schedules.
He was trying to compensate for a world that had become impossible to predict.
May you like
It did not excuse the way he treated people.
But for the first time, she understood the machinery beneath it.
