Chapter 20 – The DNA That Should Have Been Impossible
The helicopter sliced through the night sky.
Below them, the Mediterranean stretched into darkness.
No one spoke.
Julian couldn't stop staring at the final notification glowing on Marco's tablet.
DNA RESULTS – CHILD: CONFIDENTIAL
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: NO MATCH FOUND.
The words made no sense.
He looked at Marco.
"There has to be a mistake."
Marco frowned.
"I thought the same thing."
"The laboratory that generated this report was inside the Archive."
Julian shook his head.
"They manipulated every record."
"Exactly."
Marco enlarged the file.
"But something about this one is different."
Elena cradled the sleeping baby.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"What are you saying?"
Marco opened the report.
"It doesn't say Julian isn't the father."
Everyone looked at him.
"It says..."
"...the DNA couldn't be matched against any profile stored in the organization's database."
Julian blinked.
"So?"
Marco took a slow breath.
"The Archive contained DNA records for every verified member of every founding bloodline."
He tapped the screen.
"If your son's DNA produced 'No Match'..."
"...it means he belongs to a bloodline that was never registered."
Silence filled the helicopter.
Even Isabella looked stunned.
"Impossible."
Marco nodded.
"That's what I thought."
Julian suddenly remembered Gabriel's final words.
'Not a vault... A future.'
He slowly opened his hand.
The tiny brass key still rested in his palm.
Unlike ordinary keys...
Its handle bore an unfamiliar crest.
Not the Rossi family eagle.
Not the crescent used by Catherine.
A phoenix.
Elena noticed it.
"I've never seen that symbol."
Neither had Julian.
Luca Ferraro glanced into the rearview mirror.
"I have."
Everyone turned toward him.
"You know this crest?"
Luca nodded grimly.
"I saw it once."
"Forty years ago."
"Antonio ordered every photograph destroyed."
Julian leaned forward.
"Where?"
Luca hesitated.
"Switzerland."
"There was another family."
"They refused to join the Blood Agreement."
"They disappeared a week later."
Marco immediately searched the recovered files.
Nothing.
No phoenix crest.
No Swiss family.
No references.
It was as if they had never existed.
Julian quietly said,
"They erased them."
Marco nodded.
"Completely."
The helicopter descended toward the Rossi Estate.
Even from the air...
Something looked wrong.
Every light inside the mansion was on.
Luxury cars filled the circular driveway.
Dozens of unfamiliar security vehicles surrounded the property.
Commander Dubois' voice crackled through the radio.
"Mr. Rossi."
"Our surveillance confirms movement inside."
"At least twenty armed individuals."
Julian frowned.
"Margaret?"
"We believe she's coordinating the evacuation."
The helicopter landed on the front lawn.
Julian stepped onto the grass with Elena beside him, the baby asleep against her shoulder.
Emily held Isabella's hand.
The grand mansion looked exactly as Julian remembered.
Yet somehow...
It no longer felt like home.
The front door stood open.
No guards.
No servants.
No sound.
Julian slowly entered.
The marble foyer echoed beneath his footsteps.
Family portraits still lined the walls.
Childhood memories flooded back.
Birthday parties.
Christmas mornings.
His father's laughter.
Now...
Only silence remained.
A single lamp glowed inside the library.
Someone was waiting.
Margaret Hawthorne sat calmly in Antonio Rossi's favorite chair.
She wore the same gray uniform she had worn for decades.
Perfectly pressed.
Perfectly composed.
A porcelain teacup rested beside her.
She looked at Julian and smiled gently.
"You've grown into your father."
Julian's voice was ice.
"You drugged my wife."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"You kidnapped Elena."
"Yes."
"You murdered innocent people."
Margaret slowly shook her head.
"No."
"I only followed orders."
Julian stepped closer.
"Whose orders?"
Margaret looked directly at the sleeping baby.
"The child's."
Silence.
Elena tightened her arms around the infant.
"What?"
Margaret smiled sadly.
"Not this child."
"The first one."
Julian frowned.
"What first child?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"The child Elena carried..."
"...before this pregnancy."
The room seemed to stop spinning.
Elena stared at her.
"No..."
Margaret continued softly.
"Eight months ago..."
"When we took Elena..."
"...she was already pregnant."
Julian slowly turned toward his wife.
Elena's face had become completely pale.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I..."
"I don't remember."
Margaret nodded.
"You weren't supposed to."
"The drugs erased nearly three weeks."
Julian's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"What happened to our baby?"
Margaret looked away.
For the first time...
She seemed ashamed.
"We never found the child."
Julian froze.
"What do you mean?"
"Catherine ordered the pregnancy terminated."
"The doctors prepared the procedure."
"But before they could begin..."
"...the fetus was gone."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Marco whispered,
"That's impossible."
Margaret slowly stood.
"So we believed."
She reached into her apron pocket.
Pulled out a faded ultrasound image.
And handed it to Julian.
Written across the bottom was a handwritten note from Antonio Rossi.
'If they ever discover the truth, protect both children.'
Julian's hands began shaking.
"Both..."
He looked up.
"There was only one pregnancy."
Margaret met his eyes.
"No."
"There were twins."
Elena gasped, her knees nearly giving way.
Julian caught her before she fell.
Margaret continued in a trembling voice.
"One child remained with Elena."
"The other..."
"...disappeared before anyone could explain how."
Marco stared at the ultrasound.
Two tiny heartbeats.
Clearly visible.
He looked at Julian.
"Boss..."
"If this is real..."
Julian slowly finished the sentence.
"...our other child could still be alive."
At that exact moment, the grandfather clock in the library struck midnight.
A hidden compartment inside the clock clicked open by itself.
Everyone turned.
Inside lay an old leather envelope sealed with red wax.
Across the front, in Antonio Rossi's unmistakable handwriting, were eight words:
"For Julian—Open Only When You Find Both Children."
Julian slowly reached for the envelope.
His hand stopped just before touching it.
Because somewhere upstairs...
May you like
A child's footsteps echoed across the empty mansion.
End of Chapter 20 – End of Season One
