Chapter 6 - The Blood Test
Before moving against Black Harbor, Matteo needed proof that the video had not been manufactured.
He called Dr. Evelyn Hart, a private geneticist who had treated the Varric family for years.
She arrived at the estate before two in the morning.
Samples were taken from Liana, Nico and a strand of Elena’s hair preserved in an old brush.
The results came back ninety-eight minutes later.
Dr. Hart set the report on the table.
“Liana and Elena are monozygotic twins.”
“Genetically, they are nearly identical.”
Liana stared at the numbers.
All her life, she had felt as though part of her history had been removed.
Now she understood why.
Dr. Hart turned to Nico’s results.
“Liana is his biological aunt.”
Matteo looked toward the sleeping child.
That explained Nico’s fixation on her face.
But Dr. Hart was not finished.
“There is something else.”
She showed them a toxicology panel.
“Nico has been exposed to a low dose of clonazene.”
“It is a sedative normally used in controlled neurological studies.”
“The dose was too small to make him unconscious.”
“It would make him confused, irritable and dependent on familiar physical contact.”
“Combined with the ultrasonic transmitter, it would have terrified him.”
Liana remembered the way Nico had clung to her.
“They wanted Matteo exhausted.”
“And emotionally unstable,” Dr. Hart said.
“They were preparing him to make desperate decisions.”
Matteo looked toward the glass doors.
For seven months, Aldo and Luca had allowed him to believe his wife was dead.
For three weeks, they had used his son’s suffering to break what remained of him.
Dante entered carrying a tablet.
“We found how the drug was administered.”
Every bottle of formula delivered to the estate carried the same lot number.
The supplier was a company controlled by one of Aldo’s foundations.
Matteo ordered every bottle destroyed.
He then called a federal prosecutor named Rachel Stone.
Elena had secretly contacted Rachel before the crash.
Rachel had spent months investigating the disappearance of children linked to private adoption agencies.
She arrived with two federal agents and a sealed warrant.
“I thought Elena was dead,” Rachel said.
“So did I,” Matteo replied.
“If she is alive, Aldo will kill her before sunrise.”
Rachel placed a map of Black Harbor across the table.
“Then we stop acting like this is a family dispute.”
“This is an organized trafficking operation.”
Matteo met her gaze.
“For tonight, our goals are the same.”
Rachel nodded.
“Find the children.”
May you like
“Bring Elena home.”
“And make sure Aldo Varric never controls another grave.”
