CHAPTER 3 — The DNA Results That Changed Everything
The words echoed through my head.
We found blood.
The parking garage suddenly felt less like part of my headquarters and more like a crime scene hidden beneath a billion-dollar empire.
I left Margaret with the boys and followed security downstairs.
The elevator seemed suffocating.
No one spoke.
When the doors opened on Level Three, red-and-white tape already blocked off part of the concrete floor.
Police officers moved quietly beneath the fluorescent lights.
A black SUV stood abandoned near Pillar 17.
One rear door remained open.
Drops of blood stained the pavement.
Not enough for a body.
Enough for a struggle.
I knelt beside the stain.
Fresh.
Still dark.
Still wet around the edges.
Someone had taken Emily less than an hour earlier.
One detective approached.
"You Mr. Sterling?"
"Yes."
"I'm Detective Ryan Mercer."
He looked at the blood before looking back at me.
"Do you know the woman?"
My answer came without hesitation.
"I loved her."
The detective's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"And the children?"
"I... don't know."
The words tasted bitter.
"They believe I'm their father."
Mercer studied me for several seconds.
"You don't sound convinced."
"I was told years ago that I couldn't have children."
He nodded slowly.
"Medical mistakes happen."
I wished this felt that simple.
Because another possibility had begun growing inside my mind.
A possibility far darker.
If Emily had disappeared while carrying my children...
Who had kept them hidden for seven years?
Back upstairs, Lucas and Noah sat in my private office wrapped in blankets.
Someone from the cafeteria had brought them hot chocolate.
Neither boy had touched it.
They kept looking toward the elevator.
Waiting.
"Mama's late."
Noah whispered it more to himself than anyone else.
Lucas forced a smile.
"She's probably hiding."
That sentence didn't sound like hope.
It sounded like routine.
I sat across from them.
"Has your mother ever left you alone before?"
Lucas shook his head.
"Never."
"Did she ever tell you why you moved so much?"
Both boys nodded.
"There were bad people."
"What bad people?"
"They wanted to take us away."
"Did she tell you who they were?"
Lucas lowered his voice.
"They wore nice suits."
My heart skipped.
Noah continued.
"They always smiled."
"But Mama said smiling people can be the most dangerous."
The room fell silent.
I glanced toward Margaret.
She looked as disturbed as I felt.
An hour later, my private physician arrived carrying a small medical case.
Dr. Evelyn Carter had treated me since the accident.
She knew every scar on my body.
Every surgery.
Every diagnosis.
She looked at the twins.
Then at me.
"You think..."
"I don't know what to think."
Lucas looked between us.
"Are we sick?"
"No."
I smiled gently.
"We're just going to answer a question."
Dr. Carter knelt beside the boys.
"This won't hurt."
She collected cheek swabs from Lucas.
Then Noah.
Finally from me.
The entire procedure lasted less than two minutes.
The waiting...
Would feel much longer.
"I'll have the lab rush it."
Dr. Carter promised.
"Four hours."
Four hours.
Four hours between two completely different lives.
While the samples were being processed, I finished reading Emily's letter.
Every paragraph made my chest tighter.
Alexander...
If you're reading this, then they failed to erase the truth.
I never betrayed you.
I never stopped loving you.
Tears blurred the page.
The next lines nearly broke me.
The night before I disappeared, I came to tell you I was pregnant.
I stopped breathing.
Pregnant.
Eight years ago.
She had been carrying our children.
I kept reading.
I never reached your apartment.
My hands trembled violently.
A black sedan forced my car off the road.
Three men were waiting.
One of them already knew my name.
One of them knew yours.
I looked toward the office windows.
The skyline of Manhattan had never looked so cold.
Emily hadn't abandoned me.
She'd been taken.
The rest of the paragraph chilled my blood.
They told me if I ever contacted you again...
You would die before seeing your babies born.
At exactly 3:12 p.m., Dr. Carter returned.
She wasn't alone.
The head of the genetics laboratory walked beside her carrying a sealed envelope.
Neither looked comfortable.
Margaret stood.
"So?"
Dr. Carter looked directly at me.
"I've checked the results three times."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
She handed me the report.
The words blurred together before finally coming into focus.
Probability of biological paternity: 99.9999998%.
I read it again.
Then again.
The number didn't change.
Lucas.
My son.
Noah.
My son.
The doctor quietly said,
"Alexander..."
"You are their biological father."
The room disappeared.
For years, I had believed I would never hear a child call me Dad.
Now two boys already had.
And they were mine.
Mine.
Lucas noticed the tears I couldn't hide anymore.
He walked over carefully.
"Did we do something wrong?"
I dropped to my knees.
"No."
My voice shattered.
"You did everything right."
I opened my arms.
Both boys rushed into them.
For the first time in my life...
I hugged my sons.
Not because I hoped.
Not because I imagined.
Because they were real.
Lucas buried his face against my shoulder.
"I told Noah."
"What?"
"I told him you'd hug us."
Noah laughed through tears.
"I said you'd probably cry."
Margaret quietly turned away.
Even Dr. Carter wiped her eyes.
For one perfect minute...
Nothing else existed.
Not the company.
Not the investigation.
Not the missing years.
Only a father holding the children stolen from him.
Then my office phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Margaret reached for it.
I stopped her.
"I'll answer."
The line was silent for several seconds.
Then a distorted male voice spoke.
"So..."
"...the DNA confirmed it."
Ice shot through my veins.
"Who is this?"
A quiet laugh.
"You've finally met your sons."
"Where's Emily?"
Another laugh.
"You should've asked where she was..."
"...eight years ago."
My grip tightened.
"If you touch her—"
"You still don't understand."
The voice interrupted calmly.
"This was never about Emily."
"It was always about you."
The call disconnected.
Immediately every monitor in my office flashed black.
Across twelve different screens...
The same sentence appeared in white letters.
WELCOME BACK TO THE GAME, ALEXANDER.
Before anyone could react...
Every screen changed again.
A live security camera appeared.
Not from Sterling Tower.
From somewhere else.
A dark room.
Concrete walls.
A single chair.
A woman tied to it.
Her face bruised.
Her hands bound behind her back.
Slowly...
She lifted her head.
Even through the swollen face...
I recognized her instantly.
Emily.
She stared directly into the camera.
And with trembling lips...
She mouthed four words that made my blood run cold.
Don't trust your brother.
The video cut to black.
I froze.
My brother?
That was impossible.
Because my younger brother, Daniel Sterling...
Had been dead for eight years.
Or at least...
May you like
That's what everyone believed.
End of Chapter 3...
