Chapter 12 - What Giovanni Wouldn’t Do
Giovanni moved me out of his apartment the same evening.
Not because I asked.
Because until DNA testing settled the question, neither of us wanted ambiguity.
“You don’t owe me an explanation,” I said.
“I owe myself one.”
There had been no affair.
No kiss.
Nothing beyond attraction neither of us had admitted aloud.
Still, the possibility disgusted us both.
“You saved me because you thought—”
“I didn’t know any of this.”
“I know.”
He looked exhausted.
“I noticed you because Tyler humiliated you.”
“That’s a terrible romantic origin anyway.”
He laughed.
It was the first normal sound either of us had made in days.
DNA tests were ordered.
Results would take time because investigators demanded independent laboratories.
Meanwhile Rebecca and Tyler remained missing.
Then Tyler called me.
“Hannah.”
“Where are you?”
“With Mom.”
“Are you safe?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
Rebecca had taken him to an Ashford estate in Vermont.
She wanted him to help destroy the original newborn ledger.
“Why call me?”
“Because I’m done.”
“Done with what?”
“Being exactly what she made me.”
I remembered the wine.
The laughter.
My knees on marble.
Forgiveness did not arrive.
But perhaps change could begin before forgiveness.
“Send your location.”
“I already did.”
Then Tyler whispered:
“She says you were supposed to be me.”
“What?”
Footsteps sounded behind him.
The call ended.
Police reached the estate.
Rebecca had already fled.
Tyler remained.
So did the ledger.
Its pages showed two infant transfers.
One concerned Sofia Moretti’s daughter.
The other concerned Rebecca’s newborn son.
Tyler.
Alexander had planned to exchange them.
Why?
The Moretti infant carried the valuable genetic marker.
Alexander wanted the child under Ashford control.
But Margaret interrupted the scheme.
She took one baby before the switch could be completed.
Which baby?
The ledger used numbers.
Not names.
DNA would tell us.
Then Tyler handed me something he had hidden from Rebecca.
A letter from Lorenzo Moretti.
If anything happens to me, protect the Evans child. Margaret saved her from Alexander.
Lorenzo knew about me.
Giovanni read it twice.
“Why didn’t my father tell us?”
Sofia whispered:
“Because I would have gone after Alexander.”
“And?”
“He threatened Giovanni.”
Her silence suddenly made sense.
Everyone had protected someone.
And every act of protection created another lie.
Then Franco entered.
“The DNA results.”
Nobody moved.
He handed the envelope to me.
I opened it.
First comparison:
Hannah Evans / Sofia Moretti.
No biological maternal relationship.
Giovanni exhaled.
Sofia closed her eyes.
I felt relief and grief simultaneously.
Then the second result.
Hannah Evans / Rebecca Ashford.
Maternal relationship probability:
99.99%.
Tyler stared at me.
May you like
Rebecca Ashford—the woman who ordered me onto my knees—
was my biological mother.
