Chapter 7 - Blood Is the Oldest LieValerie refused to cry.
That was the first thing Emmett noticed.
Not after the photograph.
Not after the word niece.
Not after the possibility that another piece of her childhood had been manufactured.
She simply stood at the warehouse window, arms folded, staring toward the frozen river.
Emmett knew the posture.
It was what people did when they had absorbed more pain than their bodies could display without collapsing.
Adrian lit a cigarette.
Delphine took it from his hand and crushed it beneath her heel.
“No smoking.”
He looked at her.
“We may all be dead tomorrow.”
“Then die without making the warehouse smell worse.”
Luca almost smiled.
Emmett did not.
“Matteo said niece.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“What do you know?”
“Nothing certain.”
“Give me uncertain.”
Adrian sighed.
“Angela Russo had an affair.”
Valerie turned.
“With who?”
Adrian looked at Emmett.
“Salvatore.”
The warehouse went silent.
Valerie laughed once.
Sharp.
Disbelieving.
“No.”
Adrian continued.
“It lasted less than a year.”
“No.”
“Angela tried to end it.”
“Stop.”
“Your legal father knew.”
“I said stop.”
Emmett stepped between Adrian and Valerie.
“That’s enough.”
She pushed past him.
“No.”
Her eyes burned.
“Finish it.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Valerie was born nine months after Salvatore and Angela began seeing each other.”
Emmett felt nausea rise.
If Salvatore was Valerie’s father—
Then Valerie was his half sister.
Every childhood memory reordered itself.
The bread.
The button.
The way Sofia had been interested in Valerie.
The warning.
The ledger.
The secret.
Valerie looked at Emmett.
The same horror was in her eyes.
“No.”
Emmett’s voice was steady.
“We don’t know.”
Adrian nodded.
“Correct.”
Valerie stared.
“You just said—”
“I said there was an affair. I did not say Salvatore was your father.”
“Then why would Matteo call me niece?”
“Because he believes it.”
“Believes?”
“He used the rumor for years.”
Emmett’s jaw tightened.
“What did Angela say?”
Adrian looked away.
“That her husband was Valerie’s father.”
“Did Salvatore believe her?”
“No.”
“Did Sofia?”
Adrian hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Valerie sat down hard.
Emmett remained standing.
Every instinct told him to hit something.
He preferred facts.
Facts did not bleed.
“DNA,” Delphine said.
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
“Emmett and Valerie. Test it.”
Valerie’s face twisted.
“No hospital systems.”
“Private lab,” Luca said.
“We can have an answer in hours if we pay enough.”
Emmett looked at Valerie.
Her hands trembled.
“I don’t want to know.”
Then after several seconds:
“I have to.”
By late afternoon, Luca had arranged private testing.
The sample left under armed escort.
Results would return before midnight.
Meanwhile, Emmett planned Pier Nine.
He rejected Valerie’s involvement.
She rejected his rejection.
Finally he slammed one hand onto the desk.
“You are not walking into Matteo’s hands.”
“And your solution?”
“I go.”
“He asked for me.”
“He gets me instead.”
“He’ll know.”
“Then he’ll be disappointed.”
Valerie stepped closer.
“You cannot shoot every problem.”
“I can shoot many.”
“You’re impossible.”
“You remembered that too?”
“I remembered you were stubborn.”
“Now I have resources.”
She stared at him.
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she said softly, “If we’re related…”
The sentence died.
Emmett’s face changed.
He looked away.
The strange emotional current between them had been growing since the diner.
Neither had named it.
Now the possibility made both of them uncomfortable in a way that revealed too much.
“We wait for the test,” he said.
“Yes.”
Neither looked at the other.
At six thirty, Delphine found Valerie alone in the library.
She placed two mugs of coffee on the table.
Valerie did not thank her.
Delphine sat anyway.
“I’m not asking forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“I don’t deserve it.”
Valerie looked up.
Delphine’s voice was quieter than usual.
“I had nightmares about that house for years.”
Valerie’s expression hardened.
“Imagine being inside it.”
“I do.”
“No. You imagine watching.”
Delphine nodded.
“Yes.”
She accepted the distinction.
Valerie studied her.
“Why marry Emmett?”
Delphine almost laughed.
“Our fathers decided it made sense.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Delphine looked toward the doorway.
“Because I thought he was the only man in Providence I could marry who would never frighten me.”
Valerie frowned.
“He frightens everyone.”
“Not in the way our fathers did.”
The answer changed something.
Delphine continued.
“He is dangerous when he chooses to be. They were dangerous when they were bored.”
Valerie looked down at the coffee.
“Do you love him?”
Delphine took time before answering.
“I wanted to.”
Valerie said nothing.
“Do you?”
Valerie’s eyes lifted sharply.
“That’s absurd.”
“Is it?”
“We may share a father.”
Delphine gave her a dry look.
“Then let’s hope the laboratory has excellent news.”
Despite everything, Valerie laughed.
The sound surprised them both.
It was the first genuine laugh Emmett heard from the hallway.
He stopped outside the room.
For a second, he was thirteen again.
Then his phone buzzed.
Luca.
“Results.”
Emmett’s chest tightened.
“Say it.”
“You are not siblings.”
He closed his eyes.
The relief was immediate.
Too immediate.
Luca continued.
“No close biological relationship.”
Emmett let out a breath.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
He opened his eyes.
“The lab compared Valerie’s markers to the archived family profile you gave them from Salvatore.”
“And?”
“Salvatore Castelli was not her father.”
“Good.”
“But the lab found a different familial match in the private database.”
Emmett’s stomach tightened.
“To who?”
“Matteo.”
Emmett froze.
“What?”
“Second-degree probability is high.”
“Meaning?”
“Matteo is likely her father.”
The hallway seemed to narrow.
Emmett entered the library.
Valerie looked up instantly.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
Her face went white.
“Are we—”
“No.”
The word came too quickly.
Delphine noticed.
Valerie did too.
Emmett continued.
“Salvatore wasn’t your father.”
She exhaled.
Then she saw his expression.
“What else?”
“Matteo probably was.”
Silence.
Valerie sat back.
“My mother…”
“Was involved with Matteo.”
“Not Salvatore?”
“Maybe both rumors existed deliberately.”
Delphine’s eyes narrowed.
“To protect Matteo.”
Emmett understood.
“If Salvatore believed Valerie might be his daughter, he would hesitate to kill her.”
“But he didn’t,” Valerie said.
“No.”
“Or he discovered the truth.”
Emmett nodded.
A knock came at the front entrance.
Three sharp beats.
Every guard in the mansion moved.
Luca checked the camera.
“No vehicle.”
Emmett drew his gun.
A package sat on the front steps.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
And a note.
FOR MY DAUGHTER.
Valerie stared at it.
Emmett pressed play.
Matteo’s voice filled the room.
“Red.”
Valerie’s fingers went cold.
“If you are hearing this, Adrian finally told you enough truth to be dangerous.”
A pause.
“I am your father.”
Valerie closed her eyes.
“Angela hated me for what I became. She was right to.”
Matteo’s recorded voice remained calm.
“She hid you from me because she believed I would turn you into a Castelli.”
Emmett’s jaw tightened.
“She misunderstood one thing.”
A faint laugh.
“I never needed you to become one.”
Another pause.
“You were born one.”
Valerie’s breathing changed.
“The ledger belongs to you because I made certain it would.”
Emmett looked at Adrian.
Adrian looked stunned.
Matteo continued.
“The money Salvatore believed he stole was mine first.”
Luca swore softly.
“I built the hidden network. Salvatore tried to take it. Adrian tried to expose it. Your mother tried to destroy it.”
A click.
Then:
“At Pier Nine, I will give you two choices.”
Valerie stared at the recorder.
“You can come with me and inherit everything.”
Emmett’s hand tightened around his gun.
“Or you can stay with Emmett.”
Matteo’s voice turned almost gentle.
“And watch me bury everyone he loves.”
The recording ended.
Valerie stood.
“Now I’m definitely going.”
Emmett blocked her path.
“No.”
She looked up.
“He’s my father.”
“He is a murderer.”
“So was yours.”
Emmett flinched.
Valerie regretted it instantly.
But neither could take it back.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You did.”
He stepped aside.
“That doesn’t make it wrong.”
She stared at him.
His voice softened.
“But it does explain why I’m not letting you face him alone.”
Midnight approached.
Pier Nine waited under snow and black water.
Emmett loaded his gun.
May you like
Valerie fastened the brass button around her neck.
And across Providence, a man believed dead for twelve years prepared to meet the daughter he had spent twenty years hunting.
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