Chapter 3 - Proof in His Blood
Norah stepped in front of Dominic before he reached the office door.
“You are not storming into my apartment with six armed men.”
Dominic stopped so close that she could see the small scar near his jaw, the one he had never explained.
“Someone photographed Lily.”
“And frightening her will make that safer?”
“Remaining where she can be found is not an option.”
“She is sleeping.”
“She can sleep somewhere secure.”
“She is not luggage.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“No. She is my daughter.”
“You learned that today.”
“And someone threatened her today.”
Norah hated that he was right.
She hated that fear had already begun calculating distances, doors, windows, and how quickly she could reach Lily’s bedroom from the kitchen.
Marco stood near the desk, waiting.
Unlike Dominic, he did not appear angry. He appeared operational.
That frightened Norah more.
“We can move them quietly,” Marco said. “Two cars. No sirens. No visible weapons near the child.”
Norah looked at him.
“Where?”
“The Reyes residence in Brookline.”
“No.”
Dominic’s patience broke.
“Norah.”
“I will not take Lily into the center of your family.”
“My house has private security, controlled access, reinforced windows, and a medical suite.”
“My apartment has neighbors who know her name.”
“Your neighbors cannot stop Victor Reyes.”
“Neither could your mother.”
The words struck with precision.
Dominic turned away for a moment, fighting something inside himself.
When he faced her again, his voice was lower.
“Then choose another location. A hotel floor. A protected apartment. Marco’s house. I do not care. But you and Lily will not spend tonight at your current address.”
Norah studied him.
The man before her was not the man from five years earlier. That Dominic had hidden his power around her because he wanted to be loved without it.
This Dominic used power like oxygen.
She could not decide whether that made him safer or more dangerous.
“I want to see the security plan,” she said.
Marco nodded immediately.
“You can approve the location.”
“And no one tells Lily anything frightening.”
“Agreed.”
“No armed guards inside her bedroom.”
“Agreed.”
“No decisions about her without me.”
Dominic’s eyes met hers.
“For tonight.”
“For every night.”
His mouth tightened.
“We will discuss that later.”
“That means no.”
“It means someone is threatening my child, and I will not negotiate away my ability to protect her.”
Norah stepped closer.
“And I will not surrender my place as her mother because you discovered fatherhood five hours ago.”
Marco looked at the ceiling.
Elena remained beside the desk, silent and pale.
Dominic finally nodded once.
“Joint decisions.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“Joint decisions regarding Lily.”
Norah moved aside.
They left the Reyes Building through a private elevator and an underground garage. Marco placed Norah in a black SUV with tinted windows. Dominic sat across from her rather than taking a separate car.
Boston slid past outside.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then Dominic said, “I want a paternity test.”
Norah looked at him.
“Do you doubt me?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because the trust will require proof, the courts may require proof, and Victor will challenge everything.”
“You could have started with that.”
“I did.”
“You said, ‘I want a paternity test,’ as though I had brought you a bill you did not recognize.”
Dominic rubbed one hand over his mouth.
“I have never had this conversation before.”
“You’ve had difficult conversations.”
“I have never learned in a hospital corridor that I have a four-year-old daughter.”
“Four and three quarters.”
He looked at her.
Despite herself, Norah almost smiled.
“She will correct you.”
“I noticed.”
They reached Norah’s building at ten twenty-seven.
It was a narrow brick property in Jamaica Plain, squeezed between a bakery and a laundromat. A broken porch light flickered near the entrance.
Dominic stared at it.
“What?”
“You live here.”
“Yes.”
“With Lily.”
“Yes.”
“The outer door does not lock.”
“It locks when the landlord remembers to repair it.”
Dominic said something in Spanish that Norah suspected was not polite.
“Do not buy the building,” she warned.
His eyes shifted toward her.
“I was not—”
“You were.”
“I was considering repairing the door.”
“You repair doors by purchasing the property around them.”
“It is efficient.”
“It is terrifying.”
The neighbor watching Lily was Mrs. Evelyn Price, a retired school librarian who wore purple reading glasses and distrusted men with expensive watches.
She opened the apartment door, looked at Dominic, then looked at the three security officers behind him.
“No.”
Norah stepped forward.
“It’s all right, Evelyn.”
“No, it is not. Men who arrive after ten in vehicles like that are either government agents or reasons to call government agents.”
Dominic inclined his head.
“Dominic Reyes.”
“I know who you are,” Evelyn said. “That is why I have not moved.”
Norah touched her arm.
“He is Lily’s father.”
Evelyn stared at Dominic again.
Her expression did not soften.
“That explains the eyebrows.”
Dominic appeared uncertain how to respond.
“Lily is asleep,” Evelyn continued. “She had warm milk, half a banana, and one story. She requested three. I negotiated.”
“Thank you,” Norah said.
Evelyn collected her purse, but before leaving, she pointed one finger at Dominic.
“That child does not care how many buildings have your name. She cares whether you remember which cup is hers.”
Dominic nodded gravely.
“What color?”
“Yellow.”
“Thank you.”
Evelyn seemed disappointed that he had answered correctly.
She left.
Dominic entered Lily’s bedroom alone.
Norah watched from the doorway.
The room was small. Paper stars hung from the ceiling. A secondhand bookshelf leaned slightly to the left. Lily slept beneath a blanket covered in faded clouds, one hand curled near her face.
Dominic stood motionless beside the bed.
All the sharpness disappeared from him.
He looked younger.
Lost.
On the wall above Lily’s bed was a crayon drawing of three figures. One had brown hair and navy clothing. One wore a yellow dress. The third was extremely tall, dressed entirely in black, and surrounded by what appeared to be six square people.
Dominic pointed at it.
“Is that me?”
Norah nodded.
“The square people are your security.”
“Why am I taller than the house?”
“She had limited paper.”
His gaze moved to Lily again.
“What does she like?”
“Questions.”
“That is not an interest.”
“For Lily, it is.”
“What else?”
“Dinosaurs. Blueberry pancakes. Hospital elevators. Rabbits. She dislikes peas, loud toilets, and socks with seams.”
Dominic absorbed every word as if it were evidence.
“She gets ear infections in winter,” Norah continued. “She had surgery for tubes when she was two. She is allergic to amoxicillin. She sleeps with the hallway light on but pretends it is for me.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“You did all of this alone.”
“Yes.”
“I should have been here.”
Norah had imagined hearing him say that.
She had expected satisfaction.
Instead, she felt only exhaustion.
“You weren’t,” she said.
Lily stirred.
Her eyes opened slowly.
She saw Dominic and sat up.
For one alarming second, Norah thought she might scream.
Instead, Lily smiled.
“You came back.”
Dominic lowered himself beside the bed.
“I did.”
“Did Mommy yell at you?”
“Somewhat.”
“I told you she gets that face.”
“Yes.”
Lily looked at the security officers visible in the hall.
“Are the square men sleeping here too?”
“No,” Norah said quickly.
“One might,” Dominic said at the same time.
Norah glared at him.
He corrected himself.
“They will sleep outside.”
Lily considered this acceptable.
Dominic explained that they were going to another house for the night because the lock downstairs needed repair.
Lily accepted the story with the suspicious patience of a child who knew adults were editing information.
“Can Rabbit come?”
“Of course,” Dominic said.
Norah found the stuffed rabbit Elena had sent years earlier.
Its fur had once been white but had become gray from love and washing.
Dominic stared at it.
“My mother gave her this?”
“Yes.”
He looked away.
They packed in twelve minutes.
As Norah lifted Lily into her coat, Dominic noticed a framed photograph on the dresser.
Norah and Lily stood beside a birthday cake. Lily was turning three. There were two chairs at the small table.
One was empty.
Dominic did not ask why.
At the protected residence Marco had chosen, a discreet physician waited with sealed DNA kits.
Norah frowned.
“You arranged this already?”
“Efficiency,” Dominic said.
“Terrifying.”
Lily thought the cheek swab was funny.
“It tickles.”
The physician collected samples from Lily and Dominic, sealed them, and handed them to a courier bound for a private laboratory.
“Results by morning,” he said.
Lily looked up at Dominic.
“What happens if our spit matches?”
Dominic’s gaze met Norah’s.
“Then everyone will know I am your father.”
“I already know.”
The simplicity of her answer silenced him.
At six thirty the next morning, Dominic stood alone in the residence library when Marco entered with the report.
Dominic opened it.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998 percent.
He read the number repeatedly.
He had expected certainty to feel like power.
Instead, it felt like grief.
Four birthdays.
Four Christmas mornings.
Four years of fevers, first words, scraped knees, bedtime stories, and questions he had never heard.
He sat down.
Marco remained near the door.
“Say something,” Dominic ordered.
“I do not think there is anything useful to say.”
Dominic looked at the report.
“She is mine.”
“Yes.”
“I missed everything.”
“Not everything.”
Dominic’s eyes lifted.
Marco had known him since they were seventeen. He was one of the few people who could speak without permission and survive the consequences.
“She is four,” Marco said. “Not forty.”
Dominic folded the report carefully.
A crash sounded from the driveway.
Both men moved instantly.
Marco reached the front entrance first.
A security officer stood beside Norah’s car, holding a small metal container under the chassis.
“What happened?” Dominic demanded.
The officer’s face was grim.
“We inspected the vehicle before returning it.”
He held up two severed pieces of tubing.
“The brake lines were cut.”
Norah appeared behind Dominic in the hall, still wearing the sweatshirt she had slept in.
She saw the metal pieces.
Her face drained of color.
Lily came running behind her, Rabbit tucked under one arm.
“Mommy?”
Norah turned and blocked her view.
Dominic looked at Marco.
“No one leaves.”
May you like
Then he looked at Norah.
“This is no longer a warning.”
