Chapter 17 - blood test
Noah was grounded for the rest of his natural life.
That was Natalie’s first announcement after hugging him so tightly he squeaked.
Then she cried over him.
Then she grounded him again.
Then she hugged Eli.
Nobody expected that.
Eli certainly did not.
He stood in the mansion foyer like a man waiting to be judged by ghosts. His coat was torn. Dried blood marked his eyebrow. Security watched him with professional suspicion. Marco stood close enough to intervene if needed.
Natalie crossed the marble floor slowly.
Dominic said, “Nat—”
She ignored him.
Eli looked ready to step back, but didn’t.
Natalie stopped before him.
For several seconds, she only stared.
Then she whispered, “Were you alone?”
Eli’s face changed.
No defense could withstand that question.
“Most of the time.”
Natalie covered her mouth.
Then she hugged him.
Eli’s arms stayed at his sides, stiff with shock.
Noah, still crying, said, “You’re supposed to hug back.”
Eli let out a sound that might have been a laugh if it had not hurt so much.
Slowly, awkwardly, he placed one hand on Natalie’s back.
Dominic looked away.
Emma saw and did not comment.
A neutral medical examiner arrived at midnight with court authorization for expedited DNA collection. Dominic, Natalie, and Eli each gave samples. Noah offered his too because he wanted to be “scientifically useful,” but Samuel gently explained they had enough.
The results would take hours.
The waiting was worse than conflict.
Conflict gave Dominic something to hold.
Waiting gave him only thoughts.
Eli was placed in the east guest suite under voluntary security watch. Not a prisoner. Not family yet. Something in between.
At two in the morning, Dominic found him in the hallway outside Catherine’s portrait.
“You shouldn’t wander.”
Eli did not turn.
“Your guards are loud.”
“They’re not.”
“To you.”
Dominic stood beside him.
Catherine’s portrait had been painted ten years before her death. She looked regal, annoyed, and impossible to fool.
Eli stared at her.
“I met her once.”
Dominic’s chest tightened.
“When?”
“I was maybe twelve. Rane brought me to a park in Providence. Told me to sit on a bench and not speak to anyone. She sat beside me.”
Dominic barely breathed.
“She knew?”
“I don’t know. She asked my name. I said Eli. She cried, but quietly. Then Rane came back and took me away.”
Eli swallowed.
“For years, I thought she was just a sad rich woman.”
Dominic’s voice was rough.
“She was your mother.”
“Maybe.”
“You know.”
Eli looked at him then.
“Knowing and proving are different when your whole life was built by liars.”
Dominic accepted that.
They stood in silence.
Then Eli said, “Rane told me Catherine gave me away.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“He lied.”
“I know that now.”
“Good.”
“It still worked for a while.”
Dominic looked at him.
Eli’s face remained fixed on Catherine.
“He told me you grew up loved in the mansion while I was hidden because she was ashamed of me. He told me Natalie replaced me. He told me the Mercer family would kill me if I appeared.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“And now?”
“Now I think he mixed lies with enough truth to keep me angry.”
Dominic nodded.
“That sounds like him.”
Eli finally turned.
“Was your father as bad as they say?”
Dominic considered lying.
For whose benefit, he did not know.
“Yes.”
Eli absorbed that.
“Did you love him?”
“No.”
“Did he love you?”
Dominic looked at Catherine’s portrait.
“He loved possession. Sometimes children resemble that to men like him.”
Eli laughed quietly.
“That I understand.”
At five-thirty, Samuel called everyone to the study.
Natalie held Noah’s hand. Emma stood behind them. Marco stayed near the door. Eli stood apart from everyone, as if distance might make disappointment survivable.
Samuel held the report.
He looked at Dominic first.
Then Natalie.
Then Eli.
“The probability of full sibling relationship between Dominic Mercer, Natalie Mercer, and Eli Rane—legally petitioning as Elijah Mercer—is greater than 99.9 percent.”
Natalie cried out.
Noah whispered, “He’s real.”
Eli did not move.
Dominic looked at the man who had been stolen from them before any of them knew to mourn him.
His brother.
Alive.
Samuel continued, voice soft.
“Legally, this changes the trust case. Emotionally, I imagine it changes more.”
Eli looked at Dominic.
No challenge now.
No threat.
Only a question too old for words.
Dominic stepped toward him.
“I don’t know how to be your brother.”
Eli’s face tightened.
Dominic continued.
“But I know how to stand between my family and the men who come for them.”
Eli looked down.
“That’s a start.”
Natalie crossed the room and took Eli’s hand.
“You have a room here as long as you want it.”
Eli flinched at the kindness.
“I filed against your son.”
“You filed for your name.”
“Noah could have lost his home.”
Natalie’s voice broke. “You lost yours first.”
The room went silent.
Eli covered his face with one hand.
Noah stepped forward.
“You can be Cottage Protector Number Two.”
A laugh burst out of Emma before she could stop it.
Then Natalie laughed through tears.
Even Dominic smiled.
Eli looked at Noah.
“Number Two?”
“I signed first.”
Eli nodded solemnly.
“Fair.”
The moment might have healed something.
Then Marco’s radio crackled.
A guard’s voice came through, strained.
“Sir, we have movement at the front gate.”
Marco answered, “Identify.”
Static.
Then the guard said words that turned every face toward Dominic.
“Victor Rane is here. He says he wants to speak to Elijah.”
Eli went pale.
Dominic looked toward the windows where dawn was beginning.
“No,” he said.
May you like
But Eli stepped forward.
“Yes.”
