Chapter 34 — Truth on Paper
The morning after was unbearable.
Ava sat in the sterile clinic waiting room, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. The white walls were too bright, the silence too loud. Dominic sat beside her, stiff and silent. He hadn't said much since they left the mansion—only that he made the call and paid for express testing. The results would arrive within 48 hours.
Forty-eight hours felt like a lifetime.
A nurse eventually called them in, and the process was clinical, cold, mechanical. A quick swab inside the cheek. Labeling. Sealing. No warmth. No comfort.
Just science and suspense.
When they returned to the mansion, Ava didn't speak to Juliana. She didn't need to. Her silence was louder than any accusation. Juliana had returned to her wing of the house like nothing had happened, though Ava had caught her standing by the window once, watching them arrive. Her face unreadable. A storm brewing behind the glass.
Now, back in her room, Ava stared out the same window, clutching her phone, willing it to ring.
Dominic entered without knocking. He looked tired. Haunted.
"They'll email us when it's ready," he said. "Probably by tomorrow night."
Ava didn't turn. "And then what? We wait for a yes or no to decide if we're allowed to love each other?"
Dominic flinched. "Ava…"
She turned now, her eyes raw. "No. Don't 'Ava' me. I don't even know who I am anymore. I was married to you out of guilt. Out of duty. And maybe I was just too desperate to feel like I belonged somewhere. But if Juliana's telling the truth… then everything we've done—every kiss, every moment—it's all been a mistake."
He crossed the room slowly, stopping just short of touching her. "It wasn't a mistake. I don't care what the test says—I chose you. I still do."
She searched his face. "Even if we're blood?"
Silence.
Ava nodded, stepping back. "Exactly."
Dominic looked like he wanted to say something else, but the words died on his tongue. He left.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of silence.
By midnight, Ava couldn't sleep. She paced. Checked her phone. Nothing. Not yet.
Until the ping.
A single notification. The lab. One line of text beneath the subject:
"Your DNA relationship results are ready."
Ava opened it with trembling fingers.
Her heart dropped as she read.
Then it stopped.
She reread it.
Three words.
Three impossible, beautiful, terrifying words:
No biological relation.
She stood frozen, staring, blinking back tears—of what? Relief? Rage? Joy? Confusion?
Dominic burst into the room, breathless. "Did you get it?"
She turned the screen to him.
He read it.
And for the first time in days, his shoulders collapsed in something like hope.
They weren't siblings.
But now… they had to face an entirely different question:
If the blood isn't what bound them—was the love real enough to survive everything else?
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