CHAPTER 5: The Test

The DNA test was supposed to take hours, but the waiting felt longer than years. Outside the side room, the gala had collapsed into whispers. Reporters gathered near the hotel entrance. Guests posted nothing, not because they were kind, but because Celeste's staff had collected phones from half the room under the excuse of privacy.
Lena sat with her hands in her lap. Thomas sat across from her, close enough to speak, far enough not to claim a place he had not earned.
He told her small things about Elise. She hated carrots. She called chandeliers "upside-down stars." She had a birthmark near her left shoulder, shaped like a pale comma.
Lena went still.
She had that mark.
Thomas closed his eyes. One tear slipped free before he could hide it.
When the doctor entered with the sealed envelope, nobody moved. Detective Morgan opened it. Her expression changed first--not shock, but confirmation.
"The probability of a parent-child relationship is greater than 99.99 percent," she said.
Thomas stood as if the floor had vanished.
Lena looked down at the bracelet and whispered, "Then why did nobody find me?"