263 The DNA Test Result: Match!
Later that afternoon, while Oliver slept peacefully in his room, Evelyn finally had a quiet moment to check her work.
She sat at her office desk, opened herptop, and began scrolling through the crucial emails waiting for her reply.
She barely managed to read the first two messages when a sudden knock broke her focus.
Her eyes shifted to the time on the corner of her screen.
Only ten minutes had passed since she tucked Oliver in.
Her brows lifted. ‘Did he wake up already? That fast?‘
“Come in,” she called.
Laura peeked into the room. Strangely, she carried no tray of snacks or fruit this time, which immediately put Evelyn on alert. No tray meant something unusual.
“Yes, Laura?” Evelyn asked.
“Ma’am… someone requests to see you.”
Evelyn was surprised. Meetings were not part of her schedule today.
“Is it Eleanor and Andrew? Did theye earlier than nned?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then who?”
Laura hesitated a moment. “It’s Ms. Alicia.”
Evelyn blinked. “Alice? With Ste?”
“No, ma’am. Alone.”
That alone was shocking enough to make Evelyn sit straighter. Alicia never visited without her daughter. Alicia never visited unannounced. Alicia never did anything unnned. So this, by default, was suspicious.
“Alright. Let her in. I will meet her in the living room.”
10:35
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263 The DNA Test Result: Match!
Once Laura left, Evelyn grabbed her phone. She found a missed call from Alicia and a text she somehow overlooked.
<i>“</i><i>Eve</i>, I’m on <i>my </i>way <i>to </i><i>your </i><i>house</i><i>.</i><i>” </i>
“No warning? No exnation?” Evelyn muttered under her breath.
“No warning? No exnation?” Eve
Before she couldin further, a notification popped up on the corner of herptop screen.
She nced at it.
Then she held her breath, and her eyes caught it.
The email subject read:
[Important Notice: The DNA test result: Match!]
Cread the
Words, half curious and half
Her pulse instantly quickened. She blinked and afraid they would disappear.
“Match? Someone matches my DNA…” Her voice trembled before fading to a whisper.
For a moment, she could only stare at the glowing subject line. She had been waiting months for this. She had sent her blood sample earlier this year in hopes of finding her maternal family. A family she had never known. A family that her mother and father never spoke about.
Her hand moved to click the email.
But before she could, her phone buzzed.
It was Alicia again.
“<i>Eve</i><i>, </i><i>I’m </i>here<i>.</i><i>” </i>
Evelyn’s breath was still shaky. Her heart hammered as if fighting its way out of her
chest.
She wanted to open that email. She wanted to know who it was. She wanted to know everything.
But Alicia was waiting, and Evelyn knew herself well enough. If she opened that email now, she wouldn’t be able to hear anything Alicia said.
With a long inhale, then a slow exhale, she closed herptop. She would open itter when her mind was calm.
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263 The DNA Test Result: Match!
She draped her cardigan over her shoulders and headed for the stairs.
However, halfway down, her thoughts rushed back to the email again.
Each step felt heavier because her curiosity was pulling her in the opposite direction.
‘Who is it? So, they have been searching for me, too? What if…they are not someone I expect them to be?‘ Countless questions are now dancing in her mind.
She shook her head lightly and forced herself to stay focused.
Once she reached the first floor, she spotted Alicia sitting in the living room. Alicia looked unusually pale and restless, clutching her handbag as if it might run away.
“Alice…” Evelyn called, walking quickly toward her. “What happened? Why did you suddenlye?”
Alicia stood, her worry so visible that Evelyn momentarily forgot about her own
anxiety.
“Eve, tell me… tell me the truth. What happened?” Alicia demanded.
Evelyn slightly frowned at her question, “Truth? About what?”
Alicia sat down again, and Evelyn followed as her mind was guessing the correct answer to that question.
“I am sorry, Eve,” Alicia said, gripping Evelyn’s hand tightly. “But I am very worried. I have been trying to ask Ste sincest night, and she refuses to answer properly. She only said you were fine. She did not tell me the details.”
“Details of what?” Evelyn asked, baffled.
Alicia took a deep breath, gathering courage. “About Lana.. she tried to kidnap you!?”
Evelyn stared at her for a moment. Then she understood. Her lips curved slowly. “Oh… so that is what this is about.”
“Yesterday, I read news about William Walters‘ daughter nearly being abducted by Lana. They didn’t specify which daughter, but he has only two: you and Ste…”
Alicia paused to take a deep breath before continuing, “And, since Ste didn’t reply to me, I initially thought… I thought it was you.”
Evelyn tried not tough. Not because it was funny, but because Alicia’s face showed pure horror, andughing might terrify her even more.
10:35 @
263 The DNA Test Result: Match!
“No, Alice. Lana did not try to kidnap me.”
Alicia frowned. “If not you?”
“It was Ste…”
Alicia’s relief disappeared instantly. Her face became ghostly white. “Ste?”
“Yes.” Evelyn nodded gently. “That bitch Lana tried to kidnap Ste.”
Alicia pressed a hand to her chest as if she needed support to continue breathing. “Ste… so that bitch Lana tries to kidnap Ste?”
“Technically, an attempt to kidnap. She failed.” Evelyn tried to soften it. “Also, she didn’t do it alone. Someone help her.”
Alicia’s jaw dropped. Then her eyebrows furrowed in anger. “Ste! She could have told me that!”
In Evelyn’s mind, she could already imagine Ste rolling her eyes at her mother’s panic and refusing to exin anything.
Evelyn sighed softly and continued. “Maybe she didn’t want you to worry, Alice…” “That girl is driving me crazy. She needs to tell me what bothers her. Especially something like this. Why is she silent about something this horrible?”
Alicia’s voice trembled, unable to hide her worry and anger.
the
“Don’t be upset with her, Alice. At least she’s okay now,” Evelyn said with a smile tofort Alicia.
“Yes, I feel relieved. But you should know, Eve, that I was prepared to go to the police station if anything had happened to you.” Alicia’s smile finally returned.
Evelyn smiled again, but deep inside, her heart slowly pounded at the memory of the email waiting upstairs.
There was another truth she still needed to face. A truth she had been waiting for her entire life. A truth that could change everything.
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