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“I won’t sit. Fuck civilized. I want blood tests. I want proof. I need evidence,” he fumes, sitting down anyway.
“Yes, we want blood tests.” A few of the people around the table shout. “We do not know who this person is.”
I can see the level of patience and control the lawyer is displaying. I suppose he deals with this sort of thing all the time. His eyes are on me. “Antonio, we were prepared to face this exact request because you have been out of the picture for so long. We have your father’s DNA records, and if you would allow us to take blood, we can do it right now. We have a nurse available.”
I don’t know if I am supposed to be offended by my uncle’s request for proof, but I’m not. I can’t be bothered less. I know who I am. I have nothing to hide. If this shuts him the hell up, then so be it.
“I have no problem with that.”
Lucas stands again. “I want to witness the blood being taken. No fucking around here.”
Blake looks at me, and I nod.
He sighs, standing up and waving his hand toward the receptionist through the glass walls of the boardroom. She nods, stands up and comes to the door.
“Please have the nurse come in here,” Blake says, and she nods once to confirm, then disappears.
I sit in my seat with my shirt rolled up over my biceps. The nurse dabs alcohol over my arm, then presses a needle into my vein. She takes a full vial of blood, smiling at me. Her eyes darting over my body before her cheeks flush pink.
I think of Seraphina and how her lips swell when I kiss her.
“Once the blood results are in, the requests in the will be completed, and no additional proof of evidence will be required,” Blake says from where he is seated. “How long will the results take?”
“I can have them before the close of business today, sir,” the nurse confirms, packing her things.
“Good. Did everyone hear that?”
Comments shift back and forth across the table, agitated chatted. They are not happy with the will. Perhaps they thought they would get something. A small piece of something. Perhaps my uncle thought he would get it all.
“Does anyone else have anything else they would like to say while we are all here?”
Blake glances around the table. “Nothing? Alright. I will be in touch with each of you once the test results come in. Thank you for your time.”
My uncle is the first to storm out of the office, grabbing his son’s arm and pushing him through the door. Philip walks along with him, nodding as his father spews out his distaste for what he has just heard.
I wait for everyone to filter away, ignoring the glances filled with hate and anger.
When I step out into the waiting area, Kalo stands. He stays silent until we are inside the elevator, alone.
“From the outside, that looked rather exciting. Did they take your blood?”
“Yes, proof that I am who I say I am.”
“So, I assume you got a sizable piece of whatever your father left behind?”
“I got everything. Everything.”
That evening, Seraphina and I are relaxing at the hotel when I get the call to confirm that I am who I say I am. My blood testsconfirm I am my father’s son, and everyone who attended the meeting is being notified.
Not even fifteen minutes later, the first threat arrives from a hidden number.
Then another, and another.
They want me to return to Hong Kong along with Kalo. He will die. He will be skinned alive. The threats are all pretty standard, and all want the same outcome. For me to turn down everything that my father has given me and go back to where I came from. Except, they have forgotten one thing. I amfromNew York. This is where I was created and where I belong.
I grind my jaw, annoyed at their assumption that I will just let this bullshit slide. Do they think I am so weak-minded that these words, these threats, will drive me off?
I think it is time for me to make an example of someone. It is time for me to show them just how much like my father I am.
