Chapter 9 - The Swab

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The examination room was far too small for the sheer amount of tension radiating from the adults.

A nervous nurse, clearly intimidated by Dominic's towering presence, produced four sterile plastic tubes containing long cotton swabs.

"Who wants to go first?" the nurse asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Noah stepped forward bravely. "I will. I'm the oldest."

Dominic leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, watching intensely. "By how much?" he asked, unable to stop himself.

"Three minutes," Noah answered proudly, looking right into Dominic's eyes. It was like watching a man stare into a time machine. The eye contact was unbroken, a silent battle of wills between a mafia boss and a five-year-old boy. Noah didn't flinch.

The nurse gently swabbed the inside of Noah's cheek, sealing it in the tube. Elise went next, holding my hand tightly. Then Clare, who dramatically complained about the taste of the cotton. Finally, Henry stepped up, completely stoic, accepting the swab without a single word.

Throughout the entire process, Dominic didn't say a word. But his eyes cataloged everything. He noticed how fiercely they protected one another. He noticed the slight dimple on Elise's left cheek—a trait inherited entirely from his late father.

"I've expedited the process," Dominic said to me as the nurse labeled the final vial. "The lab tech is running it in-house. We will have the results in exactly two hours."

"Are you going to wait in your car?" I asked dryly.

"I'm waiting right here," he replied, pointing to the plush chairs in the waiting room. "And so are you."

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I didn't argue. I sat down with the kids, pulling out a bag of coloring books and crayons I had packed. For the next two hours, the most feared man in the Chicago underworld sat in a pastel-colored waiting room, completely silent, watching four children argue over who got to use the blue crayon.

He was watching his legacy unfold in real-time, and the absolute certainty he had carried for six years was visibly crumbling to dust.