Chapter 11 - THE FALSE DNAI stared at Vivian.
“I already know I'm Lily's father.”
“No,” she said.
“You don't understand.”
Vivian walked closer.
“Not biologically.”
Claire looked at her.
“What are you saying?”
Vivian placed a folder on the desk.
“The DNA report was altered.”
I opened it.
A second report was clipped beneath the first.
My eyes moved down the page.
The original test showed a probability of paternity greater than 99.9%.
My name.
My DNA.
Lily was my daughter.
I laughed in disbelief.
“But why would Evelyn tell me otherwise?”
“To break you.”
Vivian's face was grim.
“She needed you uncertain.”
“About Lily?”
“About everything.”
She explained Evelyn had spent years manipulating Claire and Rachel.
When Claire began investigating, Evelyn created false evidence.
When I became suspicious, she planted forged financial documents in my name.
And when the wedding approached, she intended to remove me permanently.
“But why kidnap Claire?”
Vivian hesitated.
“Because Claire discovered something else.”
She opened a final folder.
Inside were photographs from the night Lily was born.
Claire in a hospital bed.
Evelyn standing beside her.
Jonathan in the hallway.
And another man.
My father.
I stared.
“My father was alive then?”
Vivian nodded.
“He saw Lily.”
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because Evelyn threatened him.”
“Where is he now?”
Vivian looked away.
“Dead.”
I felt the room shrink around me.
“Then who killed him?”
Vivian answered softly:
“Evelyn.”
Claire stepped forward.
“What does Lily have that your mother wants?”
Vivian looked at the trust documents.
“She has the original inheritance.”
“Forty-eight million?”
“More.”
“How much?”
Vivian whispered:
“Two hundred million.”
Silence.
The trust wasn't just money.
It held controlling shares in multiple companies.
If Lily became majority shareholder, Evelyn would lose everything.
Suddenly the kidnapping made sense.
But there was one question left.
“How do we get Rachel back?”
Vivian took out a small device.
“A tracker.”
“We put one on Evelyn?”
“No.”
She looked at Claire.
“Rachel did.”
Claire's eyes widened.
“She knew.”
Vivian nodded.
A location appeared.
An abandoned hospital.
Cross grabbed his coat.
“We move now.”
We arrived at the hospital thirty minutes later.
Inside, every corridor was dark.
We found Rachel in a surgical room.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
I ran toward her.
“Rachel.”
She opened her eyes.
“Mark…”
“Where's Evelyn?”
Rachel began crying.
“She took Lily.”
My blood froze.
“How?”
Rachel whispered:
“She was never after me.”
“She was after your daughter.”
Then a speaker crackled above us.
Evelyn's voice filled the room.
“Congratulations, Mark.”
I looked up.
“You finally understand.”
A video appeared.
Lily was sitting in a chair.
Beside her stood Evelyn.
And behind Evelyn was Claire's father.
Thomas.
Alive.
May you like
Again.
But Thomas was holding a gun.
