Chapter 15 - The Family TreeI refused to believe it.
Not for one second.
We drove straight to a private attorney's office.
No police.
No phones.
No outside communication.
I demanded every family record.
Birth certificates.
Adoption records.
Medical records.
Anything.
The attorney spread them across a conference table.
Daniel's biological mother:
Patricia Carter.
My surname.
I stared at the document.
“Carter?”
Daniel looked at me.
“My father took her surname when they married.”
I felt sick.
“Your mother's name was Patricia Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My mother's name was Eleanor Carter.”
“They were sisters.”
I froze.
“My mother had a sister?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's voice was shaking.
“Patricia was my aunt.”
Everything stopped.
Melissa's claim was false.
Daniel and I weren't siblings.
But something was still wrong.
The attorney continued.
“Thomas Vale was Daniel's biological father.”
“Then Richard was his uncle.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother?”
“Eleanor was Thomas's second partner.”
I stared at Daniel.
“So Thomas fathered me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“And he fathered you.”
“But that makes us…”
“No.”
The attorney interrupted.
“Thomas wasn't Rachel's biological father.”
Everyone looked at him.
He held up a DNA record.
“Someone altered the original records.”
“What?”
“There was an old paternity test.”
The result:
Excluded.
Thomas wasn't my father.
“So who was?”
The attorney slid another document toward me.
A name had been blacked out.
Only initials remained:
M.H.
Mark Harris.
My hands went cold.
“Mark.”
Melissa nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then Ethan…”
She stopped.
I couldn't breathe.
“No.”
Melissa looked at Daniel.
“Mark was Ethan's biological father too.”
Daniel stood.
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
I looked at Daniel.
The whole room blurred.
Eight years of marriage.
A child I loved more than anything.
A man I trusted.
And suddenly, a question I'd never dared ask entered my mind.
Was Ethan Daniel's biological son?
The attorney spoke carefully.
“There is only one way to know.”
I looked at Daniel.
He looked devastated.
But he nodded.
“Do it.”
The test took two days.
The longest two days of my life.
When the results came, I opened the envelope myself.
I read the first line.
Then the second.
Then I stopped.
Probability of biological relationship between Daniel and Ethan:
0%.
My hands shook.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then I read further.
Probability that Mark Harris is Ethan's biological father:
99.99%.
I couldn't speak.
Daniel sat down.
“I knew something was wrong.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“For eight years?”
“I never had proof.”
“And you still raised him?”
Daniel looked at me.
“He's my son in every way that matters.”
I cried.
Not because Ethan wasn't Daniel's.
Because Daniel had loved him anyway.
Then my phone rang.
Melissa answered it.
She looked at the screen.
“It's Richard.”
I took the phone.
“Hello?”
Richard spoke calmly.
“Now you know.”
“Why did you lie about Ethan?”
“Because the truth was dangerous.”
“What truth?”
He paused.
Then said:
“Mark Harris is alive.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your son's biological father never died.”
My heart stopped.
“Where is he?”
“In my custody.”
I stood.
“Why?”
“Because he knows who your mother really was.”
“Tell me.”
Richard's voice became almost gentle.
“Rachel, your mother wasn't Eleanor Carter.”
I felt dizzy.
“What?”
“She stole that name too.”
I looked at Melissa.
Then Daniel.
May you like
Richard continued:
“Your entire life has been built on a false identity.”
