Chapter 4: Patricia’s Offer
Patricia opened the folder and slid another document toward me.
“Read it.”
Daniel blocked my hand.
“Don’t touch anything she brought.”
Patricia gave him a cold look.
“You have embarrassed me enough.”
“You told me I was about to marry my sister.”
“I told you what Richard confessed to me.”
I picked up the new report.
It named a private laboratory in another state and repeated the same conclusion.
“Where did these samples come from?”
“Richard gave me a hairbrush years ago.”
“And Emily’s sample?”
Patricia looked at my daughter.
“An ordinary drinking glass.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You collected my DNA without permission?”
“I prevented a terrible mistake.”
Daniel struck the folder with his palm.
“Then why did you tell me the first report was official?”
“Because you would not have listened otherwise.”
I held both reports side by side.
The dates were different, but the wording beneath the results was identical, even down to a misplaced comma.
“You copied one from the other.”
Patricia’s smile disappeared.
“Be careful what you accuse me of.”
“You lied about my husband.”
“You cannot prove that.”
Daniel moved between us.
“I can prove you’ve been controlling my trust.”
Patricia turned slowly.
“This has nothing to do with your trust.”
“It has everything to do with it.
When Emily and I marry, Grandfather’s terms give me voting control of the family company.
I told you I would order an independent audit.”
Emily stared at him.
“You never told me that part.”
“I didn’t think it mattered until the report appeared.”
Patricia shut the folder.
“You are confused and emotional.
Sign the management extension I sent you, and I will continue protecting your assets.”
“For how long?”
“Five years.”
“And the audit?”
“There will be no audit.”
I pushed the papers back toward her.
“So this is your offer?
Daniel gives you control, and you stop calling him Richard’s son?”
Patricia lowered her voice.
“You lost nearly thirty thousand dollars on that canceled wedding.
I can repay every cent today.”
Emily’s face crumpled.
“You think money is what she needs now?”
“She mentioned it often enough.”
The words landed between us.
I saw Emily drop her eyes, and shame burned through me.
“You will not use my mistake against my daughter.”
Patricia reached for the first report.
“Then give me what belongs to me.”
“It was hidden in Emily’s dress.
It belongs to us.”
Patricia grabbed the corner, but Daniel caught her wrist.
“Let go of my mother,” he said.
“I am your mother.”
“Then start acting like one.”
Her phone rang.
She answered and put it on speaker deliberately.
“Mr.
Pike, proceed.”
A man’s voice filled the room.
“Daniel, this is to notify you that the company board has suspended your access pending a competency review.
Your trust distributions are also frozen.”
Daniel went still.
“You can’t do that.”
Patricia pulled free and smoothed her sleeve.
“I just did.”
She walked toward the door, then glanced back at Emily.
“If you stay with him, he will have nothing by Monday.”
After she left, Daniel’s phone rang again.
This time the caller identified herself as Dr.
Meera Shah, director of the laboratory named on Patricia’s second report.
“I checked the date you gave me,” Dr.
Shah said.
“There is a serious problem.”
May you like
“What problem?” Daniel asked.
“The sample listed under Richard’s name was submitted two years after he was gone.”
