Chapter 5: The Test That Lied
Daniel arranged an emergency meeting in the Vale Group boardroom.
Grace sat beside me with Lily’s photograph on her phone screen.
Across the table, Victoria placed a laboratory report in front of my uncle Conrad and three board members.
“The result is conclusive,” Victoria said.
“Nathan is not Lily’s father.”
Grace pushed the report away.
“That sample wasn’t Nathan’s.”
Victoria folded her hands.
“And yet his identification was presented.”
“By whom?” I asked.
“The clinic protects patient privacy.”
Daniel adjusted his glasses.
“Not when fraud is suspected.”
Conrad tapped the report.
“Until this is resolved, the board cannot release fifty million dollars to a child whose identity is disputed.”
“The money is in an irrevocable trust,” Daniel said.
“The board does not control it.”
“It controls Nathan’s position,” Victoria replied.
“If he joins this scheme, he’s compromised.”
I looked at Grace.
“Is there any possibility—any possibility at all—that Lily isn’t mine?”
Grace rose so quickly that her chair struck the wall.
“You watched a video of yourself building her crib.”
“A video doesn’t establish paternity.”
“No.
It only establishes that you loved her.”
She removed her wedding ring from its chain and set it before me.
“Your father made me disappear.
Victoria called me a liar.
Now you’re asking me to prove what you once knew.”
“Grace, wait.”
“You forgot me, Nathan.
I can understand that.
But I won’t let you make Lily beg to be remembered.”
She lifted her handbag.
Her shaking hand missed the strap twice.
Victoria’s mouth curved into a small smile.
“Running already?”
Grace turned.
“You should pray I keep walking.”
Lily’s voice came from the doorway.
“Mommy?”
A young man stood behind her, holding her hand and carrying an open laptop.
I recognized Victoria’s younger brother, Reid.
“I found her with the receptionist,” he said.
“And before anyone asks, yes, I know Victoria told security never to admit me.”
Victoria stood.
“Get out.”
Reid placed the laptop on the table.
“Not until Nathan sees what you sent me.”
A message thread filled the screen.
VICTORIA: Use Charles’s sample.
Nathan never visits that clinic.
REID: This is fraud.
VICTORIA: It is family protection.
Do it, or lose your apartment.
Conrad leaned closer.
“Who is Charles?”
“Our cousin,” Reid said.
“I refused, so Victoria used my clinic pass and did it herself.”
“That message can be fabricated,” Victoria snapped.
Reid opened a security video.
Victoria appeared at the clinic desk wearing dark glasses, sliding a sample bag toward the receptionist.
Grace lowered herself into her chair.
I knelt beside her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize because she was caught,” Grace said.
“Tell me whether you believe me.”
I looked at Lily, then at the ring on the table.
“Yes.”
Grace covered her face.
A sob escaped between her fingers.
Lily ran to her, and I wrapped both of them in my arms.
Conrad cleared his throat.
“This changes the report, not the trust.”
Victoria recovered first.
“Exactly.
We still have no verified original document, and Nathan is emotionally involved.”
She passed a prepared motion down the table.
“All in favor of suspending Nathan as chief executive pending an investigation?”
One hand rose.
Then another.
Conrad’s followed.
Victoria looked directly at me.
“You wanted to play father.
Now let’s see what it costs you.”
The vote passed.
As security disabled my company access card, Reid touched Daniel’s arm.
May you like
“There’s one more file,” he said.
“An audio recording of Victoria arguing with Nathan’s father the night before he died.”
