Chapter 6 - THE DNA TEST
Daniel Mercer was waiting for us in a private hospital room.
He looked older than I remembered from photographs.
Thin.
Exhausted.
Afraid.
When he saw Victor, he stood.
“You're alive.”
Victor smiled coldly.
“So are you.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Julian, we don't have much time.”
“Tell me where Claire is.”
“She's alive.”
“And my sons?”
“Alive.”
I exhaled.
“Where?”
Daniel closed the door.
“Your father moved them to a second property.”
“Where?”
“Not yet.”
I stepped closer.
“Then tell me why.”
Daniel looked at Victor.
“Because one of those boys isn't Julian's.”
The room went silent.
I felt like I had been hit.
“What?”
Daniel's face was grim.
“Your father believed one twin belonged to Victor.”
Victor stepped forward.
“That's impossible.”
“Is it?”
Daniel opened a file.
Inside was a DNA report.
I looked at it.
The names were partially blacked out.
But the conclusion was visible.
Paternity probability: 99.99%.
I couldn't breathe.
“One of them is mine?”
Victor whispered.
Daniel nodded.
“Your father arranged the test five years ago.”
I looked at Victor.
“You slept with Claire?”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Victor shook his head.
“I never touched Claire.”
Daniel looked at me.
“There was an embryo transfer.”
I froze.
“What?”
“During your marriage, you and Claire underwent fertility treatment.”
“Yes.”
“Your father secretly accessed the clinic records.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted a biological heir.”
I stared at him.
“You're saying…”
“Your father's people substituted genetic material.”
The words barely registered.
Claire's pregnancy.
The twins.
The doctors.
The failed treatments.
The impossible pregnancy.
Everything had been manipulated.
Daniel continued.
“Your father wanted one child carrying his bloodline and another carrying Victor's.”
“Why Victor?”
“Because Victor had the genetic markers your father wanted.”
I stared at him.
“And Claire?”
“She didn't know.”
I felt sick.
“She didn't know?”
“No.”
“What did she think?”
“That the treatment had finally worked.”
I closed my eyes.
Claire had believed the babies were ours.
My children.
Our miracle.
And someone had turned that miracle into a weapon.
I looked at Victor.
“Which boy?”
“We don't know.”
“Find out.”
Daniel nodded.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“Your father isn't acting alone.”
“Who?”
Daniel handed me a photograph.
A woman.
Elegant.
Blonde.
Late forties.
I recognized her.
“Evelyn.”
My father's second wife.
My stepmother.
She had disappeared after his supposed death.
“She was in charge of the trust.”
I stared at the photograph.
“She knew?”
“She knew everything.”
My phone rang.
Claire.
I answered.
“Claire?”
Her voice was trembling.
“Julian.”
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Are the boys with you?”
“Yes.”
“Are they hurt?”
“No.”
“Put them on.”
A pause.
Then Noah's voice.
“Daddy?”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Hey, buddy.”
“I knew you'd find us.”
I smiled.
“I told you I would.”
A door slammed somewhere near Claire.
She gasped.
“Julian, listen to me.”
“I'm listening.”
“If they tell you to choose between us…”
“Don't.”
“Julian—”
“I'm coming.”
“You can't.”
“I can.”
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
Her voice dropped.
“They aren't trying to kill me.”
I froze.
“What are they trying to do?”
“They're trying to make me confess.”
“To what?”
A long silence.
Then Claire whispered,
“That I killed your father.”
The call ended.
I stared at my phone.
Victor looked at me.
“Your father is alive.”
“Yes.”
“So how could Claire have killed him?”
I looked at Daniel.
He was shaking.
“Because,” he whispered, “Richard Bennett isn't the man in that house.”
“What?”
Daniel pointed toward the door.
“The man pretending to be your father is someone else.”
I felt cold.
“Then who is he?”
May you like
Daniel swallowed.
“Your grandfather.”
