Chapter 7 - The Impossible Test
“No.”
Asher said it once.
Quietly.
Then again.
“No.”
Laney stared at Vivienne.
“That is impossible.”
Vivienne looked exhausted now.
Older.
“I know.”
“I carried Asher’s embryos.”
“You carried embryos the clinic told you were created using Asher’s genetic material.”
Laney’s face drained of color.
“You’re saying someone used his father’s?”
“We don’t know.”
Asher stepped away from everyone.
His father.
The man who had been legally dead for twelve years.
The father he had mourned.
The father who had apparently watched his life from the shadows.
“No.”
Charles stood.
“Asher, genetic testing needs to be repeated.”
“Obviously.”
“The report could be wrong.”
“Obviously.”
Vivienne opened her handbag.
“I brought a copy.”
Laney stared.
“You brought my stolen medical records into the hospital?”
“Not yours.”
Vivienne removed a folded envelope.
“The twins’ prenatal test.”
Laney looked sick.
“How do you have that?”
“It was sent to me.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Asher snatched the envelope.
The report contained medical language, probabilities, genetic identifiers.
One line stood out.
PATERNAL LINEAGE MATCH: R. LENNOX SAMPLE ARCHIVE.
Asher looked up.
“What is ‘sample archive’?”
Vivienne hesitated.
“Your father stored genetic material years ago.”
“Why?”
“For medical reasons.”
“Where?”
“Lennox Medical Research Foundation.”
Laney closed her eyes.
“We donated to that foundation.”
Asher stared at the paper.
The pieces were horrifying.
But not complete.
“Daniel.”
The security chief stepped inside immediately.
“Yes?”
“I need independent DNA testing.”
“On whom?”
“Me. The twins. And if possible, stored samples from my father.”
Vivienne interrupted.
“You cannot use company facilities.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know a private laboratory used by federal courts.”
“Use two.”
“Two?”
“Separate labs. Separate chains of custody.”
“Understood.”
Laney looked at Asher.
“I want to be tested too.”
“Yes.”
“And Malik.”
Asher froze.
Laney’s face tightened.
“If someone interfered with the twins…”
Neither wanted to finish.
Asher looked toward the connecting doorway.
Malik slept under a cartoon blanket.
His dark hair covered one eye.
Six years old.
His whole life had seemed unquestionable.
Now Asher hated himself for even considering doubt.
“He’s my son.”
Laney whispered.
“Yes.”
“But we test.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel left to make arrangements.
Asher returned to Laney’s bedside.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she said, “I never betrayed you.”
He looked at her.
“I need you to believe that.”
“I do.”
Her eyes filled.
“You asked if I slept with someone else.”
“I was shocked.”
“You looked at me like—”
“I know.”
He rubbed a hand over his face.
“I’m sorry.”
Laney looked down at Amara.
“I spent seven months terrified you would hate me.”
“I spent seven months trying to hate you.”
She looked at him.
“Did it work?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Neither knew what to do with it.
A knock sounded.
Daniel returned with a technician from a private laboratory.
Samples were collected from Asher first.
Then Laney.
Then gently from each newborn.
Malik woke during his test.
“What’s this for?”
Asher sat beside him.
“A family health check.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
The technician swabbed his cheek.
Malik frowned.
“That tastes weird.”
Asher smiled.
“You survived.”
“I survived nine stitches.”
“Apparently I’m never hearing the end of that.”
“Nope.”
When Malik returned to sleep, Asher remained beside him.
Laney watched from the other room.
This was the Asher she had loved.
Not the man in business magazines.
Not the billionaire people whispered about.
Just a tired father brushing hair from his son’s forehead.
Two hours later, Daniel returned.
His expression concerned Asher immediately.
“The lab accepted everything.”
“And?”
“We have a problem with Richard’s archived sample.”
“What problem?”
“It’s gone.”
Vivienne stood.
“What?”
“The storage facility records show the sample was removed eight months ago.”
Laney stared.
“Right before I disappeared.”
“Who removed it?” Asher asked.
Daniel looked at the tablet.
“Authorization was submitted using executive credentials.”
“Whose?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Asher’s.”
Everyone looked at him.
Asher laughed.
“I did not remove my dead father’s genetic sample.”
“I know.”
“Then someone used my credentials.”
“Yes.”
“Can we trace it?”
“Working on it.”
Vivienne whispered.
“This is worse than I thought.”
Asher turned toward her.
“You keep saying things like that as if you know where the bottom is.”
She looked toward the window.
“Richard warned me someone was preparing for a succession event.”
“What does that mean?”
“I didn’t know.”
Charles spoke.
“In corporate terms, succession means transfer of control.”
Asher’s face hardened.
“In family terms?”
Charles looked at the twins.
“Heirs.”
Laney’s arms tightened around Amara.
“No one is taking my children.”
Asher looked at her.
“No.”
Vivienne stepped closer.
“This is why I kept you hidden.”
Laney shook her head.
“You separated me from Malik.”
“I protected three children instead of risking all of them.”
“You had no right.”
“No,” Vivienne said quietly. “I didn’t.”
The admission surprised everyone.
She looked at Asher.
“I made a choice. It may have been wrong.”
“It was.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Vivienne did not argue.
The door suddenly opened.
Daniel’s deputy entered holding a phone.
“Sir.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“We have an unauthorized visitor downstairs.”
“Name?”
“He claims his name is Thomas Vale.”
Vivienne’s face changed.
Asher noticed immediately.
“You know him.”
She whispered.
“He worked for your father.”
“Doing what?”
“Anything Richard couldn’t ask ordinary employees to do.”
Charles stood.
“How old?”
“Seventies. Gray beard. Walking cane.”
“That’s him,” Vivienne said.
Asher looked at Daniel.
“Bring him up.”
Vivienne grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Asher stared at her hand until she released him.
“Why?”
“Because Richard told me that if Thomas ever appeared without contacting me first…”
She stopped.
“What?”
“It meant Richard was dead.”
Silence.
Ten minutes later, Thomas Vale entered the room.
He looked nothing like the dangerous figure Asher expected.
Thin.
Weathered.
Simple brown coat.
A wooden cane.
He looked at Asher for a long time.
“You look like your mother.”
Asher’s jaw tightened.
“Where is my father?”
Thomas removed his hat.
“I’m sorry.”
Vivienne turned away.
Asher remained completely still.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“How?”
“Someone found him.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the twins.
“That’s why I came.”
Asher stepped closer.
“Who killed my father?”
Thomas’s eyes hardened.
“The same person who ordered your wife watched.”
“Name.”
“I don’t have one.”
Asher nearly exploded.
Thomas lifted a hand.
“But Richard did.”
He reached into his coat.
Daniel immediately moved.
Thomas froze.
“Easy.”
He pulled out an old brass key.
Laney inhaled sharply.
“What?”
Asher looked at her.
She stared at the key.
“I’ve seen that.”
“Where?”
“In the anonymous envelope I received.”
Thomas nodded.
“Then Richard reached you.”
Laney looked shocked.
“Your father sent me the financial records?”
“Yes.”
Asher stared.
“Why her?”
Thomas looked at Laney.
“Because he trusted the one person in the Lennox family who wasn’t born into it.”
Asher almost objected.
Then understood.
“That was why Father chose her.”
“Yes.”
Thomas handed him the key.
“Before he died, Richard left instructions.”
“For what?”
“A safe deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Not a bank.”
Thomas looked directly at him.
“Grand Central Terminal.”
Charles frowned.
“There are no public safe deposit boxes at Grand Central.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“Not public ones.”
Asher closed his fingers around the key.
“What’s inside?”
Thomas’s face turned grave.
“Proof.”
“Of who stole the money?”
“No.”
“Of who killed my father?”
“Maybe.”
“Then what?”
Thomas looked at the children.
“Proof that Richard Lennox was never your father.”
No one spoke.
Asher stared.
May you like
Thomas continued.
“And proof that the man who is your biological father has been standing beside you since you were born.”
