Chapter 4 - Shadows of the Ashford Empire“What do you mean something is wrong with her DNA?” I demanded, standing up so fast my chair scraped loudly against the floor. “Is she not my biological child?”
Sarah put her phone on speaker. The voice of Dr. Aris Thorne, the chief state forensic geneticist, echoed through the quiet room.
“Mrs. Bellamy,” Dr. Thorne said, his tone grim. “We ran an expedited 24-marker STR DNA panel on the infant, Lily. The results are conclusive regarding maternal lineage. You are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the biological mother. 99.99% match.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, tears pricking my eyes. She was mine. The baby was truly mine.
“Then what’s the problem?” Martin asked, leaning over the table.
“The paternal lineage,” Dr. Thorne replied, pausing dramatically. “Brett Ashford is not the biological father.”
The room went dead silent. You could hear the hum of the air conditioner overhead.
“What?” I stammered. “That’s impossible! Brett and I created those embryos together during our third IVF cycle! They were created using his sperm and my eggs!”
“That is what the clinic records claim,” Dr. Thorne said. “But the genetic markers do not lie. The paternal DNA of child Lily does not match Brett Ashford. However... it does share a 50% paternal match with the Ashford male lineage.”
Sarah frowned. “What does that mean in plain English, Doctor?”
“It means the biological father of that baby is not Brett Ashford,” Dr. Thorne stated clearly. “It is Brett’s father—the late Richard Ashford.”
I stumbled backward, catching myself on the edge of the table as nausea hit me like a physical blow. Richard Ashford—Eleanor’s late husband, the founder of Ashford Enterprises, who had died in a private plane crash two years ago.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, horror washing over me. “Richard...”
“Richard Ashford had high-grade genetic material cryogenically preserved before his death,” Martin realized out loud, his eyes widening with disgust. “Eleanor didn’t just want an heir. She needed a direct child of Richard Ashford to unlock the family trust!”
It all made terrifying sense.
Under the Ashford Family Trust created by Richard, 70% of the $400 million estate was set to dissolve into charitable foundations unless Richard had a direct biological child before the ten-year mark of his death. Brett was Richard’s stepson—adopted by Richard when he married Eleanor thirty years ago. Brett had no legal blood right to the trust!
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Eleanor needed a child that was biologically Richard’s. And to keep it hidden, she used my stolen eggs, combined them with Richard’s frozen sperm, planted the embryo in Melissa, and passed the baby off as Brett’s daughter!
CHAPTER HOOK: Just as the horrific reality of Eleanor’s master plan crystallized, a loud crash echoed from the lobby. We ran out to see two security guards frantically trying to restrain Melissa, who was screaming hysterically as she held an empty stroller. The baby was gone.
