Chapter 5 - Unraveling the MastermindI drove like a madman through the morning sleet, running red lights with my truck’s high beams flashing. Jackson and two private security operators followed close behind in their SUV.
When I burst into the hospital’s fourth-floor ICU wing, two police officers had surrounded the nurse's station.
Evelyn was sitting up in bed, trembling, with a nurse holding an oxygen mask to her face.
"Julian!" she cried when she saw me.
I rushed to her side, gathering her small body into my arms. "Did she touch you? Did she hurt you?"
"No," Evelyn sobbed, hiding her face in my chest. "She had a syringe, Julian! I saw her through the window in the door! She was dressed in scrubs, but I recognized her eyes! When she saw the guard outside my door, she ran!"
"She won't get far," Jackson said, stepping out into the hallway to coordinate with hospital security.
Ten minutes later, Jackson walked back in, holding a heavy leather handbag recovered from a trash can in the third-floor stairwell.
"She left her purse when she ditched her disguise," Jackson said, dumping the contents onto the hospital table.
Among the makeup kits, stolen car keys, and fake IDs was an unsealed envelope stamped with a red seal from a local DNA testing laboratory.
Marcus, who had just arrived at the hospital, picked up the paper and skimmed the contents. His eyes widened in absolute shock.
"Julian... look at this," Marcus whispered, his hand shaking as he handed me the paper.
I took the document. It was a paternity test performed six months before my father died.
Subject A (Child): Chloe Montgomery
Subject B (Alleged Father): Arthur Montgomery
Result: 0.00% Probability of Paternity.
Subject C (Biological Father): Donald Vance.
I stared at the paper, the world spinning around me.
Chloe wasn't my sister.
She was Donald Vance’s daughter.
"My God," Marcus breathed, slumped against the wall. "Victoria was having an affair with my brother Donald thirty years ago. Arthur found out... that’s why he changed the trust! He discovered that Chloe wasn't his daughter, and that Victoria and Donald were planning to kill him to steal the entire Montgomery fortune for their secret child!"
The entire puzzle fell into place with brutal, terrifying clarity.
Victoria and Donald hadn't just been greedy. They had executed a thirty-year long con. They had placed Chloe in our home, raised her under my father's name, and when Arthur discovered the truth, they began feeding him thallium so he wouldn't have time to disinherit Chloe publicly and expose their dirty secret.
And when I went overseas to war, Evelyn was the only person left standing in their way.
"Where would Chloe go, Julian?" Marcus asked urgently. "If she knows the game is up, where would she run?"
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I looked at the window, watching the snow fall over the town square.
"She’s not running away," I said, a cold realization hitting me. "She’s going to the bank. The main vault at Montgomery National."
