Chapter 6 - The Bloodline Trial
The courtroom was packed to the brim with international media, legal experts, and high-society onlookers. The scandal had reached a fever pitch. Eleanor Escalando sat at the defense table, wearing a dark veil over her face, her hands crossed comfortably in her lap. Beside her, Julian sat in prison garb, his face hollow, looking like a ghost of his former self.
The judge slammed his gavel down. "Order in the court! We are here to finalize the liquidation of the Escalando family assets and review the motion of fraud filed by Ms. Vivienne Vance."
Eleanor’s lawyer stood up immediately. "Your Honor! We move for an immediate suspension of all proceedings! We have submitted evidence proving that Ms. Vance is legally and biologically unfit to execute claims against the Escalando estate due to direct blood conflict of interest!"
A murmur ran through the gallery. Reporters leaned forward, pencils ready.
Vivienne stood up from her table. She wore a pristine white suit—the exact color of the marble floor where she had torn up the surrender contract days before.
"Your Honor," Vivienne spoke, her voice ringing clearly through the room. "The defense has presented a fraudulent birth record designed to defame my character and obstruct justice. I have voluntarily submitted to a court-ordered, double-blind DNA test conducted by the State Forensic Division."
The judge nodded to the bailiff. "Bring in the forensic expert."
A chief medical officer walked to the stand, holding a sealed manila envelope bearing the state seal. He took the oath, sat down, and broke the seal with a pair of scissors.
Eleanor leaned forward, a sick, confident smirk playing on her lips behind her veil. She believed her planted digital trail was undetectable. She believed she had planted enough doubt to ruin Vivienne's reputation forever.
"Dr. Vance," the judge said. "Please read the results into the official record."
"The DNA comparison between Vivienne Vance, the late Catherine Vance, and the defendant Eleanor Escalando yields the following results," the doctor read aloud. "Vivienne Vance is the biological daughter of Catherine Vance and Alexander Vance, with a 99.9% certainty."
The courtroom erupted into shouts and gasps.
Eleanor stood up so fast her chair flew backward. "That’s impossible! The records—"
"The records were manufactured on your private server, Mrs. Escalando," the doctor interrupted coldly. "Furthermore, our analysis revealed a secondary match in the state database."
The judge frowned. "A secondary match? Explain."
The doctor looked directly at Eleanor. "While analyzing Mrs. Escalando’s submitted genetic profile to verify the claim, we cross-referenced it with unsolved cold cases in the federal database per standard protocol. Mrs. Escalando’s DNA matches the biological trace left at the scene of Catherine Vance’s fatal 'car accident' twenty years ago."
The entire courtroom went dead quiet. The air seemed to turn to solid ice.
Vivienne stared at Eleanor, her eyes wide with shock.
Her mother hadn't died in a tragic accident.
Eleanor had murdered her.
"No... no! That’s a lie!" Eleanor screamed, her calm composure utterly disintegrating. She tore off her veil, her face pale and panicked. "She stole Alexander from me! She took everything that was supposed to be mine!"
"Quiet in the court!" the judge yelled, slamming his gavel repeatedly. "Bailiffs, secure the defendant!"
Julian looked at his mother in absolute horror, shrinking away from her as if she were a venomous snake. "Mother... what did you do? What did you do?!"
"I did it for you!" Eleanor shrieked, struggling against the two bailiffs pinning her arms behind her back. "I did it so we could take back what was ours! She was nothing! Catherine was nothing!"
Vivienne didn't yell. She didn't cry. She slowly walked toward the defense table, stopping just inches from the woman who had tried to destroy her life.
"You took my mother," Vivienne said, her voice a low, lethal whisper. "You took five years of my life. You tried to steal my soul."
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"You'll never be a real Vance!" Eleanor spat, saliva flying from her lips as she was hauled toward the holding cells. "You're a curse!"
"I am not a curse," Vivienne said, watching Eleanor get dragged through the heavy wooden doors. "I am the reckoning."
