CHAPTER FIVE – THE DNA FILE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Richard couldn't take his eyes off the leather folder lying on the detective's desk.
Across the front, in bold black letters, were the words:
CONFIDENTIAL – HAWTHORNE FAMILY DNA RECORDS
"Where did you find this?" Richard asked.
The detective slid on a pair of gloves before opening it.
"It was recovered from Victoria's abandoned car."
Emily felt a chill run down her spine.
Victoria hadn't been running blindly.
She had been trying to deliver something.
Something far more valuable than money.
The detective unfolded the first document.
Richard's blood froze.
It was a copy of the triplets' birth records.
Nothing unusual.
Then came a laboratory report.
The detective frowned.
"This test was conducted four years ago."
Richard leaned closer.
"I never ordered a DNA test."
"You didn't."
The detective turned the page.
"The request came from someone using your late father's authorization."
Richard stared at the signature.
His father's name.
Impossible.
His father had died six years earlier.
Emily looked at him.
"Someone forged it."
The detective nodded.
"That's our conclusion."
He continued reading.
Then suddenly stopped.
His expression changed.
"What is it?" Richard demanded.
The detective slowly looked up.
"The report says your children share only fifty percent of the DNA expected from siblings."
Richard blinked.
"What?"
"They are triplets..."
"I know."
The detective hesitated.
"But according to this report..."
"...one of the boys has a different biological father."
The room fell silent.
Richard's face turned pale.
Emily immediately shook her head.
"No."
"It has to be fake."
"It may be," the detective replied.
"But someone spent years creating these records."
Richard closed his eyes.
His late wife had loved him with every part of her heart.
He refused to believe she had betrayed him.
Emily gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Someone wanted you to doubt her."
Richard looked at her.
For the first time that day, he realized Emily wasn't trying to destroy his family.
She was trying to save it.
Just then, Ethan tugged on Emily's sleeve.
"Miss Emily..."
She knelt beside him.
"I remember something."
"What is it?"
"The scary lady..."
"Victoria?"
He nodded.
"She kept asking which one of us had the star."
Emily frowned.
"What star?"
Without saying a word, Liam lifted his shirt.
Near his left shoulder was a tiny birthmark shaped almost perfectly like a five-pointed star.
Emily stared.
Victoria had never cared about all three boys.
She had been searching for one child.
Only one.
At that exact moment...
Thousands of miles away, aboard a private jet crossing the Atlantic, the silver-haired man smiled as he watched the evening news.
His assistant entered the cabin.
"Sir, Victoria has been arrested."
He shrugged.
"Expected."
"And the DNA file?"
He calmly poured himself another glass of whiskey.
"They've already seen it."
"But it's fake."
"I know."
He smiled.
"The best lies always contain just enough truth to destroy trust."
The assistant hesitated.
"What about the real objective?"
The old man looked out the window.
"Everything depends on the boy with the birthmark."
"The heir?"
"No."
He smiled again.
"The key."
Back at the Hawthorne mansion, forensic investigators searched every room Victoria had occupied.
One officer called out.
"Detective! You need to see this."
Hidden beneath the false bottom of Victoria's closet was a small steel safe.
Inside...
No jewelry.
No cash.
Only dozens of photographs.
Every single one showed Liam.
Sleeping.
Playing.
Swimming.
At school.
At birthday parties.
Some had been taken from impossible angles.
Emily felt sick.
Someone had been watching Liam long before Victoria entered Richard's life.
The obsession wasn't with the Hawthorne fortune.
May you like
It was with the little boy himself.
And no one yet understood why.
