Chapter 5 - The DNA Test"DOWN ON THE GROUND! FBI! DON'T MOVE!"
Screams echoed through the blinding smoke. Heavy boots pounded on the floorboards as tactical officers poured through the broken balcony windows and the main doorway. The darknet broadcast hadn't just alerted the press—Dex had tipped off a federal taskforce that had been investigating Montgomery Enterprises for financial fraud for over two years.
I grabbed Camila, pulling her down behind the heavy mahogany desk as gunfire crackled over our heads. Within seconds, Arthur’s bodyguards were tackled to the floor and disarmed.
"Arthur Montgomery, you are under arrest for corporate fraud, kidnapping, and conspiracy!" an agent yelled, slamming the billionaire against the wall and snapping handcuffs around his wrists.
Arthur stared at me through the smoke, his face twisted in pure rage. "You ruined everything! You're nothing! A nobody!"
"I'm their father," I said quietly as the federal agents hauled him away.
Two hours later, the estate was flooded with federal agents, paramedics, and news vans. Camila was taken to a mobile medical unit to be evaluated, while I sat on the rear bumper of an ambulance, draped in a shock blanket.
A senior special agent walked up to me, holding a tablet.
"Mr. Vance?" she asked. "I'm Agent Vance—no relation. We've secured the children. They're safe in the main house. But we have a complicated legal situation here."
"What kind of situation?" I asked, sitting up.
"Arthur Montgomery had full legal guardianship established through forged medical documents," she explained. "To overturn that immediately and give you temporary custody, court procedures require an emergency DNA verification. We have a mobile lab unit on site. If you consent, we can run a rapid panel right now."
"Do it," I said without hesitation.
Ten minutes later, a medical technician swabbed the inside of my cheek and took swab samples from the three little girls, who were sitting quietly in a police transport van under the supervision of a social worker.
As I waited for the results, the nanny brought Regina, Lucy, and Valerie over to me. They wore oversized sweaters over their pajamas.
The middle girl—Regina—walked right up to me and reached out her tiny hand, gently touching the broken compass tattoo on my arm.
"Is the bad old man gone?" she asked softly.
Tears welled in my eyes. I knelt down so I was eye-level with them. "Yes. He's gone. He'll never hurt you or your mom again."
"Are you our daddy?" Valerie, the smallest one, asked innocently.
Before I could answer, the medical technician walked out of the mobile lab trailer, his face pale and eyes wide, holding a printout. He didn't look at me. He walked straight to Agent Vance and whispered something in her ear.
Agent Vance’s expression instantly changed from professional calmness to utter shock.
May you like
She turned around and stared at me as if she were looking at a ghost.
"Ethan," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "We have a massive problem."
