CHAPTER 4 – The Lie Behind the DNA
The room exploded with whispers.
Ethan stood frozen.
Every heartbeat felt like a hammer against his chest.
"What did you just say?" he asked, barely able to breathe.
Claire wiped away her tears.
"I said... you are not Lily's biological father."
Silence.
The little girl looked up at Ethan with frightened eyes.
"So... you're not my daddy?"
Ethan's knees nearly gave out.
He walked toward Lily, knelt in front of her, and gently held her tiny hands.
"I don't know what happened..."
"...but nothing will ever stop me from loving you."
Lily threw her arms around his neck.
"I don't care what anyone says."
"You're still my daddy."
Half the guests began crying.
Even the reporters lowered their cameras.
But Claire wasn't finished.
"You deserve the whole truth."
She reached into her purse and removed a small silver flash drive.
"I found this in my father's private safe after he died."
The ballroom's giant screen flickered to life.
Security footage filled the room.
The date...
Seven years earlier.
Everyone watched in horror as Victoria secretly met with the director of a private genetics laboratory.
A large briefcase changed hands.
Money.
Lots of it.
Then another video appeared.
Victoria was speaking to someone on the phone.
"If Ethan believes the child isn't his..."
"...he'll never search for Claire again."
Gasps echoed through the ballroom.
Claire paused the video.
"The DNA report Ethan received six years ago..."
"...was fake."
The investigator immediately examined the documents.
After only a minute, he looked toward Ethan.
"These records were forged."
"Someone paid millions to erase every trace of the real test."
Victoria closed her eyes.
She knew it was over.
But then another voice echoed from the ballroom entrance.
"Actually..."
"...she didn't act alone."
Everyone turned.
An elderly man stepped inside, dressed in an expensive navy suit.
His face looked almost identical to Ethan's.
Ethan whispered in disbelief.
"Grandfather?"
The entire Hawthorne family gasped.
Jonathan Hawthorne...
The founder of the Hawthorne empire.
The man everyone believed had died eight years ago...
...was standing right in front of them.
He slowly removed his sunglasses.
"I've been alive this whole time."
"And I know exactly who ordered the lies."
Victoria wasn't the mastermind.
She had only been following someone's orders.
Jonathan's cold eyes swept across the ballroom before stopping on one man quietly trying to leave through the back door.
"Ethan..."
"The real enemy is standing behind you."
Ethan turned around—
—and saw the chairman of the Hawthorne Board reaching into his jacket...
May you like
...pulling out a loaded gun.
To Be Continued...
