Chapter 6 - The DNA BombshellThe silence in the boardroom was so absolute you could hear the hum of the overhead fluorescent lights.
Vanessa Cole grabbed Ethan’s arm, her fingernails digging frantically into his sleeve. “Ethan, she’s lying! It’s a bluff! Sue her for corporate fraud! Call the police!”
“Call the police for what?” Marcus Vance asked, raising an eyebrow. “Enforcing a legally binding loan default? Feel free. The district attorney’s office is already reviewing the corporate ledger for asset mismanagement.”
Ethan stared at Claire, his chest heaving as panic threatened to tear him apart. “The... the DNA test,” he stammered desperately, grasping at any straw to regain control. “You... you cheated! You had a baby that isn't mine! That’s why you ran away yesterday! You’re exposed!”
Claire sighed, a sound of profound disappointment. She gestured to Daniel Bell.
“Mr. Bell, please present the court-admissible results from the independent laboratory.”
Daniel opened a sealed manila folder and slid a single sheet of paper across the table toward Ethan.
Ethan snatched it up, his eyes scanning the medical terminology frantically, searching for the word exclusion, searching for anything that would prove him right, anything that would let him keep his moral high ground.
Instead, his eyes locked onto the bottom line:
Paternity Probability: 99.999%. Biological Father: Ethan Whitmore.
May you like
Ethan dropped the paper as if it were burning hot iron. It fluttered down and landed face-up on the polished wood.
“It’s real,” Claire said quietly. “Lily is yours, Ethan. Every drop of her blood belongs to the Whitmore name you were so terrified of losing. But you couldn’t trust her. You couldn’t trust me. Because deep down, you knew that the only fraud in our marriage was you.”
