Chapter 9 - Twelve Days Until Maya’s Birthday
The custody case was never about parental love.
Julian needed to become Maya’s sole legal guardian before she turned seven.
If Claire remained guardian, Julian could not touch the trust.
If he gained custody, he could control the money for eleven years.
Rachel immediately filed an emergency motion to freeze the trust.
Julian’s attorneys argued that the documents from Harrison’s box were stolen.
Judge Brooks scheduled a hearing.
Julian intensified his attack.
Anonymous articles appeared online calling Claire unstable.
Edited videos showed her yelling at Julian during private arguments.
A former housekeeper claimed Claire regularly drank around Maya.
The woman had been paid $25,000 by a Mercer shell company.
Claire’s professional clients began canceling contracts.
Her bank temporarily froze her accounts after receiving fraud complaints.
Julian was destroying her reputation before the next hearing.
But Claire no longer reacted publicly.
She collected evidence.
She documented every threat.
She let Julian believe she was overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, the DNA results arrived.
Julian was not Maya’s biological father.
The courtroom fell silent when the laboratory expert confirmed it.
Julian showed no surprise.
Claire noticed.
He had already known.
Judge Brooks turned to him.
“Why did you represent yourself as this child’s biological father?”
“I have raised her since birth. Biology does not erase parenthood.”
That answer sounded reasonable.
For a moment, Julian appeared sympathetic.
Then Rachel asked whether Julian had ever ordered a previous paternity test.
He denied it.
Rachel presented a billing record from a private genetics lab.
Julian had tested Maya’s DNA when she was six months old.
He knew for years.
“Who is the biological father?” the judge asked.
Julian looked at Claire.
“Ask her.”
“I don’t know,” Claire said.
Julian smiled.
“That is exactly why she is unsafe.”
His strategy became clear.
He planned to portray Claire as sexually reckless and dishonest.
The judge requested the sealed laboratory file.
An hour later, the lab director called.
The original record had been removed.
The employee who accessed it was found unconscious in the parking garage.
Before court adjourned, the bailiff handed Judge Brooks a note.
She read it and looked toward Claire.
May you like
“Rebecca Shaw has contacted the court. She says she can identify Maya’s biological father.”
👉 The missing first wife was finally ready to testify, but Julian had already silenced everyone else who knew the truth.
