Chapter 7 - The False Test
Madeline laid the report on the desk.
“Liam’s legal name is Liam Carter Williams.”
The report listed Liam Jeffrey Williams.
His birth date was also wrong by two days.
Jeffrey stared at the page.
“That has to be a clerical error.”
Madeline turned to the chain-of-custody form.
The sample had been submitted by Noelle.
Not collected by a doctor.
Not witnessed by Madeline.
A private courier had picked up a cheek swab from the mansion.
“Whose sample did you send?” Madeline asked.
Noelle’s face tightened.
“I followed the instructions.”
“You never swabbed Liam.”
“I did.”
“Then why is the birth date wrong?”
Noelle said nothing.
Jeffrey snatched the papers.
“You told me the lab confirmed everything.”
“It did.”
“You said you watched the sample get taken.”
Noelle’s authority cracked.
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From raising another man’s child!”
Liam heard the shout from the sunroom.
His shoulders curled inward.
Madeline closed the office doors halfway to soften the sound.
Then she faced Noelle.
“You decided I cheated. You convinced Jeffrey. And together, you treated my son like garbage.”
Noelle pointed at her.
“You were always too close to Daniel Carter.”
Jeffrey’s head snapped around.
Madeline went still.
Daniel Carter was her childhood friend and the company’s original legal adviser.
He had also been the voice on the phone.
Cynthia smiled bitterly.
“So Liam is Daniel’s?”
“No,” Madeline said.
But Jeffrey’s fear revealed something else.
He was not afraid Daniel had fathered Liam.
He was afraid Daniel knew what he had done.
The phone vibrated again.
This time Madeline answered on speaker.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“I obtained the original fertility clinic records.”
Jeffrey’s face collapsed.
Madeline gripped the desk.
“What do they show?”
“They show the embryo used in your treatment was created from your egg and Jeffrey’s genetic material.”
Noelle stepped back.
Daniel continued.
“There is no reasonable possibility that Jeffrey is not Liam’s biological father.”
Madeline looked at Jeffrey.
His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Daniel’s next words were even worse.
“The private laboratory report was fabricated. The lab number belongs to a canine sample.”
Cynthia stared at Noelle.
“You used a dog’s DNA?”
Noelle’s face crumpled.
“I only needed Jeffrey to stop hesitating.”
“About what?” Madeline asked.
Noelle turned toward her son.
Jeffrey whispered, “The divorce.”
Madeline understood.
The false test had not started the cruelty.
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It had been created to justify a plan already in motion.
👉 Noelle had invented the paternity lie to help Jeffrey abandon Liam—but the reason she wanted Madeline gone was hidden inside the company trust.
