Chapter 4 - The Real DNA Report
Charles arrived at the hospital carrying a sealed legal file.
Inside was the certified DNA report.
Probability of paternity:
99.99 percent.
Daniel was Lily’s biological father.
There had never been any legitimate doubt.
Grace had authorized a second test privately after Margaret’s accusations became unbearable.
She wanted the issue finished forever.
Grace gave a certified copy to Charles.
Another copy was placed in the Carter estate file.
The first report Margaret circulated had been altered.
Someone changed the result.
Daniel stared at the pages.
His mother had called Lily illegitimate for more than a year.
Vanessa had repeated it.
They both knew it was false.
Or at least Margaret did.
Then Charles showed Daniel another document.
A letter Grace wrote shortly before her death.
She had become ill unexpectedly when Lily was only a few months old.
The letter asked Charles to protect Lily’s inheritance if anything happened to her.
Grace specifically mentioned Margaret.
She believed Daniel’s mother was obsessed with the family shares.
Daniel felt his stomach twist.
Grace had seen the danger before he did.
He had defended Margaret repeatedly.
She was difficult.
Controlling.
Proud.
But she was his mother.
He always assumed there was a line she would never cross.
The baby monitor footage proved otherwise.
Vanessa’s role was still unclear.
Had Margaret manipulated her?
Or had Vanessa joined willingly?
Police preserved Vanessa’s phone.
The video of Daniel was not the only recording.
There were dozens of clips.
Daniel raising his voice.
Daniel leaving for work.
Lily crying.
Broken dishes.
A slammed door.
Every clip began at exactly the right moment to make him look worse.
Several ended before the context became clear.
Vanessa had been collecting them for months.
Then investigators found a private group chat.
Only two members.
Vanessa.
Margaret.
The conversation went back nearly a year.
Most of the messages were mundane.
Family dinners.
Appointments.
Clothes.
Then the language changed after Grace’s estate was finalized.
Margaret began discussing “the problem.”
Vanessa began discussing “the little obstacle.”
Neither used Lily’s name.
One message from Margaret appeared repeatedly in later discussions.
If Lily lost beneficiary status, the controlling Carter shares would revert temporarily to Margaret.
If Daniel later had another biological child, the trust could be reconsidered.
Vanessa had married Daniel six months earlier.
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And according to her messages—
she planned to give him that replacement heir.
