Chapter 2 - The Sample
My goal was to find out whose DNA Arthur submitted.
The audit committee sealed the villa.
Not physically.
Legally.
No document destruction.
No device wiping.
No unsupervised access to the family office.
Rebecca called an independent genetic lab.
Fresh sample from Julian.
Fresh sample from me.
Fresh fetal comparison using my existing prenatal blood draw.
Julian refused.
Rebecca reminded him his suspended control rights could become permanent if he obstructed review.
He gave the sample.
Results:
99.99%.
Julian was the father.
The original test was fraudulent.
I watched Beatrice sit down slowly.
Chloe stared at Julian.
“You told me it was real.”
There it was.
Julian had believed the fake report too.
But Arthur?
Arthur had created it.
Or helped create it.
The lab’s chain-of-custody form showed Arthur delivered a sealed paternal swab.
He claimed the swab came from Julian.
Fresh testing proved it did not.
Who did it belong to?
The lab retained a profile.
Comparison against Arthur:
Close male relative.
Likely son.
Arthur had one known son.
Julian.
Unless he had another.
Rebecca ordered a family records review.
Then Arthur finally spoke.
“This is absurd.”
But his voice had changed.
The birth registry found another Vance male.
Nathan Vance.
Born thirty-three years earlier.
Mother: Elaine Mercer.
Mercer.
Same surname as Chloe.
My stomach turned.
Nathan had supposedly died as an infant.
No death certificate.
Only a family burial record.
Then Chloe whispered:
“My mother’s name was Elaine Mercer.”
Arthur looked at her.
Too late.
Everyone understood.
Chloe was not randomly connected to the Vance family.
Her mother had a history with Arthur.
Then Rebecca found a private trust payment to Elaine Mercer every year for twenty-eight years.
Arthur funded her.
Why?
He refused to answer.
Then Chloe said:
“My mother told me Arthur helped us after my father died.”
“What father?” Rebecca asked.
Chloe hesitated.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Rebecca checked.
Daniel Mercer died when Chloe was four.
But Chloe’s birth certificate listed father unknown until an amendment at age five.
Daniel’s name added later.
That made her parentage uncertain.
Then the old Nathan Vance record resurfaced.
Transferred from St. Luke’s Hospital at birth.
Destination:
Mercer Family Clinic.
Elaine’s family.
No death documentation.
What if Nathan lived under another name?
Then the DNA lab compared the fraudulent paternal sample against Chloe.
Not enough to prove identity.
But enough to show the sample donor was closely related to her too.
That connected the fake DNA to the Mercer line.
Then Rebecca found a stored sample from Daniel Mercer’s old medical records.
The fraudulent paternal sample matched Daniel’s profile.
He was not Julian.
He was Chloe’s legal father.
Why would Arthur submit Daniel Mercer’s DNA as Julian’s?
Because if my fetus appeared unrelated to Daniel, the report said nothing about Julian.
It was designed to fail.
A deliberately false negative.
Then Julian admitted Charles Benton, the family attorney, told him the test proved the baby was not his.
He never checked.
He wanted to believe it.
Again.
Convenient lies.
Then Rebecca found the legal reason.
The Vance succession trust included a paternity provision.
If Julian’s unborn child was not biologically his, control shifted to “the next verified Vance descendant.”
Who was that?
No one knew.
Until the audit team opened an old sealed amendment.
Next verified descendant:
Any biological child of Arthur Vance outside the Julian line.
Then everyone looked at Chloe.
She stepped back.
“No.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
That was enough.
Fresh DNA was ordered.
Arthur and Chloe.
Result:
99.99% parent-child.
Chloe was Arthur Vance’s daughter.
Julian’s half-sister.
The room went silent.
Chloe looked physically sick.
Julian staggered backward.
Their affair had already happened.
The family had concealed the truth.
But who knew?
Arthur clearly did.
Beatrice stared at him with hatred.
“You knew.”
Arthur said nothing.
Then Beatrice slapped him.
Not dramatic satisfaction.
Pure shock.
I thought Chloe had been brought into the family as Julian’s mistress—but Arthur’s own DNA proved she was his daughter and Julian’s half-sister.
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**The fake paternity test was designed to move succession rights away from my child and toward Chloe, Arthur’s hidden daughter.**
*The next audit showed whether Chloe had knowingly entered the affair—or whether someone had kept her parentage secret long enough to use her too.*
