Chapter 10 - The Night They Came for the DNA Report
For the first time, I understood why Margaret hated the DNA report.
It didn't merely prove Sophie belonged to the family.
It proved I could take control of the company.
Margaret had spent years telling me I had no head for business.
That I was too emotional.
Too soft.
Too distracted by motherhood.
Meanwhile, she had been sitting in a chair my father had designed to leave me under one specific condition.
A condition she helped create herself by arranging Sophie's adoption.
"You didn't know," I said.
Margaret stared at the trust clause.
"You didn't know Dad added the adoptive-daughter transfer."
She said nothing.
Rachel laughed suddenly.
It wasn't happy.
"You thought giving Sophie to Emily protected you."
Margaret turned.
Rachel's smile vanished.
"And Dad turned it into the thing that could remove you."
"Your father was obsessed with contingency plans."
"Because he didn't trust you."
Margaret slapped Rachel.
Chloe screamed.
I stepped forward.
Rachel caught my arm.
"No."
Her cheek reddened.
But she didn't hit back.
She looked at our mother.
"I'm done being afraid of you."
Margaret's face twisted.
"You wouldn't have a house without me."
"There it is."
"I pay your mortgage."
"You made sure I couldn't survive without you."
"I helped you."
"You bought obedience."
Chloe and Madison stared at their mother.
Rachel saw them.
Something in her changed.
She moved beside her daughters.
"Not anymore."
Margaret laughed.
"You think Michael stays after he learns about Sophie?"
Rachel went pale.
The threat worked.
But only for a second.
Rachel whispered, "Then he leaves."
I looked at her.
She met my eyes.
"I should've said that eight years ago."
I wasn't ready to forgive her.
But for the first time, I believed she might finally tell the truth even when it cost her something.
My phone buzzed again.
Another anonymous message.
Bring the DNA report to 418 Lawson Street at 10 P.M.
Come alone if you want Daniel released.
Lawson.
Peter's surname.
I showed Rachel.
"Could Peter be doing this?" she asked.
Margaret looked genuinely confused.
I watched her.
"You don't know."
"Know what?"
"Who has Daniel."
"No."
For once, I believed her.
That meant the conspiracy was wider than Margaret.
Peter had prepared false paperwork.
Daniel had been medicated into signing a denial.
Somebody had access to board information.
And someone now wanted the DNA report badly enough to abduct him.
I folded the original report and put it inside my handbag.
Rachel said, "You're not going."
"I'm not."
Margaret looked surprised.
I took photographs of every page, uploaded them to two separate cloud accounts, emailed copies to myself, Rachel, and Peter, then placed the original inside the yellow folder.
"You just destroyed their leverage," Rachel said.
"Maybe."
I looked at the anonymous number.
"Or I made Daniel useless to them."
The thought made me sick.
I called the number.
No answer.
I texted:
Proof has been copied. Hurt Daniel and every file goes to Parker Development's board before midnight.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
A minute passed.
Another.
Finally:
YOU THINK THE DNA REPORT IS THE EVIDENCE?
My skin prickled.
A second message arrived.
CHECK PAGE 7.
I grabbed the report.
Page seven contained raw relationship data.
Nothing obvious.
Then I saw a handwritten notation at the bottom.
Not from the lab.
Blue ink.
Someone had added it after printing.
Original maternal specimen reference: LP-1989.
I frowned.
"LP?"
Rachel looked over my shoulder.
"Laura Parker?"
"No."
Margaret snatched the page.
Her face drained of color.
I grabbed it back.
"Who is LP?"
"No one."
"That is never true when you say it."
The lights went out.
Sophie screamed.
I immediately moved toward her.
"Everyone stay where you are."
The entire house went black.
Rachel turned on her phone flashlight.
A crash came from the kitchen.
Then the back door alarm chirped.
Someone was inside.
I pulled Sophie, Chloe, and Madison toward the locked home office.
"Girls, in there."
Sophie grabbed me.
"Come with us."
"I will."
I pushed them inside with Rachel.
Margaret whispered, "The report."
I turned.
"What?"
"Hide it."
That frightened me more than anything else she'd done.
"You know who's here."
"No."
"Then why are you scared?"
Footsteps crossed the living room.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Margaret whispered one name.
"Peter."
A shadow moved through the doorway.
I grabbed the metal chain from the floor.
The figure stepped into Rachel's flashlight beam.
Not Peter.
A woman.
Mid-fifties.
Gray coat.
Pale face.
She stopped when she saw me.
I had never seen her before.
But Margaret did.
Her knees nearly buckled.
"No."
The woman looked directly at me.
"Emily?"
"Who are you?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
Margaret whispered, "You were supposed to be dead."
The woman looked at her.
Then at me.
"My name is Laura Bennett."
LP.
My heartbeat stopped.
She reached into her coat and pulled out an old hospital bracelet.
The name printed on it was mine.
EMILY PARKER — INFANT FEMALE.
Laura's voice broke.
May you like
"I'm the woman who gave birth to you."
📖 Read why my biological mother appeared after thirty-four years—and what she knew about the same clinic that secretly transferred Sophie to me in CHAPTER 11. 👇
