Chapter 5 - THE SECOND PATERNITY TEST
The second paternity test was fake.
That was Rachel’s first assumption.
She was right.
But the purpose mattered.
Marcus had created a fabricated laboratory report showing Andrew was excluded as the father.
Why?
To destabilize him.
Make him furious.
Make him distrust Emma.
Make him reckless.
Then provide the real report later, proving Andrew had been “wronged” emotionally but still financially entitled to protect himself.
Psychological manipulation wrapped in legal strategy.
Emma sat in the Charleston kitchen reading both reports.
One real.
One fake.
Same logo.
Different accession number.
The forged one had been generated three days before the charity ball.
Andrew received it that afternoon.
Suddenly his behavior at the ball looked different.
Not excusable.
Different.
He walked in with Lila.
Kissed her publicly.
Looked across the room at Emma with irritation.
He had believed for several hours that Emma’s child belonged to another man.
And instead of asking his pregnant wife one question, he retaliated publicly.
Emma felt nothing warm toward him.
If anything, the truth made her decision easier.
That was who Andrew was under uncertainty.
Humiliation first.
Conversation never.
Then Andrew finally left a voicemail.
His voice sounded different.
“Emma, call me.”
Pause.
“Please.”
First please in years.
“I found something.”
Another pause.
“Marcus lied to me.”
Emma did not call.
She forwarded the voicemail to Rachel.
Then another arrived.
“I know the baby is mine.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Not our baby.
Mine.
Still.
Then:
“I was wrong tonight.”
Not sorry.
Wrong.
Progress measured in millimeters.
The next voicemail finally came.
“I’m sorry.”
Emma listened once.
Did not respond.
Forgiveness was not emergency response.
That evening, Rachel’s investigator called.
Marcus Bell had disappeared.
So had Lila.
Together?
Probably.
But security footage showed Lila leaving the hotel alone at 9:03 p.m.
Marcus left Weston Capital at 10:14.
Their phones went dark within minutes of each other.
Then a bank transfer appeared.
Twenty million dollars moved from a Weston Capital reserve account to a Cayman entity.
Authorized by Andrew.
Except Andrew denied authorizing it.
Another forged signature.
Emma laughed bitterly.
“Everyone is forging everyone.”
Rachel replied:
“That’s why independent records matter.”
Then Emma received an email from Lila.
One sentence:
I DIDN’T KNOW HE WOULD KISS ME IN FRONT OF YOU.
Emma stared.
Attached was a video.
Lila in a hotel room.
No makeup.
Terrified.
“Emma, I know you hate me.”
Emma did not.
Hate required energy she no longer wanted to spend.
Lila continued.
“Marcus hired me to get close to Andrew.”
There it was.
Not innocent.
Not exactly willing either.
“He said Andrew was laundering money through the European sale.”
Lila swallowed.
“I believed him.”
She had been working as a confidential source for an internal corporate investigation Marcus invented.
Then the affair became real.
Or real enough.
“He promised Andrew would divorce you.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
Lila looked ashamed.
“I wanted to believe him.”
Then:
“But tonight Marcus told me something else.”
“What?” Emma whispered.
Lila’s recorded voice shook.
“The European sale isn’t about Weston Capital.”
“It’s about your grandfather’s land in Pennsylvania.”
Emma froze.
Her parents’ farmhouse.
May you like
The land around it.
And apparently, beneath that farmland sat something worth more than Andrew’s entire company.
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