Chapter 14: My Father’s Impossible Secret

“That DNA report is impossible.”

I pushed the document away, but the words remained in my mind, refusing to disappear. My father had been dead for years before Daniel was supposedly born, yet the report claimed he was the child’s biological father.

Victoria watched me carefully.

“Your father wasn’t the man you believed him to be, Elena.”

“Don’t you dare speak about him as if you knew him better than I did.”

“I knew enough to understand why he was killed.”

Adrian stepped between us. “Explain the report.”

Victoria folded her arms.

“Daniel was conceived before your father died. Your mother was already pregnant when he was killed, but she concealed it because she knew the Blackwells would take the baby.”

I stared at her.

“Then why did my mother tell me the baby was born eleven months ago?”

“Because the hospital record was altered. The birth date was changed to hide the child’s real age and identity.”

My thoughts raced as I tried to understand what she was saying. If Daniel was conceived before my father’s death, then the child was not eleven months old. Someone had deliberately changed his records to make him appear younger.

Adrian picked up the report.

“Who arranged the false DNA test that named me as the father?”

Victoria looked at him.

“Your grandfather.”

“Why?”

“Because he wanted you to believe Daniel was yours. He knew you would protect the child if you thought he was your son.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“And you agreed to help him?”

“I had no choice.”

“You always have a choice, Victoria.”

Her expression hardened.

“That’s easy for you to say. You were born into a family that gave you everything. I was the child they kept hidden because my existence embarrassed them.”

For the first time, I saw something beyond her usual confidence. There was anger in her eyes, but beneath it was the pain of someone who had spent her entire life being treated as a secret.

I wasn’t ready to forgive her.

But I was beginning to understand that she had been used too.

“Where is Daniel?” I asked.

Victoria lowered her eyes.

“I don’t know.”

“Stop lying!”

“I am not lying. Your mother moved him after she discovered that your grandfather intended to use him against the Blackwells. The woman who was supposed to care for him disappeared with him.”

“Who is she?”

Victoria looked at Edward.

The lawyer cleared his throat.

“Her name is Catherine Moore. She was employed by the Blackwell family as a private nurse.”

Adrian immediately turned to his investigator.

“Find her. I want her address, employment history, and every contact she has made in the last year.”

The investigator nodded and left.

I turned back to Victoria.

“Why did you pretend the baby was yours?”

“Because your grandfather told me to. He promised that if I followed his instructions, he would reveal the truth about my mother and the reason I was separated from my twin.”

“And did he?”

Victoria shook her head.

“No. He died before he could tell me everything.”

I looked at Adrian.

“Your grandfather controlled all of us, didn’t he?”

Adrian didn’t answer.

Instead, he stared at the DNA report with an expression I had never seen before. His grandfather’s name had always been spoken with respect in the Blackwell family, but now every document revealed another layer of cruelty.

I wanted to leave the estate, but Victoria stopped me.

“Elena, there’s something else.”

I turned reluctantly.

“Your father didn’t leave only one child behind.”

My heart skipped.

“What are you talking about?”

She reached into her handbag and produced a small photograph.

It showed my father standing outside a hospital, holding a newborn baby. Beside him was a woman whose face had been partly covered by the photograph’s torn edge.

On the back, my father had written:

For the child I could not bring home. One day, the truth will reunite us.

I looked at Victoria.

“Who is that woman?”

Before she could answer, Adrian’s phone rang.

He listened for a few seconds, then looked at me.

“Catherine Moore has been found.”

“Where is she?”

“She is at a private residence outside the city.”

“Then let’s go.”

Adrian hesitated.

“There’s a problem. She has been under police protection for the past six months.”

“Why?”

He looked at the photograph in my hand.

“Because she witnessed your father’s death.”

My knees nearly gave way.

I turned toward Victoria, but she was already backing away from us.

“Wait,” I demanded. “You knew this?”

Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.

“I knew your father didn’t die in an accident, Elena. But I never knew who actually killed him.”

Adrian stepped toward her.

“Who told you?”

Victoria looked directly at me.

“Your mother.”

Then she delivered the final blow.

“And she said the person who ordered his death was the man Elena married.”