Chapter 6 - The Wrong Hale Daughter
Melissa vomited into the kitchen sink.
Ryan looked equally sick.
Claire stared at Thomas’s voice coming from the phone.
“They’re siblings.”
“No.”
Thomas answered.
“Not biologically.”
That made it no less horrifying.
Arthur raised Ryan and Melissa as brother and sister.
But genetically, they were unrelated.
Melissa was Evelyn’s biological daughter, conceived years after the baby she lost.
Ryan had been placed in the family.
Northstar’s archived plan listed them as a future reproductive pairing.
Arthur believed emotional upbringing could be overridden once the children became adults.
He was wrong.
Ryan and Melissa loved each other as siblings.
When Evelyn discovered the plan, she destroyed part of the archive.
That was when Arthur changed course.
He began searching for another compatible woman.
Claire.
Thomas’s daughter.
Claire felt physically ill.
“So my father knew they were steering Ryan toward me?”
“Not until after you met.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to stop it quietly.”
“By faking your death?”
“Eventually.”
Claire laughed through tears.
Every adult had chosen secrecy.
Everyone claimed it was necessary.
And Claire had paid for it.
Then Melissa asked:
“What makes Claire’s baby important?”
Thomas went silent.
Claire’s hand covered her stomach.
“Dad.”
“The baby’s latest bloodwork was flagged.”
“By whom?”
“Northstar.”
“My doctor?”
“Dr. Vale is connected to them.”
Claire remembered every blood draw.
Every test.
Every reassuring smile.
Thomas continued.
“The baby has a rare combination of markers Arthur spent decades trying to document.”
Ryan whispered:
“What does that mean?”
“Medically? Possibly nothing dramatic. The child may be completely healthy.”
Claire exhaled.
“But financially?”
Thomas hesitated.
“There’s a trust.”
Of course.
Arthur had created a research foundation worth approximately $180 million.
After his death, control remained with trustees.
But one clause transferred voting control to the first verified descendant matching a specific hereditary profile.
Ryan stared at Claire’s stomach.
“The baby.”
“Potentially.”
Claire felt rage replace fear.
Her unborn child was being treated like a corporate key.
Then Thomas said:
“That is why someone needs Ryan to believe the baby is his.”
Claire froze.
Ryan looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“It is yours.”
“I know.”
Thomas interrupted.
“No, Claire.”
She stared at the phone.
“Dad?”
“The prenatal DNA report was altered.”
Ryan slowly stood.
Claire felt the room tilt.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying someone wanted the trust to recognize your child as a Hale descendant.”
Ryan looked devastated.
“Then whose baby is it?”
Thomas answered:
“I don’t know.”
Claire whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas began:
“Not if the pregnancy—”
A gunshot cracked through his end of the call.
Claire screamed.
“DAD!”
The phone hit something.
Footsteps.
Then another voice came through.
A woman.
Calm.
“Claire?”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Marianne Vale.”
Ryan turned ghost-white.
His biological mother.
Marianne continued:
“And Thomas lied.”
A pause.
“Ryan is the baby’s father.”
Claire clutched the table.
“Then why would he say otherwise?”
May you like
Marianne answered:
“Because he doesn’t want you asking who your baby’s mother is.”
