Chapter 5: The DNA Report That Changed Everything
My father ended the call without saying another word.
The silence that followed was worse than Vanessa's screaming.
I sat frozen in the bank's private viewing room, staring at the sealed laboratory envelope.
My mother had written my name on the letter. She had hidden a key. She had left a photograph of a man my father called a traitor.
And now Vanessa had admitted that she had ordered a DNA test.
I looked at Arthur.
“Daddy, open it.””
He didn't move.
“Please.””
He placed the phone on the table.
“Nia, I want to make sure you understand something before we read this.””
“I'm not stupid.””
“I know you're not.””
“Then stop treating me like I can't handle the truth.””
He flinched.
I regretted the words immediately, but I couldn't take them back.
Arthur drew a slow breath.
“You're right. You deserve answers.””
He opened the envelope.
Inside were several pages, stamped with the name of a private laboratory. The report was dated six years earlier, shortly before Vanessa married my father.
Arthur read the first page.
Then the second.
His face became unreadable.
“What does it say?”” I asked.
He swallowed.
“The sample was tested to establish a biological relationship between you and Thomas Reed.””
“Why Thomas?””
“Because the test was requested using his name.””
He turned another page.
My heart hammered.
“Daddy, what does it say?””
Arthur looked at me.
“The report indicates that Thomas Reed is your biological father.””
For a moment, the room seemed to disappear.
I heard a distant door close. Someone laughed in the corridor. A telephone rang at the reception desk.
The world continued moving.
Mine had stopped.
“No.””
Arthur reached for my hand.
“Nia—”
“No, that can't be right.””
He didn't argue.
I pulled my hand away.
“So Vanessa was telling the truth?””
“We don't know why she ordered this test or whether the report is genuine. We need to verify it independently.””
“But it says he's my father.””
“It says that the tested samples support that conclusion.””
I stared at the page.
The name Thomas Reed sat beneath the laboratory's seal.
I had never met the man.
I had never heard his name until that afternoon.
And according to the document in front of me, he was the person whose blood I carried.
“Did Mom cheat on you?”” I whispered.
Arthur's eyes closed.
“I don't know.””
“Did you know about him?””
“I knew Thomas was close to your mother before she and I married. I never knew there was anything more.””
“Then why did she marry you?””
His face tightened.
“Nia, I cannot answer that question from one report.””
I stood so quickly that my chair scraped backward.
“I need to go home.””
Arthur rose.
“Of course.””
“I don't want to talk about it.””
“All right.””
“I don't want to see Vanessa.””
“You won't have to.””
He gathered the documents and returned them to the box. Then he asked Mr. Collins to secure the materials while his attorney arranged an independent examination.
As we left the bank, Arthur kept one hand near my shoulder, as if he was afraid I might disappear.
I wanted to shake him off.
I wanted to ask him a hundred questions.
Mostly, I wanted to be eight years old again, sitting beside my mother's bed while she brushed my hair and promised she would always be with me.
In the car, I stared out the window.
Atlanta's streets blurred past. Glass towers reflected the afternoon sun, and people hurried along the sidewalks carrying coffee cups and shopping bags.
Everything looked ordinary.
I couldn't understand how the world could remain so ordinary when my entire identity had just been questioned.
“Daddy?””
“Yes, sweetheart?””
“If Thomas is my father, what does that make you?””
Arthur tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“I'm the man who loves you. I'm the man who raised you. I'm the man who will protect you.””
“But am I still your daughter?””
He pulled the Rolls-Royce to the curb.
Then he turned toward me.
“Nia, look at me.””
I did.
“Biology is one part of a family. It isn't the whole of it. I don't know what that report means yet, and I'm not going to pretend I do. But nothing in that envelope changes the fact that I love you.””
Tears slipped down my cheeks.
“Then why does it feel like everything has changed?””
He reached for me.
“Because someone has given you a frightening piece of information without giving you the whole story.””
I let him hug me.
For a few seconds, I was able to breathe again.
Then he said something that made me pull away.
“There is another possibility.””
“What?””
“Someone may have deliberately manipulated these records to hurt us.””
I frowned.
“But Vanessa ordered the test.””
“Yes. And we need to understand why.””
He started the car.
“We'll speak to the attorney first thing tomorrow.””
When we returned to the mansion, Vanessa was waiting in the entrance hall.
She had changed into a black dress. Her hair was perfectly arranged, and her makeup had been retouched, but her fingers were twisting around a glass of water.
The moment she saw us, she stood.
“Arthur, we need to talk.””
He walked past her.
“Not now.””
She followed us.
“You can't ignore me.””
“I can, and I will.””
“Nia needs to understand what she read.””
I stopped on the stairs.
“Then explain it.””
Vanessa looked at me.
For a moment, she seemed almost sorry.
Then the familiar coldness returned.
“Your mother was not the woman you think she was.””
Arthur turned.
“Careful, Vanessa.””
“No. She deserves to know.””
I descended one step.
“What are you talking about?””
Vanessa set down her glass.
“Eleanor and Thomas had a relationship before she married Arthur. Their relationship didn't end when Thomas left the company.””
My father went rigid.
“You have no evidence of that.””
“I have the DNA report.””
“You have a report that we haven't verified.””
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You always do this. You always protect Eleanor, even when the truth makes you uncomfortable.””
Arthur's voice dropped.
“Why did you order the test?””
She looked at me.
“Because I needed to know whether the girl I was expected to raise was actually your biological child.””
I stared at her.
“You didn't want me here.””
“I didn't want to spend the rest of my life living in the shadow of a dead woman.””
The words came out before she could stop them.
For the first time, I understood something about Vanessa that had nothing to do with money.
She had spent years competing with a woman who wasn't even alive.
And she had used me as the battlefield.
“You could have just told me you didn't like me,” I whispered.
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“Life isn't that simple.””
“It could have been. You could have treated me like a person.””
She looked away.
Arthur stepped between us.
“Go to your room, Vanessa.””
She laughed.
“Your room? This is my house too.””
“Not if you continue treating my daughter like an unwanted guest.””
Her eyes flashed.
“Your daughter?””
She pointed at me.
“Arthur, the test says she's Thomas Reed's child!””
“And I have told you that we will verify it.””
“You're going to humiliate yourself defending a lie.””
He took one step toward her.
“Enough.””
Vanessa's voice rose.
“You want to know why I tried to open Eleanor's box? Because I knew she had left something behind. She always had to control everything, even after death.””
“What were you looking for?”” Arthur demanded.
Vanessa said nothing.
He moved closer.
“What were you looking for?””
She finally snapped.
“The proof that she had deceived you!””
Her words echoed through the hall.
Ava appeared at the top of the stairs, clutching a stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy?””
Vanessa turned toward her.
“Go back to your room.””
Ava didn't move.
“Why are you shouting at Daddy?””
Vanessa's face softened for an instant.
“Sweetheart, this is an adult conversation.””
“But Nia is crying.””
I looked down.
Ava descended the stairs slowly.
She came to stand beside me.
Then she reached for my hand.
Vanessa watched her do it.
Something in her expression shifted—not guilt, exactly, but the realization that her children were beginning to see her differently.
Arthur noticed too.
He turned toward Evelyn, who had emerged from the kitchen.
“Please take the children upstairs.””
Evelyn nodded.
But before Ava left, she looked at Vanessa.
“Mommy, did you really tell Nia she wasn't your daughter?””
Vanessa's mouth opened.
No words came.
Ava's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she is my sister.””
Then she followed Evelyn upstairs.
Vanessa stood in the middle of the hall, watching the child she had spoiled without question choose to comfort the child she had mistreated.
For once, she had no clever response.
Arthur pointed toward the sitting room.
“We're going to have a conversation. Now.””
Vanessa entered.
I followed, but my father stopped me gently.
“Not this time, sweetheart. You don't have to listen to another argument.””
“I want to know the truth.””
“And you will. But you shouldn't have to sit through another confrontation to get it.””
He kissed my forehead.
“Go with Evelyn.””
I obeyed, although every part of me wanted to stay.
From the staircase, I heard my father's voice through the closed sitting-room door.
“Did you alter any of the documents connected to Eleanor's trust?””
Vanessa's response was too quiet to make out.
Then Arthur spoke again.
“Did you take money intended for Nia?””
Silence.
I stood on the landing, holding the banister.
Finally, Vanessa answered.
“I did what I had to do.””
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Not a denial.
Not an apology.
An excuse.
That evening, I sat at my desk while Evelyn helped me change into a clean sweater.
“Will Daddy send her away?”” I asked.
Evelyn folded my school uniform.
“I can't answer that.””
“Do you think he should?””
She considered the question carefully.
“I think your father needs to make decisions based on the truth. And I think you deserve to feel safe while he does that.””
I looked at the old photograph of my mother.
“Why didn't she tell me about Thomas?””
“Perhaps she wanted to protect you until you were old enough to understand.””
“But what if she lied to Daddy?””
Evelyn sat beside me.
“People can love each other and still have complicated histories. You don't have to decide tonight what your mother's life meant.””
I swallowed.
“I just want someone to tell me who I am.””
Evelyn took my hand.
“You are Nia. The girl who shares her lunch with children who forget theirs. The girl who apologizes when other people hurt her. The girl who keeps hoping people will be kinder tomorrow.””
She smiled sadly.
“None of that changes because of a laboratory report.””
For the first time that day, I managed a small smile.
Then my phone buzzed.
An unknown number appeared on the screen.
A message followed.
Nia Whitmore? My name is Thomas Reed. I know you just learned something about your birth.
My fingers went cold.
Another message arrived.
Your mother never wanted you to find out this way.
I stared at the screen.
Then the phone rang.
I answered without speaking.
A man's voice came through, low and strained.
“Nia?””
“Yes.””
“My name is Thomas. I'm sorry to contact you like this.””
I gripped the phone.
“Are you my father?””
Silence.
Then he whispered, “Biologically, yes.””
My knees weakened.
“Why didn't you ever come to see me?””
His breathing changed.
“Because someone threatened to make sure I would never see you again.””
“Who?””
He hesitated.
Then he said, “Before I tell you anything else, you need to understand that the DNA report your stepmother showed your father is not the first test that was performed.””
I stared at the wall.
“What do you mean?””
“The original test was completed six years ago. I have a copy of the results.””
“Then what did it say?””
Thomas took a shaky breath.
“It said I was not your biological father.””
I stopped breathing.
“But Vanessa's report says you are.””
“Exactly.””
The room seemed to tilt.
“Then someone changed the results?””
“Someone changed more than the results, Nia.””
I heard a door close on his end.
He lowered his voice.
“I have the original documents, the doctor's sworn statement, and a letter your mother left for me.””
My heart pounded.
“What letter?””
“The one she wrote before she died. She told me that if Vanessa ever tried to use your parentage against Arthur, I was to contact you immediately.””
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“Why would she say that?””
Thomas was silent for several seconds.
Then he spoke so softly I almost didn't hear him.
“Because your mother knew Vanessa was willing to destroy anyone who stood between her and your father's fortune.””
I glanced toward the bedroom door.
Downstairs, a door slammed.
Thomas continued.
“Nia, you need to be careful. If Vanessa knows I've contacted you, she may try to stop me from telling you what happened the night your mother died.””
My blood turned cold.
“What happened?””
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “Your mother wasn't supposed to die that night.””
The call disconnected.
I stared at the phone.
For six years, I had believed my mother died because her illness had become too severe.
Now a stranger who claimed to be my biological father had just told me that her death might not have been what I thought.
And downstairs, behind the closed door of the sitting room, Vanessa was still arguing with my father.
I hurried to the staircase.
I had to tell him.
I had to show him the messages.
But before I reached the bottom step, I heard Vanessa say something that made me stop dead.
“Arthur, if Thomas Reed is still alive, then we have a much bigger problem than Nia's DNA.””
My father demanded, “What did you do?””
May you like
Vanessa's voice broke.
“I thought he was dead.””
