Chapter 18 - The False Victory
Patricia denied it.
Immediately.
Completely.
Then she started crying.
“I never took medication from anyone.”
Robert wanted to believe her.
So did I.
Police searched her car.
Nothing.
They reviewed traffic records.
Nothing.
Then Chloe remembered something.
“My apartment building has parking cameras.”
The footage was obtained that evening.
A dark blue Lexus had entered the garage.
But Patricia was not driving.
Daniel was.
Robert stared at the footage.
“That’s her car.”
Patricia covered her mouth.
“He borrowed it.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Patricia.”
“A few times.”
Daniel had used his mother’s vehicle.
Her email account.
Her name on witness forms.
Again and again, he created distance between himself and what he was doing.
The police obtained a warrant for the townhouse Daniel had rented.
Inside a bathroom cabinet, they found Chloe’s missing prescription bottle.
Empty.
In a locked desk drawer, they found copies of my financial records.
Insurance forms.
Custody drafts.
The property deed.
And the videos Daniel had recorded.
By midnight, Daniel was arrested on multiple preliminary charges related to fraud, identity misuse, corporate theft, and suspected tampering.
The medication allegation remained under investigation.
When David called me with the news, I sat on my parents’ kitchen floor and cried.
Not because I loved Daniel.
Not anymore.
I cried because I had finally been believed.
Robert removed Daniel from every company position.
The board froze his accounts.
The county blocked the property transfer permanently.
The insurance company opened a fraud investigation.
For forty-eight hours, it seemed finished.
Then the DNA result arrived.
Chloe called me herself.
Her voice was shaking.
“Jennifer.”
“What happened?”
“The paternity test.”
I closed my eyes.
I had almost forgotten Daniel had agreed to a prenatal paternity test during police questioning.
“He’s the father?”
“No.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“Daniel isn’t the father.”
Silence stretched between us.
“Then who is?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you told me—”
“I believed it was Daniel.”
She began crying.
“The timing matched.”
“There was no one else.”
My skin prickled.
“Chloe.”
“I swear.”
“If Daniel knew the baby wasn’t his, why was he paying your expenses?”
“I don’t know.”
Then I remembered Daniel’s private investment plan.
Marcus.
Chloe.
The money.
The second baptism.
Something did not fit.
I called David.
Before I could finish explaining, he said, “We already know.”
“How?”
“Daniel’s attorney filed a motion fifteen minutes ago.”
“For what?”
“To compel a second DNA test.”
“Why?”
David paused.
“Because Daniel says the first test proves he was never having an affair with Chloe.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know.”
“Then what is he claiming?”
David’s voice became grim.
“He says you misunderstood their relationship.”
I laughed bitterly.
“What relationship?”
“He says Chloe was working for him.”
The room seemed to freeze.
“Working for him doing what?”
David answered.
May you like
“Getting pregnant.”
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