Chapter 12 - The Man Who Was Never a Father
Aaron Blake looked convincing.
That was what made him dangerous.
He was thirty-four.
Clean-cut.
Soft-spoken.
He told reporters he had loved Grace.
He claimed Lily had been born during their relationship.
He displayed photographs of himself with Grace.
Nathan saw them on television.
His stomach dropped.
Grace entered the room.
She stared at the screen.
“I’ve never met him.”
Nathan paused the video.
A photograph showed Grace beside Aaron at a restaurant.
Another showed them walking through a park.
Daniel examined them.
“Probably manipulated.”
Grace pointed at the restaurant image.
“That dress is real.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I owned it.”
“So they used real photographs of you.”
“They replaced someone.”
Daniel nodded.
“Deep image manipulation.”
Aaron’s story spread quickly.
Cole Meridian’s stock-linked debt markets reacted within hours.
Board members called Nathan.
Several demanded he distance himself from Grace until the matter was resolved.
Nathan refused.
By morning, reporters filled the road outside the estate.
Grace watched from an upstairs window.
“This is exactly what your father promised.”
Nathan stood behind her.
“What?”
“That nobody would believe me.”
He turned her toward him.
“I believe you.”
She looked exhausted.
“That may cost you everything.”
“Then everything was priced too high.”
Grace’s eyes softened.
Before she could answer, Detective Reyes called.
Aaron Blake had agreed to a DNA test.
Nathan almost laughed.
“Then this ends.”
Reyes sounded uneasy.
“He already submitted one privately.”
Daniel frowned.
“That means nothing.”
Reyes continued.
“The preliminary report says he has a biological relationship to Lily.”
Grace stepped back.
“No.”
Nathan stared at the phone.
“What kind?”
“The report doesn’t specify.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Biological relationship is not the same as father.”
Nathan understood.
“Relative.”
Reyes agreed.
They ran Aaron Blake’s background.
His real name was not Aaron Blake.
It was Aaron Vale.
Richard Vale’s illegitimate son.
Victoria’s half-brother.
Nathan felt the entire scheme shift.
Richard had created a fake father using his own son because shared family DNA could confuse an incomplete test.
It was clever.
Cruel.
And almost enough.
Then Detective Reyes found something better.
Aaron had been paid $400,000 through a shell company three days earlier.
The shell company belonged to Marcus Dean.
Richard’s missing security chief.
Nathan finally saw the weak point.
Aaron was not loyal.
Aaron was bought.
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And bought men could sometimes be bought back with something more valuable than money.
The truth.
