Chapter 9 - THE NAME ON THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE
I couldn't breathe.
I stared at the screen.
Pearl stood beside me.
My daughter.
My little girl.
The child I had raised for nine years.
The child I had held the night she was born.
The child who called me Dad.
And now the document on my father's screen said something impossible.
Father: Unknown.
I looked at the next page.
A laboratory report.
DNA analysis.
My name appeared.
But beside it:
Excluded as biological father.
My hands went numb.
“No.”
My mother covered her mouth.
Della whispered:
“Wade…”
I couldn't hear her.
I looked at Pearl.
She was frightened.
“Dad?”
I immediately closed the file.
I knelt in front of her.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Whatever that paper says, nothing changes.”
“But it says…”
“It doesn't matter.”
“Are you still my dad?”
I felt tears fill my eyes.
“Yes.”
She threw her arms around me.
I held her tightly.
But inside, questions were tearing me apart.
Who was Pearl's biological father?
Why had my father hidden this?
Why had the trust been created for her?
Why did Jonathan know?
My mother sat down.
“I know.”
I looked at her.
“You know?”
She nodded.
“I knew there was a possibility.”
“What possibility?”
“That Pearl wasn't biologically yours.”
I felt betrayed.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“How?”
She looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor sighed.
“Your father told me.”
I turned toward her.
“When?”
“Before Pearl was born.”
“What did he say?”
“He said the child might be connected to the reserve.”
I frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
She pointed toward the birth records.
“Your father knew someone had changed the original medical records.”
“Why?”
“To hide Pearl's true parentage.”
I stared.
“Who is her father?”
Eleanor didn't answer.
My mother did.
“Michael.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Michael.”
“My biological father?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Pearl.
“No.”
My mother nodded.
“Your father knew.”
“But Michael disappeared twenty-five years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Pearl was born nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
My mother took a breath.
“Michael didn't disappear twenty-five years ago.”
I stared.
“He disappeared sixteen years ago.”
Everything went silent.
“What?”
“He was alive.”
My father had known.
Michael had known.
My mother had known.
And nobody had told me.
I looked toward the door.
Michael appeared.
He had been standing there.
Listening.
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“I knew.”
“Pearl is yours?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Pearl looked confused.
I walked toward Michael.
“You are my biological father.”
“Yes.”
“And you're Pearl's biological father.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He swallowed.
“I met you before you married.”
I remembered.
There had been a period in my twenties when I had worked on the ranch.
I had met a woman.
Her name had been Sarah.
My mother.
I had believed that was the only secret.
But now everything was changing.
Michael explained.
“Your mother and I were together before Richard married her.”
“But I'm not Michael's son?”
“No.”
“You are.”
My entire understanding of my family shattered.
Richard had raised me.
Michael was my biological father.
And Michael was Pearl's biological grandfather.
That meant the trust made sense.
Pearl carried the Carter bloodline through me.
But if I wasn't her biological father, why was she the sole beneficiary?
Eleanor answered.
“Because Richard chose her.”
I looked at her.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“He knew I wasn't her biological father?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he believed love was more important than blood.”
I looked at Pearl.
That answer hurt.
But it also made sense.
My father had raised me.
I had raised Pearl.
Blood had never been the thing that made us family.
Then Michael stepped forward.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“The DNA report is incomplete.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone altered it.”
“Who?”
“Jonathan.”
“But he's been arrested.”
“He altered it years ago.”
“Why?”
“To make you believe Pearl wasn't yours.”
I frowned.
“Why would he do that?”
“To isolate you.”
“If I believed she wasn't my daughter…”
“You might surrender control.”
I looked at the files.
Jonathan had been manipulating the family for years.
But there was still one question.
“Who is Pearl's biological father?”
Michael looked at me.
“You.”
I froze.
“What?”
He smiled sadly.
“The report was altered.”
My mother began crying.
“The original test confirms you are Pearl's father.”
I stared at the screen.
A hidden file opened.
The original DNA report.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998%.
I closed my eyes.
Relief flooded through me.
Pearl was my daughter.
My little girl.
The truth had been manipulated.
But there was still something strange.
The original report had another line.
Additional genetic marker detected.
I looked closer.
It wasn't a paternity issue.
It was a hereditary marker.
The same marker found in the original Carter reserve documents.
Pearl carried it.
That was why the trust had chosen her.
She wasn't merely the heir.
She was the biological key.
I looked at my father’s recording.
A final message appeared.
The reserve can only be opened by a direct Carter descendant carrying the original marker.
Pearl was the first person in generations to carry it.
I looked at her.
She smiled weakly.
“Does that mean I'm important?”
I hugged her.
“It means you're you.”
Then the screen flickered.
Another message appeared.
FINAL LOCATION: CARTER LAKE.
My mother stared.
“The lake.”
I nodded.
“That's where we're going.”
But before we could leave, the detective rushed into the vault.
“Wade.”
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
He held up his phone.
“Jonathan escaped.”
I froze.
“How?”
“Transport vehicle was attacked.”
“By who?”
The detective looked toward the security camera.
“We don't know.”
Then he showed me a photograph.
A black SUV.
And standing beside it was Carmen.
She was no longer in custody.
She had escaped too.
The detective's voice dropped.
“They took Victor.”
I stared.
“What do they want?”
He looked at Pearl.
May you like
“Your daughter.”
My blood went cold.
