Chapter 1
Dominic did not hit anyone again.
The moment Lily was against his chest, his attention shifted completely to the child.
She was shaking hard enough that her tiny pink shoes tapped against his tuxedo.
Dominic turned to one of the mansion employees.
“Call 911.”
Daniel wiped blood from his lip.
“You’re calling police?”
Dominic looked at the loose chain still hanging from the porch column.
“Yes.”
Margaret pushed herself upright beside the ruined party table.
“You assaulted us in our own home.”
Dominic did not argue.
“That can be reviewed too.”
Several guests quietly lowered their phones.
Others kept recording.
Police arrived first.
Paramedics followed.
Lily had redness around her waist where the lightweight chain had restricted her movement, but no serious physical injury.
The more concerning sign was her behavior.
Whenever Daniel came closer, she reached toward Dominic and cried harder.
Detective Claire Benton asked the obvious question.
“Who currently has legal custody of Lily?”
Dominic answered:
“I’m her temporary maternal-family guardian.”
Daniel snapped:
“I’m her father.”
Claire looked at him.
“Legally established?”
A pause.
“Pending.”
Dominic pointed toward the sealed report now inside an evidence sleeve.
“Not biologically pending.”
The report came from an accredited private laboratory.
Probability of Daniel Whitmore’s paternity:
Greater than 99.99 percent.
The test had been performed before Lily was born.
Daniel’s face tightened.
Claire noticed.
“So this isn’t new to you?”
Daniel’s attorney, already arriving through the glass doors, immediately told him not to answer.
Margaret stepped in.
“That report has never been authenticated in court.”
Dominic stared at her.
Claire turned toward Margaret.
“You know what report he’s talking about?”
Margaret realized the mistake.
Too late.
Dominic said quietly:
“You recognized the envelope.”
She looked away.
Then Claire asked Dominic how he was related to Lily.
“Her mother was my younger sister.”
“Was?”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Ava died four months ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Anything suspicious?”
“No.”
That mattered.
Ava Vale’s death was tragic.
Not mysterious.
She had been driving home from a pediatric appointment when another driver crossed a red light.
The driver survived and was charged.
There was no Whitmore conspiracy behind her death.
But Ava died with one major legal dispute unresolved.
Daniel Whitmore had spent almost two years denying that he was Lily’s father.
Dominic looked toward Margaret.
May you like
Now he knew the denial had never been about uncertainty.
And from the terror on Margaret’s face, the DNA report threatened far more than a paternity hearing.
