Chapter 9 - The Record That Was Changed
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By morning, Jonathan had obtained an emergency preservation order for Saint Matthew’s archived records.
The hospital cooperated.
What they found was worse than expected.
Maisie’s original birth record existed in an offline backup.
Father:
DOMINIC ANTHONY CASTELLANO.
Three days later, an amendment appeared.
Father:
NOT DECLARED.
The amendment was accompanied by a scanned authorization.
Supposedly signed by Elena Hart.
Grace looked at it.
“That’s not Elena’s signature.”
Dominic agreed.
He had seen Elena sign hundreds of things.
Birthday cards.
Restaurant receipts.
Notes she left on his windshield.
The signature was close.
But too clean.
Too careful.
A forgery.
Jonathan requested the metadata.
The amendment had been uploaded from an administrator account belonging to Saint Matthew’s legal department.
Who requested it?
The hospital searched.
Then found a fax cover sheet.
FROM: RICHARD VALE, ESQ.
RE: CONFIDENTIAL CASTELLANO FAMILY MATTER.
Dominic stared at it.
“Vivienne.”
She was no longer at the estate.
At dawn, her attorney had arrived.
Dominic had allowed her to leave because security had no legal authority to detain her.
But every family account she could access had been frozen.
Every company credential suspended.
She had gone to a hotel under counsel’s advice.
Dominic’s anger had become something colder.
Evidence.
One piece at a time.
Maisie ate breakfast with Grace in the kitchen.
Dominic joined them.
He sat across from the child.
She looked at him.
“So you’re really my dad?”
Dominic didn’t rush.
“The records say I might be.”
“But the nurse said you are.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think you are?”
Dominic looked at her face.
He saw Elena around the eyes.
He had seen it from the moment the locket opened.
But Maisie deserved certainty.
“I think there’s a very good chance.”
She poked at a strawberry.
“Then why do people keep saying maybe?”
“Because adults use tests when something matters this much.”
“A DNA test?”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You know what that is?”
“I’m eight, not four.”
Grace laughed for the first time all night.
Maisie looked at Dominic again.
“Will it hurt?”
“Just a cheek swab.”
“Then do it.”
That afternoon, a private accredited laboratory collected samples from both of them under attorney supervision.
Results would take days.
Vivienne immediately filed an objection through counsel.
She claimed chain-of-custody concerns.
She claimed Elena had dated other men.
She claimed Dominic was being manipulated by staff.
Every claim sounded weaker than the last.
Then Jonathan received a message.
Vivienne had filed something else.
A petition in probate court.
She wanted an emergency declaration that Maisie had no standing under the Castellano Legacy Trust.
Dominic stared at the filing.
“Before DNA is even back?”
Jonathan nodded.
“She wants the court to rule quickly.”
“Why?”
Jonathan turned to the final page.
“Because there’s a board vote Friday.”
“What vote?”
“A restructuring of the Legacy Trust assets.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Vivienne had scheduled a vote that could move key assets into a new holding company.
A company she would help control.
Friday was three days away.
If Maisie was recognized before then, the vote could be blocked.
If she wasn’t—
Vivienne might move the assets before the truth became legally useful.
May you like
👉 The fight was no longer only about proving who Maisie’s father was—Vivienne now had three days to move the fortune before Maisie could legally stop her.
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