Chapter 10 - The Secret Document
Two hours passed in the quiet private recovery room.
Little baby Clara slept peacefully in her wooden crib.
Emma was resting comfortably in her hospital bed.
Her color had returned fully to her sweet cheeks.
A knock sounded on the wooden room door.
Hospital Administrator Vance entered, holding a black folder.
Behind him walked two armed federal marshals today.
Administrator Vance looked at me with deep concern.
"Mr. Ethan Brooks, we need to speak privately."
I stepped out into the quiet hallway with them.
Administrator Vance opened the black leather folder.
"We received an emergency court filing an hour ago."
"An injunction filed by Arthur Vance's law firm."
My jaw tightened into a rigid, angry line.
"Arthur Vance fled the estate two hours ago!"
"Yes, but before he fled, he submitted a document."
Administrator Vance pulled out a certified paper sheet.
"Arthur Vance submitted a sealed biological paternity claim."
"A claim asserting Margaret is not your biological mother."
My heart stopped beating inside my chest frame.
My entire body went completely numb with shock.
"What?" I gasped out loud, staring at paper.
"According to these sealed birth records from thirty-six years ago,"
Administrator Vance explained, reading the doctor notes:
"You were adopted illegally from an agency in Chicago."
"Your biological mother was Emma's late mother's sister."
My mind raced through the terrifying legal implications.
If I was the biological nephew of Emma's mother,
That meant Emma and I were biological first cousins.
And under state law, our marriage was legally void.
My stomach churned with pure, freezing, horrifying terror.
My mother Margaret hadn't just stolen the trust fund.
She had orchestrated an illegal adoption thirty-six years ago.
She created a ticking time bomb inside our marriage.
A bomb designed to invalidate our legal marriage rights.
So she could claim the entire estate trust herself.
"Is this document legitimate, Administrator?" I asked.
"The federal marshals are verifying the DNA records now."
Agent Harris walked down the hallway holding tablet.
His face was grim, his eyes serious as steel.
"Ethan, we just arrested Arthur Vance at airport."
May you like
"He confessed everything during preliminary FBI interrogation."
📖 Chapter 11 brings the interrogation of Arthur Vance revealing the truth about the adoption. Read on right now. 👇
