Chapter 6 - The Biological Truth
The conference room was dead quiet. Brenda Higgins was sobbing quietly into a paper towel, while Richard Sterling frantically shuffled papers, trying to find a exit strategy.
Chloe gripped the edge of the table, her fingernails digging into the wood. "The forgery doesn't matter! The child is still Ethan's! You can fake a signature, but you can't fake blood! I demand a DNA test!"
I stood up from my chair.
It was the first time I had spoken during the deposition.
"You want a DNA test, Chloe?" I asked, my voice echoing off the glass walls.
"Yes!" Chloe shrieked, her composure completely shattering. "I know who I slept with, Lisa! Ethan came to my apartment two years ago when you two were having problems! He was vulnerable, and we made a mistake! That child is his son, and he deserves his home!"
My mother gasped behind her. "Chloe... oh my god..."
I didn't flinch. I reached into my purse, pulled out a sealed certified envelope from the Cleveland Clinic, and tossed it onto the table directly in front of her.
"Read page three," I said softly.
Sterling grabbed the document, scanning it rapidly. As his eyes moved down the page, his shoulders visibly dropped, and the pen slipped from his hand, rolling onto the floor.
"What is it, Richard?" Chloe snapped, pulling the paper toward her. "What does it say?"
"Mrs. Whittaker," Vance explained to the room, "the late Ethan Whittaker was diagnosed with complete, irreversible azoospermia six years ago. He was biologically sterile. He could not produce sperm. It was physically, medically, and scientifically impossible for him to father a child with you—or anyone else."
Chloe stared at the medical report. Her eyes darted across the Latin medical terms, the doctor's signature, and the official laboratory seal.
"No..." Chloe whispered, her voice barely audible. "No, this is a lie... you made this up!"
"That is a certified medical record from the Cleveland Clinic, backed by sworn affidavits from three chief endocrinologists," Vance said flatly. "If you proceed with a court-ordered DNA test, all you will accomplish is legally proving to the world that your son belongs to another man—a man who is certainly not Ethan Whittaker."
My mother stood up from her chair in the gallery, her face pale with shock and horror.
"Chloe..." my mother whispered, her voice trembling with heartbreak. "You... you lied? You made all of this up? Ethan never touched you?"
Chloe looked at our mother, then at the camera, then at me.
She was trapped.
The forgery was exposed. The perjury was recorded. The biological lie was shattered.
The golden child who had spent her entire life stepping on me, taking my things, and expecting the family to cheer her on had finally run out of ground.
May you like
"We... we request an immediate recess," Richard Sterling croaked, his voice entirely devoid of its former arrogance.
"No recess," I said, stepping closer to Chloe, looking down at her. "You wanted half my house, Chloe. You wanted my home. Now, let me tell you what you're going to get."
