Chapter 9 - Maya’s Birth Certificate
The document was fake.
I knew it immediately.
I had been in the delivery room when Maya was born.
I had signed the original certificate myself.
But that did not make the forgery meaningless.
Someone had created it for a reason.
Rebecca understood first.
“They planned to challenge your parental rights.”
“To my own daughter?”
“If they could create enough confusion.”
“She looks like me.”
“That does not matter if the objective is delay.”
Court proceedings.
DNA testing.
Emergency placement.
Temporary guardianships.
A forged certificate did not need to survive forever.
It only needed to survive long enough to create chaos.
While I was detained at Ashbourne, Isabella and Julian could claim Maya’s parentage was disputed.
And Julian could present himself as biological father.
Then gain access to Maya’s trust.
It was obscene.
It was also clever.
I ordered a DNA test for Maya and me.
Not because I doubted anything.
Because I wanted evidence ready before they could use the lie.
The result confirmed what I already knew.
I was Maya’s biological father.
But another discovery came with it.
The laboratory technician called personally.
“There’s something unusual.”
“What?”
“The prior test request.”
“What prior test?”
“Someone submitted samples under Maya Hart’s name three months ago.”
I stared at the phone.
“Who?”
“The requesting party was Isabella Hart.”
My stomach tightened.
“Result?”
“The male comparison sample was not yours.”
“Whose was it?”
“We don’t have identification.”
“But was the man related to Maya?”
“No.”
So Isabella had tested Maya against someone else.
Almost certainly Julian.
She already knew the claim was false.
She planned to use it anyway.
Then Ruiz found the email.
Julian to Isabella.
The truth is irrelevant if Nathan cannot prove it before Monday.
Rebecca read it twice.
“What was Monday?”
Marcus checked the old calendar.
Hart Global’s annual shareholder record date.
If I became legally incapacitated before Monday, control of my voting shares would temporarily pass to my designated spouse.
Isabella.
The entire plan depended on timing.
Friday.
Maya removed.
Me detained.
Weekend confusion.
Monday voting control.
Then the acquisition could close under emergency authority.
Bellweather would eventually trigger the covenants.
Julian and Isabella would control the company from both sides.
Rebecca leaned back.
“This is bigger than theft.”
“It’s a takeover.”
“Using your family as the entry point.”
My phone rang.
Detective Ruiz.
Her voice was urgent.
“We found Laura Simmons.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Baltimore.”
Relief moved through me.
Then she continued.
“She says she’ll testify.”
“Good.”
“But she wants protection.”
“She’ll get it.”
Ruiz paused.
“She also says Isabella wasn’t the person who recruited her.”
“Julian?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“She says the woman introduced herself as Maya’s grandmother.”
I stopped breathing.
Maya’s biological mother, Emily, had been dead for five years.
Emily’s mother was still alive.
Her name was Victoria Lang.
May you like
And she had hated me since the day Emily died.
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