Mark: Pack your bags, Clara. Once the doctor signs your discharge papers, you aren't coming back to my home.
Clara: Your home? Mark, we bought that house together! We signed the mortgage together using my late father's life insurance payout!
Mark: That was before you started lying. My mother checked our estate accounts last week. Two hundred thousand dollars vanished from the trust fund. Where did it go, Clara?
Clara: I told you a hundred times, your mother manages the master login for those accounts! I haven't transferred a single dollar!
Mark: Lie all you want. Mom wouldn't steal from her own son. She loves me. She's the one who warned me about your late-night meetings with that lawyer.
Clara: I met an attorney because your mother threatened to take Lily away from me six months ago! I was protecting our daughter!
Mark: Keep making excuses. But the moment the court approves the paternity test, I'm filing for full custody of Lily and kicking you out of the family business.
Lily: Mommy, why is Daddy shouting? Is the baby scared?
Clara: No, sweetie. Daddy is just confused. Come sit next to Mommy on the bed.
Lily let go of her baby brother's hand reluctantly and scampered over to my bedside, her big blue eyes filled with worry. I pulled her small body close against my chest, my hands trembling. The physical pain from the labor was nothing compared to the crushing agony in my heart. Mark had changed the moment his mother, Evelyn, moved into our Dallas suburb three years ago. Evelyn never thought I was good enough for her son. She came from old Texas money, while my father had been a simple mechanic who saved every penny to leave me a modest inheritance.
Mark: My mother is coming upstairs right now with the official court-ordered DNA collection kit. We're doing the cheek swab today, before you can tamper with anything.
Clara: Good! Perform ten tests if you want! I have nothing to hide, Mark! I have never touched another man in my entire life!
Mark: We'll see what the lab results say in forty-eight hours.
The heavy wooden door of the room swung open with a sharp click. Evelyn stepped inside, wearing a pristine cream-colored Chanel suit, her silver hair styled into a tight bun. She held a thick yellow envelope under her arm, her sharp eyes scanning the room like a landlord evaluating a ruined apartment.
Evelyn: Mark, darling, don't let her stress you out. The legal team is already drafting the emergency custody petition for Lily.
Clara: Get out of my room, Evelyn. You've poisoned his mind enough.
Evelyn: Watch your tongue, young lady. You are in no position to make demands in this family. You brought this shame upon yourself.
Mark: Mom, did you bring the certified kit from the court clinic?
Evelyn: Of course I did. I personally spoke with our family lawyer and the clinic supervisor. Everything will be processed immediately.
Clara: You're so eager to tear our family apart, aren't you, Evelyn?
Evelyn: I am protecting my son's legacy and his hard-earned wealth from a fraudulent opportunist!
Lily: Grandma, look! Baby brother held my finger!
Evelyn: Don't touch that child, Lily. We don't know who his real father is yet.
Clara: Don't you dare speak to my daughter like that!
Evelyn: He isn't a family member until the paper says so. Mark, call the nurse. Let's get the baby's swab done right now so I can hand-deliver it to the lab downtown.
Mark: Right away, Mom.
I squeezed my eyes shut as tears burned down my cheeks. Mark walked to the wall panel and pressed the nurse call button. He was completely blind to his mother's manipulation, but he had no idea that the nurse entering the room was about to notice something Evelyn tried desperately to hide.
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