Chapter 8 - The Laboratory’s Verdict
By noon the following day, Oakridge was buzzing like a disturbed hornet’s nest. News of Evelyn Vance’s arrest had leaked to the local press. The mugshot of the aristocratic socialite—disheveled, glaring, her designer blouse stained—was plastered across county news feeds.
Yet, the legal battle was only beginning. Evelyn’s high-priced legal team, led by Arthur Sterling, posted her half-million-dollar bail within hours. By 2:00 PM, Jack received a formal legal notice at the hospital: Evelyn was filing an emergency injunction to freeze the Vance Family Trust, alleging that Clara had procured the pregnancy through fraudulent means, thereby invalidating Leo’s status as Harrison Vance’s legitimate heir.
"She’s doubling down," Jack’s personal attorney, Marcus Cole, said as he met Jack in the hospital cafeteria. Marcus was a bulldog of a lawyer, an old college friend who had always despised Evelyn’s games. "She’s banking on shame, Jack. She thinks you’ll settle to keep Clara’s name out of the papers. She claims she has an affidavit from Julian Ross confirming an improper relationship."
Jack’s jaw set like granite. The grief and self-pity that had crushed him in the ER were suddenly forged into pure, cold steel.
"Call the premier DNA forensic lab in the state," Jack ordered, slamming his paper coffee cup onto the table. "I want a certified, court-admissible, rush-order paternity test. I want Leo swabbed, and I want my cheek swabbed. And I want Dr. Julian Ross brought in under threat of a ten-million-dollar defamation suit."
By 5:00 PM, Marcus had tracked down Julian Ross in New York. Under the threat of immediate criminal subpoena and total professional ruin, Ross broke down within twenty minutes on speakerphone.
"I never touched Clara Miller!" Ross stammered, his voice terrified. "Evelyn Vance approached me four months ago! She offered to fund my private restoration studio in Manhattan with a two-hundred-thousand-dollar grant if I signed an affidavit claiming Clara had an affair with me! I took the deposit, but I never slept with her! Clara rejected me completely when I made an advance on her last year! She threatened to expose my forged provenance records! It was all Evelyn's plan!"
Marcus recorded the entire confession with Ross’s legal counsel present.
At 7:00 PM, the courier arrived from the diagnostic genetics facility in downtown Oakridge. Jack stood in the hospital hallway with Marcus as the envelope was sliced open.
The results were unequivocal:
*Probability of Paternity between Jack Vance and Leo Vance: 99.999%.*
May you like
The independent proof was absolute. The child was Jack’s flesh and blood. The heir to the Vance dynasty was legitimate, pure, and untouched by Evelyn’s filth. But as Jack held the paper, the victory felt hollow. Science could prove his fatherhood, but no laboratory test could instantly repair the soul of his shattered wife.
***
