Chapter 7 - The Collapse of the Matriarch
The room seemed to lose all oxygen.
Daniel raised his head, his face wet with tears, staring at Dr. Vance in total confusion. "What... what do you mean? What about my father?"
"According to the certified medical records of Richard Hayes—which were subpoenaed and provided under court order by Mr. Arthur Hayes," Dr. Vance explained, "Richard Hayes possessed a homozygous dominant brown-eye genotype (BB) across all primary loci, alongside a distinct Y-chromosome haplogroup."
Dr. Vance paused, letting the silence stretch before delivering the final blow.
"Mr. Daniel Hayes does NOT possess the Y-chromosome haplogroup of Richard Hayes. Furthermore, Daniel Hayes carries a paternal recessive blue-eye allele that could NOT have been inherited from Richard Hayes."
Daniel stared at the doctor, his brain struggling to process the scientific terminology. "I... I don't understand. What are you saying?"
"She is saying, Daniel," my father spoke up, his voice calm, clear, and ringing like a bell, "that Richard Hayes was not your biological father."
"WHAT?" Daniel screamed, slamming his hands on the table as he stood up. "That's a lie! That's a ridiculous lie!"
"It is a biological certainty, Mr. Hayes," Dr. Vance said calmly, handing a graphic DNA chart across the table. "You do not share a single paternal genetic marker with the man listed on your birth certificate."
Daniel turned slowly to look at his mother.
Patricia was pale as a corpse. Her manicured hands were shaking uncontrollably against her designer purse. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. She looked like a woman who had just watched a bomb detonate in her own living room.
"Mom?" Daniel whispered, his voice cracking like a terrified child's. "Mom, what is she talking about? Who... who was my father?"
Patricia tried to pull herself together, her eyes darting frantically toward the door. "Daniel... don't listen to this! This lab is corrupt! Claire's father paid them off! They are trying to turn you against your own mother!"
"Enough, Patricia!" I shouted, standing up and throwing the old photograph of Julian Vance onto the center of the table.
The photograph slid across the polished wood, coming to a rest right in front of Daniel.
Daniel looked down at the black-and-white image. He looked at the young woman in the picture—his mother—and then his eyes locked onto the tall man standing beside her.
A man with dark hair. A man with dark features. And piercing, bright, sapphire-blue eyes.
Daniel gasped, his fingers trembling as he picked up the photograph. "He... he has my nose. He has my chin... who is this?"
"His name was Julian Vance, Daniel," my father said softly. "Your mother was engaged to him before he died thirty-six years ago. Two months after his death, she married Richard Hayes and claimed you were born two months premature. She lied to Richard. She lied to the Hayes family. And she lied to you your entire life."
Daniel fell back into his chair as if he had been struck by a sledgehammer. He looked at his mother with a gaze of utter, profound devastation.
"You..." Daniel whispered to Patricia, his voice shaking with a terrifying mixture of rage and heartbreak. "You accused my wife of being unfaithful... you called my baby a bastard in front of thirty people... because YOU were hiding a bastard of your own?"
"Daniel, please!" Patricia sobbed, reaching out to touch his arm. "I did it for you! Richard was a good man! He raised you! Julian was dead! What purpose would it have served to tell the truth?"
"The purpose of TRUTH, Patricia!" Daniel roared, tears streaming down his face as he yanked his arm away from her touch. "You attacked Claire! You tried to destroy my daughter's life! You tried to break up my marriage! You brought a DNA kit to my child's birthday party to frame Claire, just to keep your own dirty secret buried!"
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"Daniel..." Patricia wept, shrinking back into her chair, completely broken.
"Get away from me," Daniel hissed, standing up and backing away from her as if she were covered in poison. "Don't you ever come near me again. Don't you ever look at my daughter again."
