Chapter 6
DNA testing took three days.
They were the longest three days of my life.
Ryan finally turned himself in after his attorney contacted police.
He was not charged with disappearing.
But the investigation into the assault, surveillance, and trust documents continued.
I refused to see him.
He asked about Sophie every day.
I told my attorney all communication had to go through her.
Sophie asked about him too.
“Is Daddy in jail?”
“No.”
“Is he coming home?”
“No.”
She looked sad.
Then relieved.
That hurt.
On the third morning, Detective Cole called.
“The DNA results are back.”
Lauren came with me to the station.
Ryan sat in another room.
His attorney was there.
Cole placed the report in front of us.
“Ryan is not biologically related to your uncle Daniel.”
I released a breath I had not realized I was holding.
“So Hale lied.”
“About that.”
“What does that mean?”
Cole slid another page forward.
“The laboratory found a familial match in the database.”
“To who?”
“Someone connected to your grandmother.”
My heart started again.
“Who?”
“Robert Hale.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Ryan appears to be Hale’s biological son.”
Nothing made sense.
Robert had been my grandmother’s attorney.
Ryan’s biological father?
“How?”
Detective Cole explained they had obtained a legal DNA sample from Hale after locating him that morning.
He had been living under his middle name in another state.
Ryan’s mother, Diane Turner, had already been contacted.
She admitted having an affair with Robert Hale thirty-eight years earlier.
Ryan’s legal father never knew.
I covered my face.
“So Robert targeted his own son?”
Cole nodded.
“We think he used Ryan.”
“For Sophie’s money?”
“Possibly.”
Robert had spent years telling Ryan pieces of truth mixed with lies.
He convinced him the Ellis family had stolen Turner money.
He gave him altered estate documents.
He encouraged suspicion toward me.
Then Jessica entered Ryan’s life.
Detective Cole had obtained her messages.
She was working directly for Robert.
The affair was partly manipulation.
But Ryan still chose it.
No one forced him to kiss her.
No one forced him to betray me.
And no one forced him to hit Sophie.
Then Cole showed me a message Jessica sent Robert three months earlier.
Ryan is easy when you make him feel cheated.
Robert replied:
Keep him angry at Emily.
Another:
If he discovers I’m his father too soon, everything collapses.
My stomach twisted.
Robert did not want a relationship with Ryan.
He wanted control.
“Why Sophie’s trust?”
Cole opened another file.
Your grandmother’s money had originally come from selling a company.
Hale had represented her during the sale.
He secretly diverted millions into accounts he controlled.
Margaret eventually discovered it.
She recovered much of the money.
Part of what she recovered became Sophie’s trust.
Robert believed the money belonged to him.
“It never did,” Cole said.
“So this entire thing is revenge?”
“Money and revenge.”
Then the interrogation room door opened.
Ryan appeared with an officer.
His face was pale.
He looked at me.
“Emily.”
I stood.
“No.”
“I just learned about Hale.”
“So did I.”
“He lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Jessica lied.”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“I thought you were hiding money from me.”
I stared at him.
“So you put cameras in my house.”
“I was trying to find proof.”
“You searched my private life.”
“Yes.”
“You slept with Jessica.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“And when Sophie saw you, you hit her.”
Ryan began crying.
“I would give anything to take that back.”
“You can’t.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Then Detective Cole entered again.
“We found Hale’s storage unit.”
She placed a photograph on the table.
Inside were financial records.
Hidden cameras.
Copies of my grandmother’s will.
And a folder labeled SOPHIE.
Ryan stared at it.
Cole continued.
“There’s something inside that folder neither of you knew.”
May you like
“What?” I asked.
“A second birth certificate.”
