Chapter 4 - The DNA Trap
CRACK.
The violent impact spun Margaret halfway around. Her pearl necklace snapped, white beads raining down onto the stone path like heavy hail, bouncing into the hedges. Margaret stumbled backward, clutching her bright red, swelling cheek, her eyes wide with absolute, breathless shock.
"You... you hit me?" Margaret gasped, her voice trembling in terror as she backed away. "Arthur, arrest her! She's crazy!"
Arthur stood frozen, his champagne glass shaking so hard the liquid spilled over his fingers.
Clara stepped directly into Margaret’s personal space, towering over the older woman, her dark eyes burning with a terrifying, unhinged intensity that seemed to suck the oxygen out of the air.
"You chained a child outside?" Clara roared, her voice booming across the lawn, making the distant party guests freeze in silence. "You picked the wrong lie, Margaret!"
Clara reached inside the tight pocket of her beige sheath dress and pulled out a folded, certified legal document bearing the raised seal of the State Forensic Laboratory. She slammed it flat against Margaret's chest.
"The DNA test destroys your lie, Margaret!" Clara spat, her breath hot against the older woman's pale face. "Lily belongs here! Her DNA matches Julian's at ninety-nine point nine percent! And more importantly... it matches the DNA recovered from the brake lines of Julian’s car!"
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Margaret’s face instantly lost every trace of color. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Her eyes darted frantically toward Arthur, then back to the paper clutched against her chest.
"You thought if you murdered Julian and called my daughter an illegitimate bastard, you could claim the entire eighty-million-dollar estate," Clara whispered, leaning in until her lips almost touched Margaret’s ear. "Lily belongs here. Your lie doesn't. And neither do you."
