Chapter 4 - The DNA Test Nolan Never Showed CamrynCamryn thought Lucille was lying.
It was easier.
Lucille lied about Avery.
About the court petition.
About the bathroom.
About Camryn’s stability.
Why not paternity too?
Then Gerald produced the laboratory invoice.
Nolan Vaughn had ordered a private DNA comparison four weeks before his death.
Subject A: Nolan Vaughn.
Subject B: Avery Hayes Vaughn.
Camryn stared at the page.
“No.”
Rachel read carefully.
“This is only an invoice.”
“The result is sealed,” Gerald said.
“Where?”
Lucille answered.
“Nolan’s private office.”
Camryn looked toward the second floor.
She had preserved that office after his death.
Untouched.
Or almost untouched.
Lucille had entered it repeatedly under the excuse of sorting family photographs.
Camryn felt stupid.
“Why would Nolan test Avery?”
Lucille looked almost satisfied.
“Because he finally listened to me.”
“You told him Avery might be his?”
“No.”
Lucille’s smile disappeared.
“I told him you couldn't be trusted.”
Camryn crossed the room before she consciously decided to move.
Rachel caught her arm.
“Don't.”
Camryn stopped.
Lucille didn't flinch.
“What did you tell him?”
“That the timing never made sense.”
Camryn laughed in disbelief.
“Nolan met me after Avery was born.”
“That’s what he believed.”
“It’s what happened.”
Lucille stared.
“Was it?”
Camryn froze.
Then memory returned.
A conference.
New Orleans.
Nine months before Avery was born.
Camryn had attended a real-estate charity event.
Nolan Vaughn had been there.
They met briefly.
Ten minutes.
Maybe fifteen.
Nothing romantic happened.
They were introduced by friends, spoke over drinks, then left separately.
Months later, when they formally met in Nashville after Avery’s birth, neither initially realized they'd crossed paths before.
Nolan remembered later.
They joked about it.
That was all.
Lucille had apparently turned one forgotten conversation into a paternity theory.
“You're insane.”
“Nolan didn't think so.”
“He ordered a test because you poisoned him against me.”
“Then why didn't he tell you?”
Camryn had no answer.
Rachel intervened.
“We need the result.”
They went upstairs.
Nolan’s office smelled faintly of cedar and paper.
Camryn hated entering.
His reading glasses still rested beside the computer.
A coffee mug remained on the shelf.
She had never moved it.
Lucille walked directly toward a wall cabinet.
Too directly.
Camryn noticed.
“You've been looking.”
Lucille didn't answer.
The cabinet required a code.
Camryn knew Nolan’s usual passwords.
None worked.
Avery appeared in the doorway.
“Mom?”
Camryn turned.
“You should stay with Yolanda.”
Avery looked toward the keypad.
“Dad used my birthday.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
“He showed me.”
Camryn stared at Lucille.
Lucille stared back.
Avery stepped forward.
“Zero-three-one-eight.”
March 18.
Her birthday.
Camryn entered it.
The cabinet clicked open.
Inside were several envelopes.
One labeled:
AVERY — PRIVATE.
Camryn’s hands trembled.
She opened it.
DNA PATERNITY TEST.
Rachel stood beside her.
Camryn scanned the page.
Probability of paternity:
99.9987%.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Lucille sat down.
Camryn looked at her.
“Nolan was Avery’s biological father.”
Lucille’s face had lost color.
“That can't be right.”
“It’s right.”
“No.”
“You spent years calling my daughter an outsider.”
Lucille stared.
“You told her she didn't belong.”
“She doesn't.”
Camryn almost laughed.
“She is your biological granddaughter.”
Lucille's eyes sharpened.
“I said she doesn't belong.”
Different sentence.
Different meaning.
Camryn felt something cold.
“Why?”
Lucille looked away.
Avery stood near the door, confused.
Camryn immediately moved to her.
“Sweetheart, go downstairs.”
“Is Dad really my dad?”
Camryn froze.
Avery knew enough to understand.
She crouched.
“Yes.”
“But he adopted me.”
“Yes.”
“Why if he was already my dad?”
Camryn’s heart broke.
“Because we didn't know.”
Avery frowned.
“Did Dad know before he died?”
“Yes.”
“Was he happy?”
Camryn looked at the DNA result.
Then found a handwritten note attached behind it.
Nolan’s handwriting.
She read silently.
I knew it.
Lucille was wrong.
Thank God.
Camryn smiled through tears.
“Yes.”
Avery’s face softened.
“Okay.”
She hugged Camryn.
Lucille watched.
Her biological granddaughter.
The child she'd called a mistake.
Camryn stood after Avery left.
“What does this change financially?”
Rachel was already thinking.
“The Vaughn family trust established by Nolan’s father distinguishes between adopted and biological descendants for certain legacy shares.”
Gerald sighed.
Lucille glared at him.
Rachel continued.
“As Nolan’s biological child, Avery may inherit additional shares from the generational trust.”
“How many?”
Gerald knew.
“Seventeen percent.”
Camryn stared.
Avery’s twenty-six percent could become forty-three.
Enough to become the single largest voting block in Vaughn Technologies.
Lucille’s emergency-custody plan suddenly looked even more calculated.
“If I lose guardianship…”
“Hamilton freezes control over all of Avery’s interests.”
“And tomorrow’s vote?”
“Could proceed without them.”
Camryn looked at Lucille.
“You knew the result.”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“I didn't.”
“Nolan kept it here.”
“I never found it.”
Gerald looked uncomfortable.
Camryn noticed.
“What?”
He hesitated.
“Mr. Vaughn sent my office a copy.”
Lucille slowly turned.
“What?”
Gerald swallowed.
“Three days before his death.”
Lucille's face changed.
“You told me the result was inconclusive.”
Gerald said nothing.
Camryn stared at him.
“You lied to Lucille?”
“I followed Nolan’s instructions.”
“What instructions?”
Gerald looked toward the desk.
“He believed someone was trying to change the trust before the paternity result became known.”
“Who?”
Gerald's eyes moved toward Lucille.
Then away.
Camryn understood.
“Nolan didn't trust his mother.”
Lucille stood.
“That is enough.”
“No.”
Camryn turned to Gerald.
“What else did Nolan say?”
Gerald hesitated.
Then:
“He told me that if anything happened to him before Avery’s status was formally recorded…”
Lucille’s face hardened.
“…Camryn should investigate whoever benefited most from keeping Avery legally invisible.”
The room went silent.
Nolan died three days later.
And tomorrow morning, someone intended to buy Vaughn Technologies while Avery’s shares were frozen.
Camryn looked at Lucille.
May you like
But for the first time—
she wondered whether Lucille was the only person Nolan had been afraid of.
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