Chapter 7 - THE AMENDED CERTIFICATE
I stared at the glowing screen of David’s phone.
Under FATHER, the birth certificate didn't say Unknown.
It said: Arthur Laru.
Violet dropped her diaper bag onto the floor with a sickening thud. She backed away, her hands flying to cover her mouth.
“No,” Violet gasped, her eyes wide with absolute horror. “No, that’s impossible. He’s dead.”
I turned to her. “Who is Arthur Laru?”
“My father,” Violet whispered, trembling violently. “He walked out on my mother and me when I was six years old. I haven't seen him in twenty years. The private investigator I hired five years ago told me he died in a bar fight in Nevada.”
“He isn't dead,” David said grimly, tapping the screen. “According to the digital footprint on this amendment, Arthur Laru physically walked into the county clerk’s office three days ago. He provided a falsified DNA test claiming he wasn't your father, Violet, but the father of the child.”
The sheer sickness of the plot settled over the room like a suffocating blanket.
Marcus hadn't just manipulated Violet’s doctor. He had tracked down her estranged, degenerate father, paid him to fake a paternity test, and placed him on the birth certificate.
“Why?” I demanded, pacing the room. “Why go through all that trouble?”
“Because of the loophole,” David explained, pulling up a legal statute on his tablet. “If a mother is deemed financially insolvent or medically unfit—which Marcus is claiming in his custody petition—the legal rights default to the father on the birth certificate.”
“Marcus is going to use Arthur to take custody of Celeste,” I realized, my blood running colder than ice. “And since Arthur is legally the father, the patents I just transferred into Celeste’s trust…”
“...will be controlled by Arthur Laru,” David finished. “And Marcus will simply buy the patents back from him for pennies on the dollar.”
It was a masterstroke of corporate evil. Marcus had cornered me completely.
“We have to fix the certificate,” I said, grabbing my coat. “We go to the clerk’s office right now.”
“It’s 4 AM, Beckett,” David said. “The office doesn't open until 8 AM. Marcus’s emergency custody hearing is scheduled before a judge at 9 AM. By the time we file a contest for a real DNA test, the judge will have already granted temporary custody to Arthur.”
Violet began to sob quietly, clutching Celeste against her chest. “He’s going to take her, Beckett. My father is a monster. He’s going to sell our daughter to Marcus.”
I looked at Violet. The woman I loved. The woman who had endured seven months of hell to protect the child she thought I didn't want.
I walked over and took her face in my hands.
“Nobody is taking my daughter,” I swore, looking directly into her tear-filled emerald eyes. “I don't care what a piece of paper says. I don't care what Marcus threatens.”
I turned to David.
“Find Arthur Laru,” I ordered. “Use every private investigator, every security contact, every resource Valiant Holdings has. I want to know exactly what hotel Marcus is hiding him in.”
David nodded, furiously typing on his phone. “I’m on it.”
Ten minutes later, David looked up, a grim smile on his face.
“Found him. He used a credit card under Marcus’s corporate account to order room service an hour ago.”
“Where?”
“The Four Seasons. Downtown.”
I turned to my head of security, who had just returned to the penthouse holding a small velvet box.
“Watch them,” I commanded, pointing to Violet and Celeste. “If anyone who isn't me tries to come through that door, shoot them.”
May you like
I snatched the velvet box from the guard’s hand, shoved it into my coat pocket, and headed for the private elevator.
I was about to show Arthur Laru exactly what happens when you try to sell my family.
