The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 150

"Thank you for putting the past behind us." Shirley broke the hug and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Avery eyed the motion and swallowed. Had she realized what she did?

If she did take notice, then she had hidden her expression quite well. She didn’t act like anything was out of the ordinary. Avery pretended everything was fine too.

"Angel is definitely the kind of elder brother who would go through hell for his sister." Shirley laughed, referring to how gentle he was with the girls. "The girls love him."

"I wouldn’t say ’love’ when he and Gemma have only met today, but I get your point." She turned around to finish making the fruit salad. When Shirley offered to help, she gave her the three little bows with colorful fruit pieces and let her take them to the living room where the trio was drawing and painting stick figures.

Meanwhile, she found a ziploc bag and shoved in the hair strands she had gotten from Shirley, hoping they had not been ruined by getting pulled out suddenly.

Getting Shirley’s sample was easier. For Gemma, however, a hair sample might not work. She had no idea whether or not it was true but perhaps a blood sample would be more effective.

She kept the ziploc bag with Shirley’s hair in her room and returned to the living room, quietly observing Shirley. She was keeping her distance from Damon and in return, Angel was keeping his distance from her. That was enough indication that she was hiding something. Angel was more perceptive than most kids and would see through people with ill intentions, and stay as far from them as he could. At the same time, Shirley was staying away from Damon probably because she knew she could not fool him to his face.

However, she already knew the truth. She just needed evidence and the whole story. So, when the kids decided to go to the backyard to play, she knew she only had to wait for Gemma to be alone to discreetly swab her cheeks.

She was still waiting for the girl to come back to the house for a snack or to look for Shirley when something even more convenient happened. The girl tripped over a small rock in the backyard and fell, scraping her knee.

She dashed over and helped her up, rocking her in her arms to soothe her. Damon was merely a few steps behind her, bringing over a first aid kit. She sat on a bench and placed Gemma on her lap, with Angel and Aubrey hovering around to find out if their friend was alright. This was more evidence that Shirley was not Gemma’s mother. If she was, she would have run over to check on her, even though it was a minor accident.

However, it was a good thing that Shirley was not paying attention. She gently dabbed a swab of cotton from the bleeding knee before cleaning up the scrap and placing a cute band-aid over it, then exchanged glances with Damon. It would soon be time to call Shirley out on her lies.

.... 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

It was time to leave when Shirley finally caught sight of the band-aid on Gemma’s knee.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice dropping.

"She fell." Avery responded, but she could see the wheels turning in Shirley’s head. When she realized what could have happened before the band-aid was placed on the scrap, she grabbed Gemma’s hand. "We have to get back home. Gemma has an afternoon language lesson." She forced a smile.

"Of course. Bring her over to play again, okay?" Avery let out the fakest smile she could muster, lowered her voice and spoke in Shirley’s ear. "Her father and brother will be waiting."

It didn’t matter if Shirley knew a DNA test was going to be done. She was too late and besides, they were a few steps ahead.

Soon after Shirley left, they took Aubrey home and decided to make a stop at the hospital on their way back. Angel was asleep in the backseat after playing all morning so she used the chance to voice her concern.

"If a disease is meant to cause death within five years, don’t you think their health would have deteriorated by the third year?"

Damon immediately realized what she was saying. "She looks pretty much as healthy as she did three years ago. Or healthier."

"But Julie doesn’t. I mean, not as healthy as she did when we first met. She’s obviously the one struggling with a terminal disease. Shirley, on the other hand..." She wondered how coincidental it was that Shirley happened to fake medical records with the exact disease that Julie was struggling with. Did she follow Julie around and get bright ideas when she saw the latter’s medical file?

"I know of a genetic hospital where DNA tests can be done within two hours." He started. "We only need to sit around and wait. Shirley will not have enough time to bribe anyone if she has that in mind."

"We can do that as well as this." She smiled. He didn’t know what she was doing but he knew whatever it was, she was having fun with it. He parked the car at the hospital and since they didn’t want to let Angel into the hospital, he stayed in the car while she went in.

She returned twenty minutes later with a grin. "Tomorrow, we will find out whether or not I’m your daughter. Meanwhile, we can go to the genetics hospital you mentioned for a more certain result."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" He frowned.

She tried not to laugh. "I submitted your toothbrush as well as a blood sample labeled ’Gemma’. Only, Gemma’s sample isn’t really her blood." She held up a finger and when he examined it, he noticed a prick mark.

He chuckled. "How naughty."

"What’s so naughty about me? We have one sample and we need to use it to take a test we are certain will not be rigged. We cannot risk wasting it on a test that can be manipulated."

Remembering how far the genetics hospital was, Damon dropped the duo off at her villa and drove to the hospital himself.

Like the rumors said, he didn’t need to wait for long. Barely an hour after he submitted the samples, his name was called. The receptionist passed an envelope over to him with a smile.

"We don’t get this kind of test often. Usually it’s a paternity test."

"Can I check the results right here?" He asked impatiently, even though he knew it was his test and he could do whatever he wanted with it.

"Of course. Just take a seat so you don’t block everyone else." She pointed a hand to the lounge where he had been waiting for the results.

He ripped open the envelope and skipped through all the medical mumbo jumbo to the results at the end of the last page. He already knew what to expect but his head shook at the sight of the 0.02% probability. Shirley was not Gemma’s mother. She was not even her aunt or distant relative.

It finally made sense. It had sounded insane for Shirley to have a daughter that coincidentally looked a lot like him. But now that it had been revealed that they were not related, it was no longer impossible. For all he knew, she could have searched the globe for a little girl with features resembling his own for her game plan. Better yet, she could have randomly met Gemma and got the bright idea of using her.

What exactly was she planning?

His phone rang as he pondered every possibility. He glanced at Avery’s name on the screen and swiped to answer. "Vivi,"

"I discovered something else." She spoke up as soon as she heard his voice. "Gemma’s blood type is AB+. Do you know what Shirley’s is?"

"She is not her daughter." He revealed the DNA results. He had wanted them to open the envelope together when he got home but he couldn’t help blurting out.

"We already knew that, didn’t we?" She didn’t sound surprised.

"I’m afraid she might hurt Gemma if she realizes her plan—whatever it is—is no longer going to work."

"What do we do? We cannot sink ourselves into these waters. We have no idea how deep they are." She was concerned.

He glanced around the lounge and made sure no one else was around. "We have to find out where Gemma came from. If she was kidnapped from her family, we have to take her back home."

They were not obliged to, but they both knew without needing a reminder that if they let the police handle the matter, Gemma might end up on the receiving end of Shirley’s wrath. A woman who was depraved enough to use a stranger’s child in her scheme could not be trusted to not hurt said child.

_____

The following day, Avery picked up the DNA test results on her way from work and laughed her heart out when she opened it. Although they already knew what it said, Damon was nervous too, sitting beside her on the bed.

"I’m your daughter!" She burst into laughter.

He grabbed her and tickled her in punishment. "Don’t even joke about that."

She rolled away from him and sat up on the bed, out of his reach. "What now? Are we going to pretend we believe Gemma is your daughter?"

"We can do that. But first, you are in so much trouble." He looked at her and she nearly shuddered from his gaze.

"What did I do?" She squeaked, feigning innocence.

He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms in response, then his lips found hers.