Chapter 5 - The Father Dustin Never KnewClarissa demanded proof.
Rebecca obtained Dustin’s original adoption file from the sealed court archive. The biological mother was listed as Anna Wells, who died from complications of an untreated infection when Dustin was eleven months old.
The father field was blank.
But a private paternity affidavit had been attached six years later.
Caleb Holloway claimed he had recently learned Anna gave birth to his child.
His DNA report showed a strong match.
Clarissa looked at the date.
The test occurred three months earlier.
Parker arranged it.
“How did they obtain Dustin’s DNA?” she asked.
The answer came from the hospital laboratory.
Dr. Helen Ward had submitted a cheek swab during her unauthorized home assessment.
The orange drink made Dustin drowsy while she collected it.
Clarissa felt physically sick.
They had entered her home, medicated her son, and taken his genetic material while telling him it was a school exercise.
Dustin sat beside her beneath a hospital blanket.
“Is Caleb my real dad?”
Clarissa took his hand.
“He may be your biological father. That does not change who has cared for you.”
“Will he take me?”
“I’m going to protect you.”
She refused to promise an outcome controlled by courts.
But she promised he would not face it alone.
Caleb arrived at the hospital with an attorney.
He was thirty-eight, broad-shouldered, and visibly nervous. He looked nothing like Parker.
Dustin had his eyes.
Caleb stopped several feet away.
“I didn’t know Anna was pregnant.”
Clarissa stood between him and the child.
“Then why did you wait after learning?”
“Parker said you were dangerous.”
“Parker forged my deed and drugged Dustin.”
Caleb’s expression changed.
“He told me the child was malnourished.”
“You saw the photographs they created.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask to speak with Dustin?”
“Dr. Ward said direct contact could traumatize him.”
“Did you approve the guardianship plan?”
“I approved temporary placement with my mother.”
Clarissa laughed in disbelief.
“The woman who fed him one cold potato while her favorite grandson ate fried chicken?”
Caleb looked toward Alana’s guarded room.
He had not known about dinner.
He claimed he had not spoken to his mother in twelve years until Parker contacted him. Alana had thrown him out at nineteen after he refused to testify that Rose Holloway abandoned the family willingly.
“You know what happened to Rose?” Clarissa asked.
Caleb lowered his voice.
“I know my mother lied.”
As a teenager, Caleb found letters from Rose hidden inside Alana’s desk. The letters were dated years after Rose’s supposed disappearance.
Rose said she was alive, living under another name, and afraid to return because someone threatened Alana and the children.
“Who?”
“She never named them.”
Caleb accused Alana of hiding the letters. She accused him of stealing from the family and cut him off.
Years later, Caleb met Anna.
Their relationship ended badly. He moved away before she knew she was pregnant.
“I am not asking to take Dustin tonight,” he said.
“You filed a challenge.”
“Parker’s lawyer said it was the only way to stop the adoption from becoming permanent.”
“The adoption became permanent six years ago.”
“He told me the paperwork was never finalized.”
Clarissa realized Parker had deceived every participant differently.
To Alana, he promised the house.
To Caleb, he promised his son.
To Ellie, he promised family money.
To Dr. Ward, perhaps he promised professional protection.
The conspiracy held together because each person believed Parker served their private grievance.
Rebecca examined the adoption challenge.
Caleb’s signature was genuine.
The allegations beneath it were not.
He signed a request for paternity review.
Parker’s attorney inserted accusations of abuse afterward.
Caleb looked horrified.
“I didn’t write those.”
Clarissa believed he might be telling the truth.
That did not make him safe.
Dustin reached into his backpack and removed a folded drawing.
It showed the country house, the dining table, and a woman standing behind the staircase.
Clarissa asked who she was.
“The lady who gives me sandwiches when Grandma says I can’t eat.”
Alana denied any other woman lived there.
The house had several unused service rooms behind the staircase.
Clarissa checked the home-security archive.
A hidden hallway camera had activated repeatedly at night.
An elderly woman entered the kitchen, prepared food for Dustin, and disappeared before dawn.
Her face resembled Alana.
Rebecca stared at the image.
“That’s Rose Holloway.”
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The woman missing for more than forty years had been living inside Clarissa’s house.
👉 Dustin’s biological father had been manipulated by Parker—but the property’s original owner was secretly hiding within the walls.
