The next morning, Arthur drove straight to the city bank.
He brought Clara and Leo into a private back room.
A tall lawyer named Mr. Miller met them with thick folders.
Arthur: I need a DNA test completed on an emergency basis.
Mr. Miller: We can have results in four short hours, Arthur.
Clara gave a small sample of her cheek cells into a tube.
Arthur gave his sample right after her without any hesitation.
While they waited, Arthur called a private investigator to his office.
Arthur: Find Doctor Richard Vance before noon today.
Investigator: He retired five years ago to a house by the lake.
Arthur: Bring him to my lawyer's office right away.
Two hours later, an old man in a gray suit walked in.
Doctor Vance looked pale and nervous when he saw Arthur's face.
Doctor Vance: Arthur, it has been a very long time.
Arthur: Sit down in that chair and speak the absolute truth.
Doctor Vance looked over at Clara sitting near the bright window.
His hands began to shake as he recognized her mother's features.
Doctor Vance: Oh lord, she looks just like Elena.
Arthur: Why did you tell me my baby daughter died?
Doctor Vance: I had no choice, Arthur, please understand me.
Arthur: You had a choice to be an honest human being!
Doctor Vance: Harold threatened to end my medical career forever.
Clara: You threw a baby into an orphanage for money?
Doctor Vance: He paid off my heavy gambling debts in full.
The old doctor lowered his head in deep and heavy shame.
Doctor Vance: Elena survived the birth just long enough to speak.
Arthur: What were her last words to you?
Doctor Vance: She put her sapphire ring around the baby's wrist.
Doctor Vance: She begged me to save her child no matter what.
Doctor Vance: I could not bring myself to hurt the newborn infant.
Doctor Vance: So I took her to Saint Jude's under a fake name.
Arthur stood over the doctor with intense cold anger in his eyes.
Arthur: You ruined my family for ten long painful years.
Doctor Vance: I saved her life from Harold's evil plans!
Arthur: You locked her in cold poverty while Harold took millions.
The door opened and Mr. Miller walked in holding an envelope.
Mr. Miller: The DNA results are ninety-nine point nine percent positive.
Arthur turned to Clara with tears running down his face again.
Arthur: You are my real daughter, Clara Sterling.