DNA testing is requested by the court as everyone scrambles to pin down facts. Mei feels violated and empowered at the same time—her body is at the center of the argument, but she's also the one deciding what will be revealed. Adrian offers to fund an independent lab and waits for whatever decision Mei makes.
Renée organizes the women into systems—logistics and support, lawyers and drivers. The group becomes a machine gently engineered for a fight that is simultaneously intimate and corporate.
Cliffhanger: The lab confirms partial genetic markers linked to the Liao family—but an unexpected twist: a mitochondrial haplogroup suggests Mei's maternal line is from a region no one in the Liao family remembers associating with them. The genealogy opens more questions than answers.