Chapter 9 - MY HUSBAND'S REAL REASON
Adrian filed for emergency custody the next morning.
He claimed I was emotionally unstable.
He claimed Luka had manipulated me.
He claimed my father was a dangerous fugitive.
And he claimed I had disappeared with our newborn daughter.
Mia read the petition at the cabin table.
Then she smiled.
Not kindly.
“This is useful.”
“How?”
“He swore under penalty of perjury that he had no knowledge of Thomas Carter’s whereabouts.”
I stared at her.
“But he just admitted knowing for two years.”
“And Luka recorded the call.”
Luka lifted his phone.
For once, I was grateful for his obsession with preparation.
Mia continued.
“Adrian also stated he never accessed your prenatal records without permission.”
My father pushed the access logs across the table.
“Also false.”
For the first time, fear began turning into anger I could use.
“What happens now?”
“We answer.”
Mia looked at me.
“And we stop reacting to Adrian.”
I nodded.
“We make him react to us.”
That afternoon, Mia filed our response.
She included evidence that Adrian had abandoned the hospital with Vanessa less than six hours after Grace’s birth.
She included the altered medical access logs.
She included the recorded phone call.
She did not include M-17.
Not yet.
Then Vanessa called me.
I almost ignored it.
Something told me not to.
“Elena?”
Her voice shook.
“What do you want?”
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“Adrian lied to me.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You’ll need to narrow that down.”
“He told me you were separating.”
“Try again.”
“He told me the baby wasn’t his.”
My breath stopped.
“What?”
“He said he had proof.”
The room went silent around me.
“When?”
“Months ago.”
I looked at my father.
“Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I thought you knew.”
“I knew nothing.”
“He said the pregnancy was the reason he couldn’t leave you immediately.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“He needed to wait until Grace was born.”
My father stood abruptly.
“What exactly did Adrian say?”
Vanessa heard him.
“Who is that?”
“Answer the question.”
She hesitated.
“He said once the baby was born, he would finally know who he really was.”
Thomas went white.
Luka swore under his breath.
I felt ice spread through me.
Grace’s DNA was never about proving whether Adrian was her father.
It was about proving who Adrian’s father was.
And Adrian had used my pregnancy to solve the secret that had controlled his entire family.
Vanessa whispered.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The night before you went into labor, Adrian met someone at the Vale estate.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see him.”
“What did you hear?”
May you like
She lowered her voice.
“Adrian offered him ten million dollars for an envelope.”
