PAGE 11 — CHAPTER 11: THE IMPOSSIBLE TEST
Khloe stared at the genetic report.
“This is wrong.”
“The laboratory tested twice,” Harrison said.
“I have never been with another man.”
“I believe you.”
“Then Richard is Hope’s father.”
“He can’t be.”
Harrison showed her Richard’s medical records, obtained through a court order connected to the fraud investigation.
Eight years earlier, Richard had undergone treatment for testicular cancer at a private clinic in Switzerland.
The treatment had left him permanently infertile.
He had never told Khloe.
For years, he watched her endure injections, surgeries, and miscarriages while knowing he could not father a child naturally.
Khloe covered her mouth.
“The IVF embryos…”
“The clinic records are being examined.”
Investigators discovered that Richard had secretly arranged donor sperm during their final IVF cycle. Khloe had never consented.
But Hope had been conceived naturally months later.
That left only one explanation.
The donor material had been used without Khloe’s knowledge during what she believed was a routine fertility procedure shortly before the clinic discharged her.
A former embryologist confessed after receiving immunity.
Richard had paid the clinic director to inseminate Khloe with donor sperm because the Cole family trust required a biological descendant from Khloe, not from him.
He did not care whether the baby shared his blood.
He cared whether the child unlocked the money.
Khloe held Hope closer.
“Who is the donor?”
The records listed only a number.
Donor 3187.
The clinic director had destroyed the identity file.
Richard’s defense attorneys immediately seized on the revelation. They argued that because Richard had consented to the procedure as Khloe’s husband, he remained Hope’s legal father.
They demanded visitation.
Khloe refused.
The issue moved to family court.
During the hearing, Richard appeared by video from jail.
“I always intended to raise her,” he said.
Judge Brooks looked unimpressed.
“You conspired to have her mother declared incompetent.”
“That has not been proven.”
“You discussed the child as a financial asset.”
“I was under stress.”
Khloe rose from her seat.
“You let me believe my body was broken.”
Richard stared at her.
“You wanted a baby.”
“I wanted our baby.”
“You got one.”
The courtroom went silent.
Khloe’s voice dropped.
“No, Richard. I survived you. There’s a difference.”
Judge Brooks suspended all parental access pending the criminal trial.
As deputies removed Richard from the video room, he shouted one final sentence.
“Ask Harrison why he already knew I was infertile.”
May you like
Khloe slowly turned toward her brother.
Harrison did not meet her eyes.
