Chapter 4 - THE FIRST DNA TEST
The test was performed the following morning.
Ethan provided a cheek swab.
Rosa signed the consent forms.
Lily complained that the cotton swab tickled.
Results would take two days.
Victoria refused to accept the broken engagement.
She contacted Ethan’s board members.
She told them Rosa was attempting to blackmail him.
She claimed Ethan was suffering from emotional instability.
By noon, business reporters were asking whether an unknown child threatened the Caldwell succession plan.
Ethan ordered his communications team to make no statement involving Lily.
“She is not a corporate issue,” he said.
His chairman disagreed.
“If she is your biological child, she becomes a beneficiary of several trusts.”
“She is three.”
“Money does not wait for adulthood to create conflict.”
Ethan ended the call.
At the hospital, Rosa packed Lily’s things.
She planned to return to Queens after discharge.
Ethan stopped her near the elevator.
“You cannot leave yet.”
“You ordered the test.”
“The results will reach you.”
“I want to speak about what comes next.”
“There may be nothing next.”
“She is my daughter.”
“You do not know that officially.”
“You admitted it.”
Rosa looked exhausted.
“I admitted what I believe.”
“You never questioned it?”
“No.”
“There was no one else.”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Then why are you running?”
“Because your broken engagement is already becoming my fault.”
“Because reporters are outside.”
“Because Victoria’s attorney called my landlord.”
Ethan became still.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether my lease allows an unregistered child.”
“That is intimidation.”
“Yes.”
“And it works.”
Ethan called his own attorney immediately.
Rosa grabbed his wrist.
“Do not send ten lawyers into my life.”
“I am protecting you.”
“No.”
“You are reacting.”
“Protection begins by asking what I need.”
Ethan stopped.
“What do you need?”
“A safe place for Lily.”
“A few days without cameras.”
“And the freedom to decide whether working for you is still possible.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“My mother owned a cottage near the back of the estate.”
“It has a separate gate.”
“No staff unless you ask.”
Rosa looked at him suspiciously.
“You want us to stay on the property?”
“Only until the press leaves your apartment.”
“You may say no.”
The last sentence mattered.
Rosa agreed to three nights.
That evening, Victoria returned to the mansion.
Her keycard no longer worked.
She pounded against the front doors until security arrived.
Ethan spoke to her through the intercom.
“Your belongings will be delivered to your parents.”
“You are humiliating me.”
“You pushed a child off a bench.”
“You humiliated yourself.”
Victoria looked toward the security camera.
“This is not over.”
Then she lifted a sealed envelope.
“I found something inside your mother’s desk.”
May you like
“It concerns Rosa.”
“And if you refuse to let me inside, I will give it to every reporter at the gate.”
