Chapter 4 - Vanessa’s First Lie
The DNA results arrived the next afternoon.
Probability of paternity: greater than 99.99%.
Adrian sat beside my hospital window reading the page again and again.
Finally he whispered:
“She’s mine.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Lily.
His daughter.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then the door opened.
Vanessa walked in.
No wedding dress this time.
Black trousers. Sunglasses. Controlled expression.
“We need to talk.”
Adrian stood.
“You altered Emma’s emails.”
Vanessa stopped.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
She laughed nervously.
“This is what happens? She produces a baby and suddenly I’m the enemy?”
“Answer the question.”
“No.”
I watched silently.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Did you access Emma’s private account?”
“I was her assistant. I had access to everything.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“You wanted out of the marriage.”
Adrian stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“I helped you.”
“How?”
She looked at me.
Then back at him.
“Emma was never going to let you go.”
“That’s a lie,” I said.
Vanessa ignored me.
“She would have dragged the divorce out for years.”
“So you altered evidence?”
“I organized evidence.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“That isn’t an answer.”
Vanessa finally snapped.
“Fine! I removed irrelevant parts.”
Silence.
Adrian looked almost sick.
“You edited them.”
“They were still her words.”
“You changed their meaning.”
“I protected us!”
“There was no ‘us’ when you did it.”
Vanessa stopped.
That was the mistake.
Adrian heard it.
“So when did you start?”
Her lips parted.
He repeated:
“When did you start manipulating my divorce?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Adrian took out his phone.
“Leave.”
“You’re choosing her?”
“I’m choosing to find out what you did.”
“You’ll regret humiliating me.”
“No,” he said quietly. “I think I already regret trusting you.”
Vanessa’s expression went cold.
Then she looked at me.
“This isn’t over.”
I held Lily against my chest.
“For you, it probably is.”
She walked out.
Adrian sat down heavily.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
“For what?”
He struggled to answer.
Exactly.
There were too many possibilities.
The affair.
The divorce.
The humiliation.
Ignoring my pregnancy disclosure.
Taking Vanessa’s side.
Allowing manipulated evidence into court.
Finally I said:
“Don’t apologize to me yet.”
“Why?”
“Because you still don’t know everything.”
His face tightened.
“What else is there?”
May you like
I looked toward Lily.
“The company.”
