CHAPTER 4 – THE DNA RESULTS
CHAPTER 4 – THE DNA RESULTS
Three o'clock in the morning.
The emergency department had grown unusually quiet.
Rain still hammered against the hospital windows.
Sadie had finally fallen asleep in one of the waiting room chairs.
Even in sleep, one tiny hand clung tightly to Ethan's jacket sleeve.
As if letting go might make him disappear.
Ethan didn't move.
For seven years...
while he had been building billion-dollar companies...
his daughter had been carrying a baby through storms.
The thought was almost unbearable.
Dr. Lang stepped into the hallway.
"The lab expedited the DNA comparison."
Ethan stood immediately.
Richard, seated at the far end of the corridor beside his attorney, rose as well.
Everyone watched as Dr. Lang opened the sealed envelope.
His eyes scanned the report.
Then he looked up.
"The probability of biological paternity..."
The hallway became completely silent.
"...is 99.998 percent."
"You are Sadie's biological father."
Time stopped.
Ethan couldn't breathe.
His knees nearly gave out beneath him.
Seven years.
Seven birthdays.
Seven Christmas mornings.
Seven years of scraped knees...
nightmares...
first words...
first steps...
All gone.
Moments he would never get back.
Sadie woke to the sound of someone crying.
She blinked sleepily.
"Mister Ethan..."
Her small voice trembled.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Ethan dropped to one knee in front of her.
His own tears finally spilled down his face.
"No."
He gently held her tiny hands.
"You've never done anything wrong."
His voice broke.
"I'm the one who failed you."
Sadie looked confused.
"Mommy said..."
"...you were a good man."
Ethan closed his eyes.
Lily had still believed in him.
Even after everything.
At the opposite end of the hallway, Richard quietly reached for his coat.
He took one slow step toward the exit.
Then another.
"Stop."
Ethan's voice echoed through the corridor.
Richard didn't.
Hospital security immediately blocked the automatic doors.
"You aren't leaving."
Richard smiled.
"And what exactly are you accusing me of?"
Ethan lifted Lily's letter.
"Threatening the mother of my children."
"Forgery."
"Fraud."
"And I believe..."
"...murder."
Richard laughed.
"You have a letter."
"I have lawyers."
"You have suspicions."
"I have freedom."
He leaned closer until only Ethan could hear him.
"If you ever learn what Lily stole from me..."
"...you'll understand why she had to disappear."
The words hit Ethan like a punch.
Before he could respond—
A shrill alarm exploded from Emma's hospital room.
The heart monitor screamed.
"Nurse!"
A pediatric nurse rushed into the hallway.
"Dr. Lang!"
"The baby's seizing!"
Sadie screamed.
"Emma!"
Doctors and nurses flooded into the room.
Monitors beeped wildly.
The entire pediatric unit erupted into controlled chaos.
And in the middle of that confusion...
Richard Hale quietly slipped through the emergency exit.
By the time security realized he was gone...
May you like
the only thing left behind was a single black leather glove...
and the unmistakable feeling that this family's nightmare had only just begun.
