Chapter 13
Adrian asked to meet Mara.
Not Massimo.
Mara.
Rebecca advised against a private meeting.
So they met in a neutral conference room with attorneys present.
Massimo waited elsewhere.
That was deliberate.
Adrian looked thinner.
His expensive suit still fit.
His confidence did not.
“Mara.”
She said nothing.
“I know you hate me.”
“I don’t.”
That surprised him.
She continued.
“I don’t trust you.”
The distinction seemed to hurt more.
Adrian looked down.
“I was scared.”
“Of being infertile?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should have told me.”
“I thought you’d look at me differently.”
“I probably would have.”
His head lifted.
Mara did not soften the truth.
“I would have been sad. Angry that you hid it. Maybe we would have needed time.”
She placed both hands over her belly.
“But you never let me choose.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“I wanted us to have a baby.”
“So did I.”
“I thought once you were pregnant, none of the details would matter.”
Mara stared at him.
“The details were my body.”
He closed his eyes.
There was no answer.
Then she asked:
“Why order the paternity test?”
Adrian took a long time.
“I wanted proof.”
“Proof of what you already knew?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“At first, for myself.”
“And later?”
He looked toward his attorney.
The attorney did not stop him.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“An exit.”
Mara nodded slowly.
“You were going to call me a cheater.”
“I convinced myself nobody would ever know the donor part.”
“Did you convince yourself I deserved it?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
His eyes filled.
“Because once Sienna happened, I needed the marriage to end without losing everything.”
There it was.
Not mystery.
Not passion.
Cowardice mixed with self-preservation.
Mara looked at him.
“So you were willing to make our child evidence against me.”
Adrian did not answer.
She continued.
“And then you left me in the snow.”
“I panicked.”
“You had months to panic before that.”
Silence.
Mara stood carefully.
Eight months pregnant had become nearly nine.
She moved slower now.
Adrian rose instinctively.
Rebecca stepped closer.
Mara waved her off.
She was fine.
Adrian said:
“I am still the baby’s father.”
Mara looked at him.
“Legally, that will be decided properly.”
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant.”
She paused.
“You wanted to be a father badly enough to secretly create a child.”
Adrian’s face broke.
“Then when being that child’s father became inconvenient, you wanted genetics to erase you.”
He lowered his eyes.
“You don’t get to decide which version counts.”
Mara left.
No screaming.
No slap.
May you like
No final threat.
The hardest thing Adrian received that day was a pregnant woman refusing to help him explain himself.
