Chapter 7
Rebecca insisted they wait until the attorneys could review the report together.
Alessandra agreed.
Gavin did not sleep.
By ten the next morning, they were seated in Rebecca’s conference room.
Vanessa joined remotely with her attorney.
The result was straightforward.
Gavin Ashford was excluded as Milo Cole’s biological father.
Gavin read the sentence three times.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Alessandra watched both of them.
Neither looked relieved.
Gavin looked hollow.
Vanessa looked terrified.
“That test is wrong,” Gavin said.
Rebecca shook her head.
“The laboratory can repeat it, but the result is clear.”
Gavin turned toward the screen.
“Did you know?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t know.”
“You slept with me for almost a year.”
“I thought the first test was real.”
“Did you?”
Vanessa looked away.
That was not an answer.
Alessandra interrupted.
“Who is Milo’s father?”
Vanessa whispered, “My ex-husband.”
Gavin stared at her.
“You told me the timing didn’t work.”
“I told Sybil.”
The room changed.
Rebecca leaned closer.
“What exactly did you tell Sybil?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“That Milo was almost certainly Daniel’s. My ex. We were together when he was conceived.”
“Then why test Gavin?”
“Sybil said I could be wrong.”
“And you believed her?”
“No.”
The word came quietly.
Gavin stood.
Vanessa continued before he could speak.
“My ex left. I had debt. Ethan was in trouble too. Sybil was helping us. Then she said there was a way Milo could have stability.”
Alessandra’s voice turned flat.
“By pretending he was Gavin’s.”
“She said we didn’t have to pretend. She said we only had to let Gavin believe the test.”
Gavin stepped away from the table.
The affair had been real.
His betrayal had been real.
But the child he had allowed his mother to place above Tobin had never been his.
Three earlier moments returned to Alessandra with different meanings.
Sybil had said, “Vanessa’s son,” never Gavin’s son.
Vanessa had tried to pull Gavin away before Alessandra could question him.
And when Alessandra asked how long he had fathered another child, Gavin had looked to Vanessa because he had never truly known.
Rebecca spoke carefully.
“Do you still have the first DNA report?”
Gavin nodded.
“In my safe.”
“Get it.”
Alessandra watched him leave.
May you like
A false paternity result was no longer merely a family lie.
Someone had created evidence to make the lie survive.
