Chapter 5
Michael drove away before I could stop him.
I stood on Claire’s porch staring at the empty street.
My mother loses everything.
I repeated the words to Natalie twenty minutes later.
She frowned.
“Everything meaning what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Money?”
“Maybe.”
“Property?”
“I don’t know.”
“Inheritance?”
“I don’t know.”
She leaned back in her chair.
“Then don’t speculate. We follow documents.”
That became my new rule.
Documents didn’t cry.
Documents didn’t blame.
Documents didn’t tell me I was overreacting.
Documents didn’t say they were going to tell me tomorrow.
So we followed them.
The first set of bank records showed that Michael had moved money in smaller amounts over four months.
Nine thousand.
Eight thousand.
Twelve thousand.
Seven thousand.
Eleven thousand.
He had labeled some transfers as home expenses.
Others as investment.
One as insurance.
The money eventually went to an account controlled by Donna.
I stared at the statements.
“He thought I’d never notice.”
Natalie shook her head.
“He thought you wouldn’t notice until he was ready.”
That was worse.
At home, Michael’s belongings remained exactly where he had left them.
His shoes by the door.
His coffee mug in the dishwasher.
His jacket over a chair.
A normal life frozen around an abnormal truth.
I had returned with Claire to collect clothes and documents.
I couldn’t bring myself to sleep there yet.
Every room felt contaminated by memories.
In the bedroom, I opened Michael’s nightstand.
Receipts.
Charging cables.
An old watch.
Then I found a second phone.
It was dead.
Claire looked over my shoulder.
“Is that his?”
“I’ve never seen it.”
We plugged it in.
The screen lit up.
Passcode required.
I photographed the device and left it where I found it.
Natalie had told me not to access password-protected devices without legal advice.
For once in my life, I wanted to do everything correctly.
Michael had spent months betting that I wouldn’t.
That afternoon, Jenna called.
“I have the appointment.”
“For the test?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Michael agreed?”
“He did.”
I almost dropped the phone.
“He agreed?”
“After his mother called me.”
Of course.
“What did Donna say?”
“She apologized.”
I laughed.
“For what?”
“For the confusion around the first test.”
“That sounds like Donna.”
“She said Michael would do another one.”
“Why did he change his mind?”
“I don’t know.”
I did.
His mother loses everything.
“Jenna, can I ask you something?”
“Okay.”
“Before Michael, were you seeing anyone?”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Because the first DNA test may not have used his sample.”
I heard her inhale.
“What?”
“Lauren told me Donna gave her the swab.”
“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t his.”
“No.”
“But you think it wasn’t.”
“I think Donna is hiding something.”
Jenna went quiet.
Then she whispered, “There was someone.”
My pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“It wasn’t a relationship.”
“Jenna.”
“It was before Michael and I started seeing each other.”
“How long before?”
“A few weeks.”
My stomach tightened.
“Could he be the father?”
“I didn’t think so.”
“Why?”
“The dates.”
“Were the dates impossible?”
“No.”
“Then who was he?”
She hesitated so long I thought the call had dropped.
Finally, she said, “I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Jenna, you’re about to have a child. You need to know who the father is.”
“I know.”
“Who?”
Her voice became barely audible.
“David.”
The name meant nothing at first.
Then it did.
Michael’s best friend.
The same man who had stood fifteen feet away from me at the shower staring at the grass.
I sat down.
“David?”
“Yes.”
“Michael’s David?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“You slept with Michael’s best friend?”
“Once.”
“Does Michael know?”
“No.”
“Does Donna?”
“I don’t know.”
“How did it happen?”
Jenna started crying.
“I had known David for years. Before Michael. We ran into each other at a bar after my engagement ended. We drank too much. It happened once. We both regretted it.”
“And then weeks later you started seeing Michael.”
“Yes.”
“When you got pregnant, why didn’t you tell them both?”
“Because I calculated the dates. I thought it had to be Michael.”
“You thought.”
“Yes.”
“And then the DNA test confirmed it.”
“Yes.”
My mind raced.
If Donna somehow knew about David…
If she used David’s DNA…
Then the test would show the baby was related to the sample.
But why would she want Michael to believe the baby was his?
And why would Donna lose everything if it wasn’t?
I asked Jenna a different question.
“How do you know Donna?”
“Through Michael.”
“You’d never met her before?”
“Not really.”
“What about David?”
“What about him?”
“Does Donna know him well?”
Jenna almost laughed.
“He practically grew up in their house.”
Of course he did.
Michael and David had been friends since middle school.
Donna called him her second son.
He had been at every Christmas.
Every birthday.
Every barbecue.
If she needed his DNA, getting it would not be difficult.
But that still didn’t explain Michael’s strange warning.
That evening, I called Lauren.
She answered immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“I need to ask you about David.”
Silence.
“What about him?”
“Did your mother know he slept with Jenna?”
Lauren didn’t answer.
My stomach dropped.
“Lauren?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“No, it means I don’t know.”
“Did you?”
Another silence.
“Lauren.”
“I heard Mom and David arguing once.”
“When?”
“About two months after Jenna announced the pregnancy.”
“What were they arguing about?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“What did you hear?”
Lauren took a deep breath.
“Mom said, ‘You need to keep your mouth shut until we know what we’re dealing with.’”
My skin prickled.
“What did David say?”
“Something about not lying forever.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘If that child is mine, Michael deserves to know.’”
I closed my eyes.
Donna knew.
She had known there was another possible father.
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“I didn’t connect it until now.”
“Did Michael know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“And the DNA swab?”
“I don’t know whose it was, Sarah.”
“But your mother could have gotten David’s.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she use David’s sample?”
“I don’t know.”
I pressed my fingers to my forehead.
“What did Michael mean when he said your mother loses everything if the baby isn’t his?”
Lauren went completely silent.
“Lauren?”
“I don’t think I should talk about this.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Everything in your family becomes complicated the second someone has to tell the truth.”
“That’s not fair.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Really?”
She sighed.
“My father’s estate.”
I sat straighter.
“What about it?”
Michael’s father, Robert Carter, had died six years earlier.
He owned a successful regional construction company.
Michael had inherited part of it.
Donna controlled the rest.
At least, that was what I had always understood.
Lauren continued.
“Dad’s trust has conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Mom gets income from certain assets for life, but ownership eventually transfers to Dad’s grandchildren.”
I frowned.
“So?”
“So if Michael has a biological child, Mom keeps control of the company voting shares as trustee until the child reaches twenty-five.”
“And if Michael doesn’t?”
“They eventually pass differently.”
“To whom?”
Lauren swallowed.
“To David.”
I thought I had misheard her.
“What?”
“Not all of them. But a major portion.”
“Why would your father leave company shares to Michael’s best friend?”
Lauren started crying.
That was when I knew another secret was coming.
One bigger than the affair.
Bigger than the money.
“Lauren.”
She whispered, “Because David is our half-brother.”
I couldn’t speak.
“My dad had an affair,” she continued. “Before Michael was born. David’s mother raised him alone. Dad secretly supported him. He acknowledged David in the trust, but not publicly.”
I leaned against the counter.
“Does Michael know?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since Dad died.”
“And Donna?”
“She has always known.”
Suddenly, the entire nightmare rearranged itself.
David wasn’t merely Michael’s best friend.
He was Michael’s biological half-brother.
Which meant if Donna used David’s DNA in the prenatal test, it could create a result showing a close paternal relationship.
Depending on what kind of test was performed and what the lab was told, there might have been room for manipulation.
More importantly, if Jenna’s baby belonged to David, that child could potentially affect Robert Carter’s trust.
A child fathered by David might strengthen David’s claim to assets Donna was determined to keep under Michael’s branch of the family.
I whispered, “She wasn’t protecting Michael.”
Lauren didn’t respond.
“She was protecting control of the trust.”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Sarah—”
“She used the baby.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She knew David could be the father. She handled the DNA sample. She bought a condo with our money. She helped Michael build an entire new family while keeping everything in her name.”
Lauren started crying again.
“I’m sorry.”
I was tired of hearing that word.
I ended the call.
The next morning, Jenna and Michael went to the clinic.
Separate identification.
Supervised cheek swab.
Chain of custody.
No Donna.
No Lauren.
No mysterious envelope.
The results would take several days.
Michael sent me one message afterward.
WHEN THIS COMES BACK SAYING I’M THE FATHER, I EXPECT AN APOLOGY.
I stared at it for a long time.
Then forwarded it to Natalie.
Three days later, Donna filed an affidavit in response to our financial request.
She claimed the condo money was a loan.
She claimed Michael intended to repay it.
She claimed I had always known our marriage was unstable.
She claimed our separation began five months earlier.
I nearly threw the papers across Natalie’s office.
“That’s a lie.”
“I know.”
“We weren’t separated.”
“I know.”
“We went to my cousin’s wedding together four months ago.”
“Do you have photos?”
“Yes.”
“Receipts?”
“Yes.”
“Messages?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Natalie smiled slightly.
“For once, social media may actually be useful.”
We collected everything.
Vacation photographs.
Restaurant receipts.
Texts from Michael calling me sweetheart.
A message from six weeks earlier:
CAN’T WAIT TO GROW OLD WITH YOU.
That one nearly broke me.
He had written it while buying another woman a condo.
On the fifth day, Jenna called.
She was sobbing.
I knew before she spoke.
“Sarah.”
“What did it say?”
“He’s not the father.”
I closed my eyes.
Despite everything, the answer still shocked me.
“Are you sure?”
“The report says he is excluded.”
I heard her take a ragged breath.
“Zero percent.”
“Where is Michael?”
“He left.”
“What happened?”
“He kept saying the lab made a mistake.”
“Did they?”
“They ran it twice.”
I sat silently.
Then Jenna whispered, “Sarah, what do I do?”
The question was so human that for a moment she wasn’t my husband’s mistress.
She was a pregnant woman who had just discovered the man supporting her baby wasn’t the father.
“Call David.”
She started crying harder.
“I already did.”
My heart pounded.
“What did he say?”
“He said he knew this was coming.”
I went still.
“What?”
“He said he needed to tell me something in person.”
“When?”
“He’s on his way.”
Twenty minutes later, my phone rang again.
This time it was David.
I almost didn’t answer.
“Sarah?”
“Yes.”
“I need to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because Jenna just told me about the second test.”
“I know.”
He was quiet.
Then he said, “Donna is going to try to destroy every person involved before she lets the truth come out.”
“What truth?”
“That first DNA test wasn’t an accident.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“You know whose sample she used.”
“Yes.”
“Yours?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Why did you let her?”
“I didn’t.”
“What?”
“She took it without telling me.”
“How?”
“At Michael’s birthday dinner. She kept the glass I used.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“It wasn’t a cheek swab. She sent a sample through a private service first. After she saw a match, she arranged the official-looking report.”
My stomach turned.
“So the document Jenna saw wasn’t real?”
“Not the way she thought.”
“Why?”
David exhaled.
“Because Donna already suspected the baby was mine.”
“And she wanted Michael to believe it was his.”
“Yes.”
“Because of the trust.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Then David said something that made everything worse.
“There’s another reason.”
“What?”
“If Jenna’s child is mine, Donna doesn’t just lose control of part of the company.”
May you like
He paused.
“She may go to prison.”
