My Husband Kissed Another Woman at the Airport—Then I Discovered He Was Planning to Steal Our Daughter

I read the message three times.

Zero percent.

The words seemed impossible.

Daniel had spent four years telling Vanessa that Nathan was his son. He had told his mother. He had told his attorney. He had apparently built an entire international medical plan around the idea that his daughter might save the boy.

But the report on my phone suggested Nathan wasn't biologically related to Daniel at all.

I turned to Vanessa.

"Do you recognize this number?""

She looked at the photograph.

Then her knees nearly buckled.

"That's Nathan's name.""

"Do you know who sent it?""

"No.""

"Did you ever have a paternity test done?""

She shook her head slowly.

"Daniel said there was no reason. He was there when Nathan was born. He signed the birth certificate.""

"That doesn't answer my question.""

Her eyes filled with tears.

"I never questioned him. Not once.""

I looked at the report again.

A screenshot could be fabricated. A number could belong to anyone. I wasn't going to accept a stranger's message as proof of something this serious.

But I couldn't ignore it either.

"We need the original report," I said.

Vanessa nodded.

"And Patricia knows where it is.""

I called the family-law attorney I had contacted earlier and explained the situation as carefully as I could. She advised me not to confront Patricia alone or make decisions based on an unverified document. She also told me to preserve every message and let the appropriate professionals examine the records.

Most importantly, she said, I needed to keep Lily safe and avoid any private meeting with Daniel or his mother until the immediate travel concerns had been addressed.

I agreed.

Then Vanessa made a decision that surprised me.

"I'm going to call Patricia.""

I hesitated.

"She won't tell you the truth.""

"Maybe not. But she'll think she still has control over me.""

Vanessa stepped into the corridor and dialed.

Patricia answered immediately.

"Vanessa, thank God. Where is Daniel? I've been trying to reach him.""

Vanessa put the call on speaker.

"Why does a laboratory report say Daniel isn't Nathan's biological father?""

There was a sharp intake of breath.

Then Patricia said, "Who showed you that?""

"Answer the question.""

"That report is confidential.""

"Is it true?""

Patricia began speaking quickly.

"You need to calm down. These things are complicated. Daniel has raised Nathan as his own, and that is what matters.""

Vanessa gripped the phone.

"Did you know before Nathan was born?""

Silence.

"Patricia?""

"I knew there was a possibility.""

Vanessa closed her eyes.

"A possibility?""

"Vanessa, you have to understand the circumstances.""

"What circumstances?""

Patricia's voice broke.

"Daniel was devastated when he found out you had been seeing someone else around the time Nathan was conceived.""

Vanessa went completely still.

"I wasn't seeing anyone else.""

"That's not what Daniel told me.""

"He was the only man I was with!""

Patricia said nothing.

Vanessa's face changed as another possibility entered her mind.

"Who did Daniel think the father was?""

"That isn't important now.""

"WHO?""

Patricia hung up.

Vanessa lowered the phone.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then she whispered, "I never cheated on Daniel.""

I believed that she believed it.

But I still didn't know what had happened between them, or why Daniel had accepted Nathan as his son if he suspected otherwise.

Before I could ask another question, my attorney called back.

She had reviewed the information I had sent and recommended that any further contact with Daniel or Patricia go through legal counsel. She also urged me to seek official confirmation of the travel arrangements and the forged documents.

I agreed to follow her advice.

Then I noticed a new message on Vanessa's phone.

It was from Patricia.

*Come to my house alone. I have the original report. Don't tell Sarah.*

Vanessa looked at me.

"She wants me to go there.""

"You're not going alone.""

"Sarah, she might finally tell me the truth.""

"Or she might destroy the evidence.""

Vanessa stared at the message.

Then she typed a reply.

*I'll come, but I need to know what happened to my son.*

Patricia answered almost immediately.

*Your son is safe. The problem is Daniel. He was never supposed to find out who Nathan's father was.*

Vanessa covered her mouth.

I read the message again.

He was never supposed to find out.

Not you were never supposed to find out.

Daniel.

Why would Patricia hide Nathan's paternity from her own son?

Unless the real secret wasn't simply that Daniel wasn't Nathan's biological father.

Unless she knew exactly who the biological father was.

And unless that person had a connection to Daniel that none of us had considered.

I looked at Vanessa.

"We need to find out who sent the first message.""

She checked the number again, but it had been registered through an anonymous messaging service. There was no reliable way to identify the sender from the information we had.

Then she remembered something.

"Daniel keeps a locked document box in his study. Patricia has a spare key because she used to manage his father's paperwork.""

"Do you know what's inside?""

"No. But last month, I saw Daniel put a sealed envelope in it. He told me it was an old inheritance document.""

I frowned.

"An inheritance document?""

"He said it concerned his father's estate.""

I remembered Daniel's father, Richard Carter, who had died five years earlier. He had been a quiet man who rarely discussed family matters. Patricia had always described him as strict, private, and fiercely protective of the Carter name.

Vanessa looked at me.

"What if the original DNA report is in that box?""

I couldn't stop thinking about Patricia's final message.

He was never supposed to find out who Nathan's father was.

Daniel might have known there was a possibility that Nathan wasn't his biological child. But that didn't explain why his mother was so desperate to conceal the truth.

Then my phone rang.

It was Patricia.

I almost let it go to voicemail, but something made me answer.

"Sarah," she said, her voice trembling.

"I need you to listen to me.""

"Why?""

"Because I made a terrible mistake.""

I said nothing.

She took a shaky breath.

"Daniel believes Nathan is his son. Vanessa believes Daniel is Nathan's father. But the truth is that the DNA test was never supposed to be about Daniel and Nathan.""

My fingers tightened around the phone.

"Then who was it supposed to be about?""

Patricia began to cry.

"It was supposed to establish whether Nathan was related to the Carter family.""

"Why would that matter?""

"Because of the inheritance.""

I stared at Vanessa.

Patricia continued, her voice barely audible.

"Richard left a sealed trust that could only be accessed by a biological descendant. When Nathan was born, Daniel insisted the boy was his. But after Richard's attorney questioned the family records, I arranged a private test.""

"And what did it show?""

A long silence followed.

Then Patricia whispered, "Nathan is Richard's biological grandson.""

I felt the room tilt.

Richard had been dead for five years.

Daniel was supposedly Nathan's father.

But the test indicated that Nathan was related to Richard, not through Daniel.

Which meant there was another possibility.

One Patricia had been terrified to name.

I swallowed.

"Patricia, who is Nathan's biological father?""

She sobbed into the phone.