Chapter 2 - The Hearing
I called my lawyer from the kitchen.
David Cole answered on the first ring.
"Tell me that's fake."
"It isn't."
Melissa moved toward the counter.
I held up one hand.
"Don't touch anything."
Her mouth tightened.
David said, "A hearing was scheduled for nine tomorrow morning. Emergency petition."
"Emergency based on what?"
He was silent for a second.
"Alleged paternity fraud. Emotional instability. Risk to the younger children."
I looked at Owen.
He was still standing beside me.
"Who filed it?"
"Melissa, through an attorney named Grant Keller."
Melissa crossed her arms.
"You don't know the whole story."
I stared at her.
"Did you file this?"
"I was protecting Emma and Theo."
"From a ten-year-old who asked for bread?"
She flinched.
David continued.
"The DNA report says there's a zero percent probability you're Owen's biological father."
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because "I never took a DNA test."
"That's the problem," David said.
I looked at the page.
The sample date was six weeks earlier.
The collection location was listed as my home.
"Who collected it?"
"A company called FamilySure Diagnostics."
"I've never heard of them."
Melissa spoke softly.
"Jack, please."
I ignored her.
David said, "There's more. The petition asks the court to suspend Owen's interest in the Bennett Family Trust until paternity is resolved."
My stomach dropped.
"How much?" I asked.
"Current value? Twelve-point-eight million."
Melissa shut her eyes.
I looked at her.
"You knew."
She said nothing.
David lowered his voice.
"If Owen is removed as your legal firstborn beneficiary, the trust rolls to your next biological children."
Emma and Theo.
Melissa's children.
I slowly folded the petition.
Then Owen tugged my sleeve.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Is that why she kept saying I'd be gone soon?"
The kitchen went silent.
May you like
Melissa looked at him.
And for the first time, my son looked back without lowering his eyes.
