Chapter 6 - THE BABY WASN’T GRANT’S
Grant refused to believe it.
That was almost poetic.
For months, he had made me doubt what I saw.
Now truth stood in front of him and he called it impossible.
“She told me it was mine.”
I folded my arms.
“You believed her.”
“We were together.”
“Yes. That tends to be how affairs work.”
Naomi shot me a look that was almost impressed.
Grant barely heard.
“She showed me the paternity test.”
“What test?”
He pulled up an old PDF.
Prenatal noninvasive paternity result.
Probability of paternity: 99.8%.
Naomi examined it.
“Who ordered this?”
“Aubrey.”
“Lab?”
Grant named it.
Naomi searched.
The lab existed.
But the report number did not.
Forgery.
Grant sat down.
Every part of him seemed to collapse at once.
I should have felt satisfaction.
I did not.
Just exhaustion.
“If you aren’t the father, who is?”
He whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
Grant stared at the name.
Answered.
“Where are they?”
Marcus laughed quietly.
“Hello to you too.”
“Did you take Aubrey?”
“No.”
“Dad?”
“No.”
“Then why call?”
“Because if Claire goes to that vault, she dies.”
My skin went cold.
“How do you know?”
Marcus paused.
“I designed the trust security.”
Grant stood.
“You what?”
“Harrison didn’t create the system. Grandfather did. I maintained it before Dad pushed me out.”
“Who kidnapped them?”
Marcus’s answer:
“Peter.”
Grant’s uncle.
Harrison’s younger brother.
Board vice chair.
Man who gave us crystal champagne glasses for our wedding.
“Why?”
“He’s been waiting for a grandchild event to trigger the trust.”
“But Aubrey’s baby isn’t mine.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus continued.
“Peter knows.”
Silence.
That meant the pregnancy had always been part of the plan.
Not simply an affair.
A constructed heir.
“Whose baby is it?” I asked.
Marcus went quiet.
Then:
“Mine.”
Grant stopped breathing.
I stared at the phone.
Marcus explained.
He and Aubrey had been together before she approached Grant.
Harrison discovered them.
He wanted Aubrey close to Grant anyway.
A beautiful employee.
An unhappy marriage.
A predictable weakness.
Marcus thought Aubrey was spying on Grant for Harrison.
Aubrey thought she was gathering evidence against Harrison for Marcus.
Everyone used everyone.
Then Aubrey got pregnant.
Harrison saw opportunity.
If the baby could be passed off as Grant’s, the trust would activate.
Peter saw an even bigger opportunity.
Steal the trust at birth.
Remove Harrison.
Remove Grant.
Control the child’s legal claim.
I pressed a hand over my stomach.
“And me?”
Marcus’s voice softened.
“You’re the problem they didn’t anticipate.”
“Why?”
“Because Grant never filed separation papers.”
Naomi and I exchanged a look.
“And?”
“You remain the legal spouse.”
“Yes.”
Marcus inhaled.
“Which means if you’re pregnant too, your child has a competing claim.”
My entire body froze.
Grant looked at me.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He had heard it.
“Claire?”
I said nothing.
His eyes dropped to my hand over my abdomen.
Then back to my face.
“No.”
Not denial.
Shock.
“Claire.”
I stepped back.
May you like
He whispered:
“Are you pregnant?”
