Chapter 5 - THE BABY WITH TWO POSSIBLE FATHERS
I thought discovering my husband had a pregnant mistress would be the lowest point.
Apparently, my life enjoyed competition.
Cassidy might be sleeping with both twins.
Or perhaps only one.
I no longer knew which possibility was worse.
Naomi warned me not to confront anyone.
“The divorce is filed. Financial restraints are in place. Let them make mistakes.”
They did.
At the gala’s shareholder session, Preston stepped onto the stage believing the merger vote would proceed normally.
Cassidy sat in the front row.
I sat beside Naomi.
Gideon stood at the podium.
“The board has received material information requiring postponement of today’s equity conversion.”
Preston’s face changed.
“What information?”
Gideon remained calm.
“An independent audit has identified undisclosed liabilities connected to Barrett Development.”
Whispers spread through the room.
Preston looked at me.
He knew.
Maybe not everything.
Enough.
After the meeting, he cornered me near the elevators.
“What did you do?”
For years, that tone would have made me apologize automatically.
Not anymore.
“I attended a gala.”
“Don’t play games.”
“You’re the one sleeping with your communications director.”
His face drained.
Behind him, Cassidy stopped walking.
I smiled at her.
“I assume congratulations are appropriate.”
Preston grabbed my elbow.
Gideon’s voice cut through the hallway.
“Take your hand off her.”
Everyone froze.
Preston released me.
“This is between my wife and me.”
“No,” I said. “It’s between my attorney and yours now.”
The satisfaction lasted three seconds.
Then Preston whispered:
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“You’re right. I’m learning more every hour.”
His face twisted.
“I protected you.”
I actually laughed.
“From what?”
His eyes moved toward Cassidy.
Then back to me.
“Parker.”
My amusement disappeared.
“You knew he was alive.”
Preston closed his eyes.
“Of course I knew.”
“Did he start the fire?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
“You let me believe it was an accident.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“He threatened you.”
“He tried to kill me.”
“And afterward he said if I went to police, he’d finish it.”
My anger sharpened.
“So instead you forged my signature, stole my shares, cheated on me, humiliated me, and planned to frame me for fraud?”
Preston’s face tightened.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What part?”
“The fraud.”
I stared.
He lowered his voice.
“Parker came back eighteen months ago. He forced his way into the merger.”
“Cassidy?”
Preston looked at her.
She had gone very pale.
“That’s complicated.”
“No. Twins are complicated. Pregnancy is fairly straightforward.”
Cassidy snapped, “Shut up.”
I turned.
She clutched her stomach.
Then suddenly collapsed.
Preston caught her before she hit the floor.
Chaos followed.
An ambulance.
Gala security.
Cassidy was taken to the hospital.
Her baby was stable.
But during the evaluation, doctors found something unexpected.
Cassidy was not four months pregnant, as she had told Preston.
She was nearly six months pregnant.
The dates mattered.
Six months earlier, Preston had been in Tokyo for three straight weeks.
Parker had been in New York.
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And when Preston finally understood the math, the look on his face told me the truth.
Cassidy’s baby could not be his.
