Chapter 7 - Mariana Demands The Truth From Richard
Mariana met Richard in a conference room at her attorney’s office.
She placed the Northstar report on the table.
His face collapsed.
“You knew.”
Richard stared at the page.
“Yes.”
“Three years?”
“Yes.”
“You thought Chloe wasn’t yours?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
Mariana’s anger rose.
“You could have asked me.”
“I thought you’d lie.”
The accusation struck harder than she expected.
“I never cheated on you.”
Richard looked away.
He explained that Samuel had urged him to test Chloe because of the
family cancer mutation.
Richard agreed.
When the paternity flag appeared, Samuel told him not to confront
Mariana until they repeated the test.
Then Samuel became ill.
The repeat never happened.
Richard became obsessed with the possibility.
“Why didn’t you test yourself properly?”
“I was afraid.”
That answer was painfully simple.
Richard feared learning Chloe was not biologically his.
So he chose uncertainty.
Then Chloe developed pelvic pain.
Richard worried hospital genetics questions might expose the old report.
He convinced himself her symptoms were teenage anxiety because believing
that was easier.
Mariana stared at him.
“You let fear decide whether our daughter got medical care.”
Richard began crying.
“I didn’t think she was in danger.”
“Helen told you she needed an urgent ultrasound.”
He had no answer.
Mariana asked whether he had ever stopped loving Chloe.
“No.”
“Then why did biology matter enough to risk her health?”
Richard covered his face.
“I don’t know.”
Mariana believed him.
Not because it excused him.
Because Richard had spent three years allowing an unanswered question to
poison his judgment without ever understanding why.
She left the report on the table.
“The next test happens only if Chloe wants it and her doctors say it’s
appropriate.”
May you like
Richard nodded.
For the first time, he did not try to control the next step.
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