Chapter 17 - A Family Reunites In Pain
Dean burst through the double doors of the third-floor conference room, breathing heavily as if he had just run a marathon. Maren, Jonah, and Maya Reed were standing around the large table, looking at him with a mixture of shock and hope.
Maren stared at her husband, seeing the raw, agonizing confusion written all over his tired face. “Is it true?” Maren whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the overhead lights. “Dr. Quinn... she said the lab made a mistake,” Dean breathed out, his eyes locking onto Maren’s.
Maya stepped forward, holding out a certified copy of the corrected genetic pathology report bearing the hospital seal. “The first test mixed up placental DNA with maternal contamination,” Maya explained calmly. “Dean is the biological father. Theo is his son.”
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Dean looked down at the paper, feeling a tidal wave of grief, relief, and profound shame crashing over his chest. He had packed his bags, filed for divorce, and walked out on his family based on a fraudulent lab result.
Jonah walked up to his father, looking him dead in the eye without a trace of adolescent warmth. “You walked away when he needed you most, Dad,” Jonah said coldly. “A lab result doesn’t fix that.”
