Chapter 6 - The DNA Test
Ryan asked for the DNA test himself.
Emily appreciated that.
He did not demand one.
He did not accuse her.
He simply said he wanted the truth documented before the media turned the boys into public property.
Emily agreed.
The results arrived forty-eight hours later.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998 percent.
Ryan read the report alone in his hotel room.
Then he sat on the edge of the bed and cried.
There were no cameras.
No board members.
No employees.
Only a forty-one-year-old man holding a piece of paper that told him he had three sons.
Three sons he had never held.
Three sons whose first four years existed only in photographs he had not yet seen.
He called Emily.
She answered after several rings.
“The results came.”
“I know.”
Ryan struggled to speak.
“They’re mine.”
“Yes.”
He laughed once through tears.
Emily heard it.
Her anger softened despite herself.
Ryan asked quietly.
“Did they know about me?”
“Not really.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That their father and I separated before they were born.”
“Did you tell them my name?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Because I didn’t want them searching the internet and discovering twenty thousand articles about how you thought their mother cheated on you.”
Ryan had no answer.
The divorce had been ugly.
Not because Emily had attacked him publicly.
She never had.
Because Ryan’s lawyers had allowed carefully placed stories to circulate.
Sources close to Harrison claimed betrayal.
Insiders suggested infidelity.
Emily’s reputation had survived.
Barely.
Ryan whispered.
“I did that to you.”
“You allowed it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Emily gripped the phone.
An apology was not enough.
But it mattered.
Ryan continued.
“I want to meet them.”
Emily had known the request was coming.
“Slowly.”
“Anything you want.”
“You don’t arrive as their father.”
Ryan flinched.
Emily continued.
“You arrive as Ryan.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t promise them anything.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t buy them expensive gifts.”
Ryan almost smiled.
“That specific?”
“Very.”
“Okay.”
“And if they’re uncomfortable, you leave.”
Ryan looked at the DNA report.
“I’ll leave.”
Emily hesitated.
“Sunday afternoon.”
Ryan’s heart stopped.
“At your house?”
“Yes.”
“What do they like?”
“Dinosaurs.”
“All of them?”
“Noah likes space.”
“Right.”
“Lucas likes trains.”
“And Ethan?”
Emily smiled despite herself.
“He likes asking questions nobody wants to answer.”
Ryan looked down.
“Sounds familiar.”
Emily almost laughed.
Almost.
After the call ended, Ryan remained sitting on the bed.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Adrian.
We need to talk about Chicago.
Ryan stared at it.
He typed nothing.
Another message came.
Whatever Emily told you, remember why you divorced her.
Ryan’s expression changed.
Adrian was nervous.
May you like
That was the first mistake he had made.
And Ryan intended to make sure it was not the last.
