Chapter 4 - ZERO PERCENT
"How long?"
That was the first thing I asked.
Mason stood at the foot of my hospital bed.
"How long have you known?"
He looked exhausted now.
Not guilty.
Not yet.
Just cornered.
"Avery."
"How long?"
He rubbed both hands over his face.
"Before the procedure."
The room seemed to contract around me.
"You knew you weren't the biological father before I became pregnant."
His silence confirmed it.
My daughter slept peacefully beside me.
I hated him for letting her be born into a lie.
"What did you do?"
Mason looked at Luka.
"Get out."
Luka didn't move.
I answered for him.
"He stays."
"Avery."
"He stays."
Mason's mouth tightened.
"Fine."
He pulled a chair from the wall.
"I found out I couldn't have children naturally."
I stared at him.
"You told me my tests were the problem."
"I was ashamed."
"So you lied."
"I panicked."
"For two years?"
He looked down.
"My father had already started talking about succession."
There it was.
Not love.
Not family.
Succession.
The Bennett family owned Bennett Capital, a private investment empire worth hundreds of millions.
Mason's father, Harrison Bennett, had spent his life turning money into power.
And Mason had spent his life trying to prove he deserved it.
"There was a clause in the family trust."
Mason continued.
"Control transferred to me permanently after the birth of my first biological child."
My stomach turned.
"So I wasn't your wife."
"Avery."
"I was an incubator for your inheritance."
"No."
His answer came too quickly.
"I loved you."
"Loved?"
He flinched.
Good.
Past tense hurt him.
"I loved you."
I looked at my daughter.
"Then whose genetic material did you use?"
Mason looked toward Luka.
"I don't know."
Luka finally moved.
One step.
"You expect anyone to believe that?"
Mason stood.
"I was told the sample was from an anonymous donor."
"By who?"
Mason said nothing.
"Selena?"
Still nothing.
Luka's expression darkened.
"You paid someone to falsify the records afterward."
Mason's eyes snapped toward him.
That was confirmation enough.
I felt sick.
"Why?"
Mason stared at me.
"Because the trust required biological verification."
I understood.
"Oh my God."
He had intended to fake a paternity test.
He had intended to present our daughter as his biological child.
He had planned everything.
Except Luka.
Except M-17.
Except me learning the truth.
"What did Selena do?"
Mason shook his head.
"I'm not discussing this without counsel."
I almost smiled.
That was the moment Mason Bennett stopped being my husband.
Not when he cheated.
Not when he abandoned us.
When he started speaking to me like an opposing party in litigation.
"Then get your lawyer."
I pointed toward the door.
"And Mason?"
He stopped.
"If you try to touch my daughter's records again, I will make sure every board member in your father's company learns why."
He turned slowly.
"You don't know what you're threatening."
"No."
I looked at Luka.
"But I think I'm about to."
Mason left.
Twenty minutes later, the second preliminary DNA result arrived.
My hands were trembling before I opened it.
Luka stood beside me.
I read the first line.
Then the second.
Then the number.
PATERNITY INCLUSION.
PROBABILITY: 99.98%.
I looked up at Luka.
He had gone completely pale.
Neither of us spoke.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A man's voice was loud enough for me to hear.
"Luka, someone just broke into the archive."
Luka's face changed.
"What did they take?"
There was a pause.
Then the voice answered.
"Everything connected to M-17."
"Except one thing."
Luka's eyes narrowed.
May you like
"What?"
"A photograph of Avery's father."
