Chapter 6 - THE CONTRACT
Daniel tried to take the words back.
He couldn’t.
I stood in the doorway staring at him.
“What did you just say?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Vanessa got out of the car.
“Daniel, don’t.”
I looked at her.
She wore the same cream coat she had worn when she walked out of the hospital with my husband.
The sight of it made something inside me go cold.
“Stay out of this.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Elena, I was nineteen when my father introduced me to Vale.”
“And?”
“They paid for school.”
My stomach twisted.
“They helped my family.”
“And?”
He looked ashamed.
“They told me I needed to meet you.”
There it was.
The truth.
Our first coffee.
Our first apartment.
The proposal beside the lake.
The wedding.
Every memory suddenly had fingerprints on it.
“You married me because they told you to.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“It wasn’t like that by the end.”
“By the end?”
“I loved you.”
“You left me six hours after I delivered your child.”
He flinched.
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Daniel did what he was required to do.”
I turned toward her.
“Required?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Luka stepped beside me.
“Tell her about the contract.”
Daniel looked at him with hatred.
“You think you know everything.”
“I know enough.”
I faced Daniel again.
“What contract?”
He whispered the answer.
“If you produced a child carrying the M-17 marker, my family’s debt would be cleared.”
For a moment, the street seemed completely silent.
My daughter had been reduced to a transaction before she was even conceived.
“How much?”
Daniel looked down.
“How much was my baby worth?”
“Five million.”
I slapped him.
The sound echoed between the buildings.
Daniel did not retaliate.
He did not even raise his hand.
He simply stood there.
I had never hated another human being that much.
Then Vanessa laughed softly.
“You should be grateful.”
I turned.
She smiled.
“The child is worth far more than five million now.”
Luka moved before I did.
He stepped between us.
“Leave.”
Vanessa looked amused.
“You still think this belongs to the Morettis?”
Luka’s eyes narrowed.
She reached into her purse.
Daniel grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t.”
Too late.
She pulled out a sealed envelope.
My name was printed across the front.
Beneath it were three words.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS CONFIDENTIAL.
Vanessa smiled at me.
“You keep calling Daniel her father.”
May you like
She tossed the envelope at my feet.
“He isn’t.”
