Chapter 4: DNA
Chapter 4: DNA
The emergency room was quieter than Ethan expected.
Not because there were no patients.
Because everyone recognized him.
Doctors nodded. Nurses whispered. Administrators suddenly appeared from nowhere, offering private rooms and immediate attention.
Ethan ignored every special privilege.
"The first available pediatrician," he said. "Treat her like any other child."
Within minutes, Lily sat on an examination bed, hugging Button against her chest while a pediatrician gently checked her pupils, ribs, wrists, and shoulder.
"You were very brave," the doctor said with a warm smile.
"I cried."
"Brave people cry too."
Lily considered that carefully.
"Oh."
The doctor smiled again.
"I think you'll be just fine."
She turned to the adults.
"No fractures. No concussion that I can see. The bruising on her arm is significant, and she'll be sore for several days, but she's incredibly lucky."
Rosa closed her eyes in relief.
"Thank God."
Ethan released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Lucky.
The word echoed painfully.
A few inches farther back.
A different angle.
The marble could have taken everything from them.
Outside the examination room, silence settled between Ethan and Rosa.
Neither knew where to begin.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
"You should have told me."
Rosa looked through the glass window at Lily, who was happily showing Button to a nurse.
"I've told myself that a thousand times."
"Then why didn't you?"
She laughed softly, though there was no humor in it.
"Which version do you want?"
"The truth."
"I only have the truth."
She leaned against the wall, exhausted.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I called you."
Ethan frowned.
"I never got a call."
"I know that now."
"I would've answered."
"I believed you didn't want to."
"I looked for you."
She stared at him.
"What?"
"I went to your apartment."
"You... did?"
"It was empty."
"I had already moved."
"I asked the landlord."
"He said he didn't know where you'd gone."
Rosa's eyes widened.
"I left my forwarding address."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"I never received it."
For several long seconds, neither spoke.
Each realization erased another piece of resentment they had carried for years.
"I thought..." Ethan whispered.
"You chose your company."
"And I thought..."
"You chose your life."
They looked at each other.
Both had been wrong.
Across town, Victoria Haynes was no longer interested in wedding invitations.
She was interested in one thing.
Destroying Rosa Martinez.
She stormed into her father's downtown office without knocking.
Richard Haynes barely looked up from his laptop.
"You look upset."
"She's lying."
"Who?"
"The maid."
He closed the computer.
"What happened?"
Victoria paced the room.
"She claims Ethan has a daughter."
Richard remained surprisingly calm.
"And does she?"
"No."
"Are you certain?"
Victoria hesitated.
"The child..."
She remembered those gray-green eyes.
"...looks like him."
Richard stood.
"Then don't argue."
"What?"
"Verify."
"How?"
"DNA."
Victoria stared at her father.
"If the child isn't his, the lie dies."
"And if she is?"
Richard's face became unreadable.
"Then we have a much larger problem."
Back at the hospital, Lily had fallen asleep after receiving a colorful bandage covered with cartoon stars.
Ethan sat beside the bed, watching her tiny chest rise and fall.
He had attended board meetings worth billions of dollars.
None of them had ever made his hands shake.
He reached into his wallet.
There was an old photograph tucked behind his driver's license.
Rosa.
Standing in the rain outside a diner.
Laughing.
He had carried that picture for four years.
He had never shown it to anyone.
"I wasn't trying to forget you," he whispered.
The hospital room remained silent.
Except for Lily's breathing.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
His longtime attorney, Michael Grant, entered quietly.
"You wanted me here."
Ethan nodded.
"I need a DNA test."
Michael looked toward the sleeping child.
"I assumed."
"I want it done correctly."
"It will be."
"No publicity."
"Of course."
"No pressure on Rosa."
Michael hesitated.
"Does she know?"
"Not yet."
"You should ask."
"I will."
When Rosa returned with two cups of coffee, Ethan stood.
"I need to ask you something."
She already knew.
"You want a DNA test."
"Yes."
She looked through the window at Lily.
"I understand."
"I don't want you to think I doubt your word."
"I know."
"But I owe her certainty."
Rosa smiled sadly.
"So do I."
She surprised him by extending her hand.
"When you're ready."
He looked at her hand.
Not for a sample.
For trust.
After a brief pause, he shook it.
For the first time in years.
The test itself took less than five minutes.
A technician gently swabbed the inside of Ethan's cheek.
Then Lily's.
Lily giggled.
"That tickles."
The technician smiled.
"It'll help answer an important question."
"What question?"
Ethan knelt beside her.
"We're trying to find out if we're family."
Lily tilted her head.
"Aren't we already?"
The adults fell silent.
Children had a way of asking the simplest questions with the deepest meaning.
That evening, Ethan drove Rosa and Lily home.
Not to an apartment he imagined.
To a small duplex on a quiet street.
The paint on the porch was peeling.
A bicycle leaned against the fence.
Plastic flowers decorated the windows.
Lily jumped out of the SUV.
"Home!"
She ran to the front door before remembering.
"Oh!"
She hurried back and hugged Ethan's leg.
"Bye."
Before he could react, she kissed his cheek.
Then disappeared inside with Button tucked beneath one arm.
Ethan remained frozen.
Rosa smiled for the first time that day.
"She doesn't usually do that."
"I know."
"She likes you."
His voice was almost inaudible.
"I already like her."
Rosa unlocked the front door.
"Ethan..."
He looked up.
"If the test says she's yours..."
"It won't change anything."
"It changes everything."
He nodded slowly.
"You're right."
She waited.
"It changes everything."
Late that night, Ethan returned to the empty mansion.
The piano room had been cleaned.
The broken porcelain was gone.
The marble floor shined as if nothing had happened.
Victoria was waiting beside the fireplace.
"Where have you been?"
"With Lily."
"You keep saying her name."
"Because that's her name."
Victoria crossed her arms.
"Did you sleep with that woman?"
"Four years ago."
"You admit it."
"I've never denied it."
"And now?"
Ethan looked directly at her.
"Now I'm waiting for the truth."
Victoria forced a smile.
"Good."
"So am I."
She walked upstairs.
Only after reaching her bedroom did she lock the door, pull out her phone, and make a call.
"I need a favor," she said quietly.
"What kind of favor?" the voice asked.
"A DNA sample."
There was a pause.
"From whom?"
Victoria looked toward the dark hallway where Ethan's office stood.
"From a three-year-old little girl."
May you like
And for the first time in her life, Victoria decided that if the truth threatened to take away the future she wanted...
...then perhaps the truth itself needed to disappear.
