Chapter 2 - The File That Wasn't Supposed to Exist
Dr. Evelyn Hart did not smile when she entered the examination room.
Ava appreciated that.
Smiling would have felt absurd.
Daniel had arranged a private appointment at a medical center overlooking Lake Michigan. No entourage entered with them. No men stood inside the room. Daniel remained near the window while Ava sat on the examination table, gripping the paper beneath her fingers.
Dr. Hart reviewed the results.
"The pregnancy is confirmed."
Ava closed her eyes.
Daniel didn't move.
"Approximately seven weeks," the doctor continued.
Seven weeks.
Ava did the calculation immediately.
Lucas.
It had to be.
Daniel apparently reached the same conclusion.
His eyes dropped briefly.
Dr. Hart continued speaking about bloodwork and follow-up appointments, but Ava barely heard her.
Seven weeks.
She had carried a child through the collapse of her father's business.
Through the marriage proposal that wasn't a proposal.
Through the wedding.
Through thirty-seven nights inside a house that never felt like hers.
She had been protecting someone without even knowing they existed.
When the appointment ended, Daniel remained unusually quiet.
In the elevator, Ava finally said, "You can cancel the arrangement."
He looked at her.
"The marriage."
"Why?"
She almost laughed.
"Do I really need to explain?"
"Yes."
"I'm carrying another man's child."
Daniel stared forward as the elevator descended.
"And?"
"And your family wanted this marriage."
"My family wanted a transaction."
"Exactly."
"That isn't what I asked."
Ava studied him.
"What are you saying?"
The doors opened.
Daniel waited until the hallway was empty.
Then he faced her.
"I'm saying you don't become disposable because your circumstances changed."
The words struck somewhere Ava wasn't prepared to defend.
Before she could answer, a man approached.
Late forties.
Gray suit.
Daniel's attorney, Nathan Reeves.
"Daniel."
"What did you find?"
Nathan glanced at Ava.
Daniel noticed.
"Say it."
"The archive access came from an internal credential."
"Whose?"
Nathan hesitated.
"Your mother's office."
Daniel became motionless.
Ava knew little about Eleanor Choi.
She had met her twice.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Beautiful in a severe way.
At the wedding, Eleanor had kissed Ava's cheek and whispered, "Do your duty and you'll never want for anything."
Ava had spent weeks wondering exactly what duty meant.
Daniel's voice cooled.
"My mother accessed my medical file?"
"No. Someone using credentials assigned to her office."
"When?"
"2:14 this morning."
Ava frowned.
Hours before she took the pregnancy test.
Daniel looked at Nathan.
"What was opened?"
"The original diagnostic report."
"Anything else?"
Nathan's expression changed.
"Yes."
A folded document appeared from his briefcase.
"The amended laboratory report."
Daniel stared at it.
"What amended report?"
Nathan didn't answer immediately.
Daniel took the document.
His eyes moved across the page.
For perhaps five seconds, nothing happened.
Then all the color disappeared from his face.
Ava stood.
"Daniel?"
He handed the paper to Dr. Hart, who had followed them from the consultation room.
She read it.
Her eyebrows pulled together.
"This isn't consistent with what you've been told."
Ava's pulse quickened.
"What does it say?"
The doctor looked at Daniel.
"Your original testing wasn't conclusive."
Silence.
Daniel stared at her.
"I was told it was permanent."
Dr. Hart shook her head.
"This document recommends repeat testing."
"Which I did."
"Do you have those reports?"
Daniel looked at Nathan.
Nathan looked deeply uncomfortable.
"We can't find them."
The hallway suddenly felt colder.
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Find them."
Nathan nodded.
"Already working on it."
Daniel turned toward the window.
Ava couldn't stop herself.
"Could the diagnosis have been wrong?"
Dr. Hart chose her words carefully.
"It would be irresponsible for me to say without new testing."
"But possible?"
"Yes."
Daniel looked at Ava.
She understood the thought instantly.
"No," she said.
His expression remained unreadable.
"Seven weeks," Ava reminded him. "We weren't married."
"I know."
"So this changes nothing about the pregnancy."
"I know."
But it changed something else.
Daniel had built part of his life around a medical fact that might never have been true.
That evening, Ava found him alone in the mansion library.
A glass of water sat untouched beside him.
No whiskey.
No dramatic fury.
Just files spread across a table.
"How long have you known?" she asked.
He didn't pretend not to understand.
"Since I was twenty-four."
"Eight years."
"Yes."
"Why were you tested?"
Daniel leaned back.
"My father insisted."
Ava frowned.
"Why?"
Daniel smiled without warmth.
"In families like mine, succession is considered everybody's business."
"And when they told you?"
"My father called it unfortunate."
Ava stared at him.
"That's all?"
"He wasn't an emotional man."
"Your mother?"
Daniel's gaze shifted.
"She cried."
Something about that answer bothered Ava.
Before she could ask why, Nathan entered.
He wasn't alone.
An older physician came behind him.
Dr. Samuel Price.
Daniel stood.
Price looked terrified.
"I didn't know," he said immediately.
Daniel's voice remained calm.
"Know what?"
"That they were going to change the report."
Ava's skin prickled.
Daniel slowly approached.
"Who changed it?"
Price swallowed.
"Your father."
Silence filled the library.
Daniel's father had been dead for three years.
Price continued.
"He told me the repeat test would never happen."
"Why?"
"I wasn't told."
Daniel's voice sharpened by a fraction.
"You expect me to believe that?"
Price reached into his coat.
"There was another sample."
Daniel froze.
"What sample?"
"Collected the same week as yours."
"From whom?"
Price looked toward Ava, then back at Daniel.
"Your brother."
Daniel's face changed.
Ava knew he had a brother.
Adrian Choi.
Five years older.
Killed in a car accident nearly a decade earlier.
Dr. Price whispered, "The samples were switched."
Daniel stared at him.
May you like
And then Price said the words that made the entire room go silent.
"Daniel, the infertility diagnosis was never yours."
