Chapter 10 - The Lie Was Never About Whether Colby Knew
Inside the fertility file was a counseling summary from nine years earlier.
Bernadette read it standing at her dining-room table.
Colby had not merely consented to donor conception.
He had insisted on it.
His infertility had been confirmed after multiple failed treatments. Shana had wanted to continue invasive procedures using surgically retrieved sperm.
Colby had refused.
According to the counselor's notes, he told Shana he wanted the best chance for a healthy pregnancy and did not care whose DNA made that possible.
One sentence had been quoted directly:
I want to be the father, not the genetic experiment.
Bernadette sat down.
The three clues rearranged themselves.
Colby's old jokes about Milo's hair.
His comment about heirlooms.
The way Shana had looked terrified when he demanded to know whether Milo resembled him.
Colby had never discovered that Milo was not biologically his.
He had known before Milo existed.
His accusation in the family room had been theater.
A weapon.
Shana sat across from Bernadette.
“He used to tell me the donor didn't matter. Then Milo got older.”
“What changed?”
“Colby did.”
The business began struggling during the pandemic years. Colby made poor decisions. Bernadette stepped back in. Shana started earning more. Milo became attached to a soccer coach Colby disliked.
Every ordinary challenge seemed to confirm Colby's private fear that people could replace him.
Then Dean's messages gave that fear a face.
“Why didn't you show this to CPS immediately?” Bernadette asked.
Shana's shame was visible.
“Because it proves I knew exactly how irrational he was becoming.”
“And you still left Milo there.”
“Yes.”
The major betrayal was suddenly clearer.
Colby had turned a choice he once made with love into evidence that his son did not belong to him.
Shana had spent years managing his insecurity instead of confronting it.
Bernadette had spent decades cushioning his consequences.
Three adults had protected Colby's pride.
Milo had absorbed the cost.
Shana pushed the file toward Bernadette.
“Give them everything.”
“You understand what this does to your custody case.”
“Yes.”
“You could lose unsupervised access for a long time.”
May you like
Shana's voice broke.
“I already lost the right to decide what's comfortable for me.”
