Chapter 2 - THE SECRET MIA SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM
Noah was Adam’s biological son.
Mia said it immediately.
Adam stood in their kitchen with both hands on the counter.
“Then what was that?”
Mia held Noah while he calmed against her shoulder.
“Vanessa knew I was afraid you’d question it.”
“Why would I?”
Mia swallowed.
“Because there was another man.”
Adam went completely still.
Not during their marriage.
Before it.
Two months before Mia and Adam reconciled after a six-month separation, Mia had briefly dated someone named Daniel Brooks.
Nothing serious.
Three dates.
One night together.
Then Mia ended it.
Several weeks later, Adam came back into her life.
They went to counseling.
Rebuilt slowly.
Then Mia became pregnant.
“The timing was close,” she admitted.
Adam stared at her.
“How close?”
“Close enough that I was scared.”
“And you never told me?”
“I had a prenatal paternity test.”
His face changed.
“You what?”
“It showed you were Noah’s father.”
“Then why keep any of this from me?”
Mia’s eyes filled.
“Because I was ashamed that I doubted it.”
Adam stepped away.
“No. You were afraid I’d know you slept with someone while we were separated.”
“We were separated.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked.
“That’s what makes hiding it worse.”
They had not cheated on each other.
There was no betrayal in dating during the separation.
The betrayal was choosing secrecy afterward.
Adam asked:
“How does Vanessa know?”
Mia looked toward the driveway.
Police lights flashed through the front window now.
Neighbors had called after hearing tires and screaming.
“Because Daniel is Vanessa’s brother.”
Adam stared.
“What?”
Mia nodded.
Vanessa had discovered the relationship months after Noah was born.
Daniel told her.
Not to claim Noah.
Not because he believed the baby was his.
Daniel knew Mia had tested paternity.
But Vanessa never accepted it.
She had spent months insisting the result could be wrong.
Adam’s jaw tightened.
“So today was about that?”
“I don’t know.”
Mia looked toward Noah.
“But she didn’t come here because she suddenly snapped.”
The way Vanessa had stared toward the house kept bothering her.
Like she expected someone else to emerge.
Like the driveway had been only one piece of a plan.
Then Adam asked the question Mia had been dreading.
“Where is the test?”
She looked at him.
“In the house.”
Vanessa, sitting outside near the patrol car, suddenly shouted through the open front door:
“Ask her who paid for it.”
Adam froze.
May you like
Mia closed her eyes.
There was another layer.
