Chapter 2 - The Audit of Truth
The boardroom was a sterile, glass-walled space that overlooked the city. Julian sat at the head of the table, his posture relaxed but his eyes never leaving the documents spread out in front of him.
"You didn't tell me you were planning to confront them," he said, not looking up.
"I didn't plan it," I replied, standing by the window. "But when he started throwing his 'real family' in my face, I realized he was doing it for a reason. He needed to be seen with that child for a reason."
"Financial," Julian said, tapping a pen against the table. "I’ve had my team look into Connor’s recent business ventures. He’s been hemorrhaging money for months. His real estate firm is a house of cards. He needs capital, and he needs it fast. He thinks that being a 'devoted father' makes him more bankable."
"And Melinda?"
Julian leaned back, his expression darkening. "Melinda Travis is the daughter of the board chair for the hospital's funding committee. She has access, Kirsten. Access that Connor has been exploiting for over a year."
I turned from the window. "He's using her."
"He’s using her, and he’s using that child," Julian said. "He thinks he’s playing a game of chess, but he’s playing checkers, and he’s currently in a position to be checkmated."
I felt a surge of cold, calculated clarity. During my marriage, I had been the one to sacrifice—my career, my dreams, my autonomy. I had been the "unreasonable" one. But here, with the resources of the Vane Foundation behind me, the dynamic was different.
"I need to know if that child is his," I said.
Julian paused. He looked at me, a flicker of something unreadable passing through his gaze. "Why does that matter?"
"Because if he's using a child as a financial prop, and the paternity is a lie, the entire structure of his leverage collapses."
"I have a contact in the lab," Julian said, his voice dropping. "It’s unethical, it’s outside the system, and it could cost you your license if it gets out. Are you sure?"
May you like
I thought of the years of silence. The heartbreak of the "miracle" I couldn't conceive. The way Connor had weaponized my body’s limitations to control me.
"I'm sure," I said.
