Chapter 2 - The Swab and the Steel
Julian walked into the room, accompanied by a sterile-looking technician in gray scrubs holding a sealed cardboard box stamped with the logo of GeneTech Forensics.
Julian’s face was devoid of color, his jaw locked in a rigid, icy line. He didn't look at Gabriel sleeping in the bassinet. He didn't look at the flowers on the windowsill. He looked at me as if I were a stranger standing on trial.
“The technician is here for the swabs,” Julian said, his voice flat and robotic. “The swab from me is done. They need Gabriel’s buccal sample and yours.”
I sat back on the hospital bed, pulling the blanket over my lap. My fear had completely vanished. In its place was a sharp, diamond-hard rage that radiated through every fiber of my being.
“I have no problem giving a DNA sample, Julian,” I said, keeping my voice dead even. “Gabriel and I have nothing to hide. But answer me one question.”
Julian adjusted his collar nervously. “What?”
“If the test proves Gabriel is yours—100% your biological son—what happens then?”
Julian scoffed, looking away toward the window. “Then... then we go back to normal. We raise our family.”
I let out a soft, bitter laugh. “Go back to normal? You walked into this room, looked at our five-minute-old baby, accused me of stepping out on our marriage during a professional conference, and handed a newborn over to a lab tech... and you think we just 'go back to normal'?”
“The truth provides peace of mind, Delilah,” Julian barked, turning to face me with a flash of his old arrogance. “I am a pragmatic man. I look at numbers, genetics, and facts. When something doesn't match the statistical expectation, I investigate.”
Statistical expectation.
He was using the language of his secret fertility report without realizing I now knew his secret.
“Take the swabs,” I said to the technician.
The technician quietly approached the bassinet, gently opening Gabriel’s tiny mouth and running the soft cotton swab against the inside of his cheek. Gabriel made a small fussing sound, and my heart broke all over again. Then the tech swabbed the inside of my cheek, secured the samples in plastic vials, and sealed the box.
“Standard processing time for an expedited legal paternity panel is three to five business days,” the tech explained professionally. “Both parties will receive encrypted digital results simultaneously via email.”
“Thank you,” Julian said, signing the chain-of-custody log.
The tech bowed her head politely and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Julian turned back to me, reaching for his coat and work bag. “I’m going to go home and check on the girls. My mother is watching them, but she needs help with Lily’s bedtime routine.”
“Don't lie to your mother about why you’re home early,” I said coldly.
Julian froze, his hand resting on the strap of his bag. “What?”
“When Sophia, Maya, Clara, and Lily ask why their baby brother isn't coming home today, are you going to tell them that you abandoned their mother in the hospital because you don't like the color of Gabriel's hair?”
Julian’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I am protecting the integrity of this family, Delilah. If you are innocent, you have nothing to fear from the results.”
“Oh, I’m not afraid of the results, Julian,” I said, leaning forward and staring directly into his eyes with an intensity that made him step back. “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to you when you realize that your own insecurity made you destroy the best thing that ever happened to your life.”
Julian held my stare for three long seconds, but he couldn't sustain it. He looked down at the floor, cleared his throat, picked up his bag, and walked out without another word.
The moment the door clicked shut, I pulled out my own cell phone.
I didn't call my mother. I didn't call my friends.
I dialed the direct cell phone number of Victoria Sterling—Raleigh’s most ruthless, unyielding corporate and matrimonial litigator, who also happened to be my late father’s former head legal counsel.
“Victoria,” I said when she answered on the third ring.
“Delilah? My dear, congratulations! Did Gabriel arrive safely?”
“Gabriel is healthy and perfect,” I said, taking a slow, deep breath. “But Julian just had him swabbed for an emergency paternity test, accused me of adultery, and left the hospital.”
There was a three-second silence on the line, followed by the sound of Victoria pulling a notebook toward her.
“Where is Julian right now?” Victoria asked, her voice turning into pure steel.
“He’s on his way back to our house. But Victoria... I unlocked his tablet while he was out of the room. He has a secret legal file drafted eight months ago, trying to execute a fault-based divorce to steal my family trust. And I found a secret fertility clinic report from three years ago proving he knew he had extreme male-factor infertility.”
Victoria let out a long, low whistle.
“A pre-meditated fraud scheme combined with medical concealment,” Victoria said smoothly. “Delilah, pack your bags. I’m sending a private transport vehicle to pick you and Gabriel up from the hospital the moment you’re discharged tomorrow morning. You are not going back to that house.”
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“Where am I going?”
“You’re going to your father’s estate in Lake Johnson,” Victoria commanded. “And by the time Julian’s paternity test results hit his inbox in four days, we are going to serve him with a lawsuit that will leave him without a leg to stand on.”
