Chapter 6 - ELEVEN MONTHS
Ryan admitted it.
He had found the consent form while preparing insurance documents.
He became afraid.
Then obsessed.
He ordered private tests.
He requested archived records.
He paid a former clinic employee for information.
He told Vivian.
He told a lawyer.
He told everyone except me.
"Why?"
"Because if something was wrong, I wanted to fix it first."
I laughed.
"You still think that's love."
He flinched.
I did not let him into the mansion.
I did let him see the twins in the gatehouse under supervision.
Oliver ran to him.
Emma hid behind my leg.
Ryan knelt.
"Hey, bug."
Oliver handed him a toy car.
Ryan started crying.
It made me angry that he loved them.
Life would have been simpler if he were a monster.
After the visit, Vivian asked to stay at the old house.
I told her she could arrange utilities in her own name.
Naomi warned me that shutting off water had been a bad move.
"I know."
"You cannot use ownership to make a residence uninhabitable."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Apparently everyone asks me that now."
She almost smiled.
We restored basic utilities.
I hated doing it.
It was still right.
The bank investigation uncovered another problem.
The attempted home-equity loan was meant to cover losses in Ryan's construction business.
Not luxury spending.
Not gambling.
A failed warehouse project.
He had hidden three million dollars in company debt.
I had signed one guarantee two years earlier.
I had not read it carefully.
My signature was real.
My mistake was real too.
The mansion did not protect me from that.
Then the fertility clinic called.
They wanted both twins tested.
I looked at Oliver and Emma asleep together on the sofa.
"No."
The word came out before I thought.
Naomi waited.
I knew why.
I was scared.
And for the first time, I understood how easily fear could dress itself as protection.
I called the clinic back.
May you like
"Schedule the tests."
