His face darkened when that email appeared.
“Private correspondence cannot simply be stolen and used against me.”
The attorney did not rise to the anger.
“No one is discussing stolen material.
We are discussing records lawfully preserved by your wife and potential misuse of marital and corporate assets.”
Richard leaned back.
“Potential?”
“That distinction may depend on what the company’s auditors conclude.”
The room became very still.
For years, Richard had treated money like a language only he could speak.
Now the same records were speaking without him.
He pointed at me.
“This is revenge because I had children with someone else.”
I opened the third binder.
Inside was a copy of his fertility report and a short list of dates.
Jessica’s first pregnancy.
Jessica’s second pregnancy.
The company transfers surrounding both.
I pushed it toward him.
“You keep saying that.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“Saying what?”
“That you had children with Jessica.”
His face went pale again.
The attorney spoke before Richard could.
“No legal conclusion has been made about paternity.
If Mr.
Hawthorne wants certainty, that question can be resolved through appropriate testing.”
Richard stood so abruptly his chair struck the wall.
“I don’t need a test.”
I looked at him.
“Then why are you afraid of one?”
He left without answering.
For the next two days, Richard disappeared into the life he had built outside our marriage.
He stayed at Jessica’s apartment.
He missed two meetings.
He called his mother, who called me immediately.
Her voice was furious.
“What have you done to my son?”
“Nothing.”
“He says you’re trying to destroy his family.”
I thought about the gala, about her hand squeezing mine while she told me a man needed heirs.
“Ask Richard what his doctor told him.”
She went silent.
Then she hung up.
Jessica contacted me the following morning.
Her message was brief: We need to talk.
I did not answer.
An hour later she arrived at the attorney’s office with Richard.
The confidence she had worn at the gala was gone.
She still looked composed, but her hands betrayed her.
She kept twisting the ring on her right hand.
Richard sat beside her but did not touch her.
The attorney explained the purpose of the meeting: voluntary paternity testing, financial disclosure, and preservation of records while Hawthorne Meridian reviewed questionable expenditures.
Jessica stiffened.
“Why is the company involved in something personal?”
