As his only child for the better part of three fucking decades, none of it was supposed to be this complicated. In fact, being an only child was the kind of cut-and-dry type scenario that any lawyer in Ted’s shoes had wet dreams over.
How much easier could it get?
Everything was to go to me and that was final.
This added complication was only going to fuck everything up at an astronomical level that even I struggled to comprehend. Some things I’d already had my hands in, like the cars and getting them fixed up to sell.
Would I be forced to compensate for that too in the eyes of the law?
How much of this would be left in a stagnant state until this child grew up to be old enough to make decisions based on whattheywanted?
How long was I supposed to be kept in limbo until it was deemed unfair to me?
Fuck.
I wanted to scream.
My hatred for my father ran deep, but this was on a whole other level.
Pointing at Ana, I said. “Listen to me. Get the paternity test and then we’ll talk.”
Her lips remained fused together while her hand worked overtime in rubbing her belly.
Ted pushed back from the table, too, standing while gathering his papers together and shoving them back into his folder. “We’ll be in touch.”
Steele merely sighed. “All right. Ted, I’ll be in touch.”
Both he and Ana stood up from the table, the latter far more pregnant than I’d realized when I’d first seen her with the way the table had covered up the lower half of her body from view. My stomach churned in an uncomfortable way.
The possibility of this being some kind of scam was incredibly high. High enough that I shouldn’t be this sick to my stomach with anxiety. Sure, my father could’ve reversed his vasectomy and gotten this woman pregnant, but doing so aftertwenty-sixyears?
He got married after twenty-six years, too.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Steele bid us a goodbye and stuck close to Ana’s side while she exited the conference room. The door was left open for us, both of them disappearing from view quite quickly. My legs felt boneless, wanting badly to settle back down into my chair and fold my head into my hands while the entirety of life was contemplated.
“We’ll get this figured out, Avery.” Ted grabbed my shoulder again, shaking me slightly. “Don’t you worry.”
But Iwasworrying.
Hadn’t I been waiting for the third shoe to drop?
It seemed like the universe hadn’t wanted to keep me waiting long.
All this time I thought it would be something to do with Brandon or work. Never was I expectingthisdumpster fire of a mess.
God, what the fuck.
“Go home,” Ted instructed. “Give yourself the day. If she refuses the paternity test, there’s nothing to move forward with.”
That wasn’t the part that I was concerned with.
If she took the paternity test and it turned out that the baby’s DNA matched with mine...
Then what?
