Entangled (The Accidental Billionaires #2) - J. S. Scott Page 0,67
Skye every night.
Maya’s warm hugs that made me feel like the luckiest dad in the world.
Our weekends, and planning fun things to fill every Saturday and Sunday.
It was almost unbelievable that the two of them hadn’t always been here, because I felt like we’d been together forever.
They were my whole damn world now.
I didn’t need proof from some damn laboratory to tell me that Maya was my daughter. She had been from the first moment I’d seen her.
But for some reason, I hesitated instead of trashing the results.
I’d paid for it. I should at least read what the lab had to say, right?
I was pretty sure that I couldn’t get rid of it without reading it, because unopened and unread mail had gotten me into so much damn trouble in the past.
Skye’s letter.
Not reading that had changed the entire course of my life.
I wasn’t a superstitious type of guy, but I tore open the envelope anyway.
I was pretty fucking happy, so I decided to just read the results instead of pissing off the gods of fate just in case they existed.
I was way too happy to push my luck in any way.
There was a lot of medical jargon that I really didn’t understand all that well, so I kept shuffling through the lab results until I could come across something I could comprehend and be done with it.
There was something called a combined paternity index.
And probability of paternity.
A data table of DNA markers.
Lastly, there was a conclusion.
There was one line I understood perfectly, and it stopped me in my tracks.
I was excluded as Maya’s biological father.
I kept reading that line over and over, like it was going to magically change.
Not possible. There’s no way.
Much as I tried, I couldn’t make those words change, so I started trying to process a truth I just couldn’t accept, even though the scientific data was right in front of my eyes.
The child I’d already come to love and adore was not my daughter.
CHAPTER 26
SKYE
“I’m starving. I thought we’d just throw some burgers on the grill, and I’ll make some potato salad,” I told Aiden as I went back into the kitchen. “Sound okay to you?”
I went and pulled the burgers out of the fridge, and Aiden still hadn’t answered, even though he was standing right behind me.
I dropped the meat in the sink and turned.
He was obviously in the same space that I was.
But his mind was completely somewhere else.
His body looked tense, his palms braced on the counter, and his head was down, staring at something I didn’t recognize.
“Aiden, are you okay?” I said, concerned.
He didn’t answer.
My first worry was that it was bad news about somebody in his large family.
“Aiden,” I said louder. “You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
When he finally turned his head, his beautiful blue eyes were cold, and that terrified me because I’d never seen his expression so glacial.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” I implored.
“When were you planning on telling me that Maya isn’t really my biological child?” he said in a guttural voice.
I moved to him and put a hand on his bicep, because I had no idea what he was trying to say, but I wanted the furious, chilly, and confused look on his face to ease.
I needed him to talk to me, because what he was asking didn’t make sense.
“What are you saying?” I asked quietly.
He jerked his arm away from my hand. “I’m saying that I got the lab results on the paternity test. I’m excluded as her biological father. Excluded. Zero chance of Maya being my child.”
“That’s crazy. It’s not even possible,” I told him as I reached toward the counter and snatched up the lab results.
I was silent for a moment as I read through all the technical stuff, but I quickly dropped to the bottom of the last page to see the conclusion.
What I saw stunned me as much as it probably had Aiden. I had to read the line a couple of times just to make sure I was interpreting it correctly.
He was right.
He was excluded as Maya’s biological father, which was conclusive proof that she wasn’t biologically his child.
“This isn’t right, Aiden. It has to be a mistake,” I said in a horrified tone.
He looked at me with a laser-sharp, thunderously pissed-off glance. “Is it? Or was I just a good target to be the dad since I’m now rich, and conveniently here in Citrus Beach?”
I felt like he’d just slapped me. Hard. And he hadn’t even touched me.