The lab report sat in Jason Hart's lap like a grenade with the pin already pulled.Three words at the bottom destroyed everything he ever believed about his life.NOT BIOLOGICALLY RELATED.The girl he tucked into bed every night for fifteen years, the girl who called him Daddy, the girl whose first steps he caught on a shaky phone video... she belonged to another man.Something cold spread through his veins. Not sadness. Not yet. Right now it was just shock, the kind that makes the whole world go quiet like someone hit the mute button on reality.Jason and his wife Lauren Chase got together when they were both twenty four. Back then she was just a pretty girl with big dreams and an empty bank account, trying to make it as an actress in a city that chewed up pretty girls and spit them out every single day. Nobody returned her calls. Nobody gave her a chance. She was eating cheap noodles for dinner and crying herself to sleep after every rejection.And Jason was right there beside her t

Lauren Chase was undeniably one of the most beautiful women in the country.Even at forty, years of expensive skincare routines, personal trainers, and the kind of lifestyle only real money could buy had kept her looking like she was still in her late twenties. Age hadn't taken anything from her. If anything, it had added a depth to her beauty that younger women simply couldn't compete with. The kind of magnetic, mature allure that made men lose their train of thought mid sentence just from being in the same room as her.With that face and that level of fame, men had been throwing themselves at her for years. Jason knew that better than anyone.So he didn't expect her to just come out and confess.Women like Lauren didn't confess. They deflected, they charmed, they made you feel crazy for even asking the question.But the paternity test didn't care about charm.A lab report didn't lie.And sure enough, Lauren didn't admit a thing."Where is this coming from? Since when did you turn in

Jason walked straight back into the bar, the heavy door thudding shut behind him. The air was thick with the smell of stale alcohol and lemon cleaner.Behind the counter stood the bar owner, wiping down a glass. She was blonde, with her hair pulled into a messy bun."I need to see your surveillance footage from Wednesday night," Jason said, leaning over the counter. "Just the entrance and the parking lot."The woman barely looked up as she continued polishing the glass with a rag. "Cameras are basically just for show. Half of them don't work, and the ones that do overwrite every twelve hours. I can't help you."Jason stared at her, the headache from his hangover still throbbing behind his temples. As he looked at her blond hair, a wild, impulsive question slipped out before he could stop himself."Was it you? Were you the one who took me to a hotel last night?"The moment the words left his mouth, Jason felt a sting of embarrassment.The bar owner paused, then let out a sharp laugh. "

The question hung between them like a blade. Steve didn't answer. He just held Jason’s gaze for three long seconds, swallowed hard, and picked up his briefcase."Give me the sample, Dr. Hart. Let the lab do its job."He didn't wait for Jason to reply. Steve turned on his heel and walked out of the courthouse, his stride faster than when he had walked in.An hour later, Steve was standing inside Lauren Chase’s mansion. He took a cotton swab from his pocket, gently brushed the inside of fifteen-year-old Nina’s cheek while she complained about her mother being dramatic, and sealed it in a sterile vial.He didn't take it to one lab. He sent samples to three separate high-speed testing facilities across the state, demanding rush orders from every single one of them.The next afternoon, the notification hit Steve’s phone.He opened the PDF in his car, his breath catching in his throat. His eyes skimmed past the medical jargon straight to the bottom line.PROBABILITY OF PATERNITY: 0.00% JAS

The amber liquid burned Jason’s throat as he drained his glass in one sharp gulp.He slammed the heavy tumbler onto the bar, staring at his own bloodshot eyes in the dark mirror behind the liquor bottles. He still couldn't wrap his head around it.‘Lauren had run the DNA test herself. Her own trusted agent had handled it. The results had come back dead negative for a second time, proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that Nina wasn't his child. And yet, she still sat in her mansion pretending she had done nothing wrong, refusing to sign the divorce papers.’He had even laid the timeline out for her like a prosecutor. ‘Nina was conceived the exact same month we got married, Lauren. Do the math.’And what did she do? She deflected. She screamed. She played the victim card and tried to guilt-trip him into coming home."You really think you're untouchable, don't you?" Jason muttered under his breath, his voice laced with bitter hatred.It was all about power. Lauren had millions in the ban