Betrayed Broken Husband Becomes a Billionaire Daddy

6: Second Chance to Love

The man crossed the waiting area and lowered himself into the seat across from Lucien Legion without asking permission, setting the leather folder neatly on his knee.

"Mr. Legion. I'm Donald Mccallister." His voice was smooth, practiced, the kind of voice that had spent years smoothing over other people's problems. "I represent Stacy. She wasn't able to make it today, so she asked me to speak with you directly."

Lucien Legion studied him for a moment, arms crossed. "Of course she sent someone else. Wouldn't want to get her hands dirty."

Donald Mccallister's mouth curved into something professionally patient, the kind of smile that never quite touched his eyes. "It's not like that, Mr. Legion. She's dealing with a lot right now, as I'm sure you understand."

"Sure." Lucien Legion's tone stayed flat. "Must be exhausting, being falsely accused of nothing."

Donald Mccallister let that one slide off him without reacting, opening the folder on his lap and pulling out a single sheet. "Stacy would like an independent test run, through a lab of her own choosing. She's requesting a DNA sample from you to make that happen."

Lucien Legion raised an eyebrow. "Three labs already told her the same thing. What's a fourth going to prove."

"Peace of mind, maybe." Donald Mccallister's tone softened slightly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "You have to understand how this looks from her side. Sixteen years of marriage, and suddenly you're handing her divorce papers over a test she never got to see run herself. Wouldn't you want the same courtesy, if the roles were reversed?"

Lucien Legion said nothing for a moment, jaw working.

"Can I ask you something, Mr. Legion." Donald Mccallister tilted his head slightly, watching him with the kind of careful attention that felt less like curiosity and more like fishing. "What actually brought this on? Sixteen years, and then all of a sudden you're running paternity tests behind her back. That doesn't come from nowhere."

Lucien Legion exhaled slowly, staring down at his own hands. "I saw a case at the hospital a few months back. Father raised a kid for over a decade, found out through a routine blood match during surgery that the kid wasn't biologically his. Whole family fell apart overnight." He shook his head slightly. "Something about it stuck with me. Made me think about things I probably should have thought about a long time ago."

"That's it?" Donald Mccallister's brow lifted just slightly. "A random case at work?"

"Not just that." Lucien Legion's voice dropped, something tightening behind his ribs. "Chloe said something to me a while back. Just blurted it out during an argument, the way kids do when they're mad. She said, you're not even my real dad."

Donald Mccallister's expression didn't shift much, but his eyes sharpened, just barely. "Kids say things like that when they're upset, Mr. Legion. It doesn't mean anything."

"She laughed it off five minutes later." Lucien Legion's jaw tightened. "Told me she didn't mean it, that it just slipped out because she was mad about her curfew. I let it go at the time." His eyes lifted to meet Donald Mccallister's. "But it never really left me. Kept sitting in the back of my head like a splinter. Eventually I couldn't ignore it anymore."

"I'm sure it was nothing." Donald Mccallister's voice took on a smoothing tone again, almost too quick. "Teenagers say all kinds of things they don't mean. You know how they are at that age."

"Maybe." Lucien Legion watched him closely now, something in his gut starting to prickle. "Funny thing though. You keep telling me there's some misunderstanding here. That Stacy never cheated, that the test has to be wrong, that it's all some big mistake." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But you haven't once asked me what the actual results were. Haven't asked which lab, what percentage, none of it. You just keep defending her like you already know exactly what I'm going to say before I say it."

For the first time, something flickered across Donald Mccallister's face, gone almost as fast as it appeared, but Lucien Legion caught it. A tightening around the eyes. A half second too long before the smile came back into place.

"I'm just doing my job, Mr. Legion." Donald Mccallister's voice stayed even, though his fingers had gone still on the folder in his lap. "Trying to keep this civil for everyone involved."

"Sure." Lucien Legion leaned back in his chair, watching him with new focus now, the kind of focus he usually saved for reading a patient's chart when something didn't add up. "You work closely with her. Have for years, right?"

"I manage most of her business affairs, yes."

"Then you'd know the people around her. Who she talks to. Who she's close with." Lucien Legion kept his voice level, almost casual, though his pulse had picked up.

Donald Mccallister's smile flickered, just slightly strained now. "I know plenty of people around her, Mr. Hale. Doesn't mean I know everything about her personal life."

"Funny you'd draw that line so fast." Lucien Legion's eyes didn't leave his face. "Nobody asked you to."

Donald Mccallister shifted slightly in his seat, adjusting the folder on his knee, his composure holding but something underneath it clearly cracking at the edges. "I think we're getting a little off track here. The sample, Mr. Legion. Can we arrange that?"

Lucien Legion ignored the question completely, leaning forward instead, his voice dropping low and direct.

"Donald Mccallister."

"Yes?"

Lucien Legion held his gaze steady, watching every flicker that crossed the other man's face."Do you know who Chloe's biological father might be?"