CHAPTER 1: THE MEDICAL RECORD
Parker read the surgical confirmation three times before looking at me.
“This is powerful,” he said. “But it isn’t enough by itself.”
I shifted Brinley carefully against my shoulder.
“The doctor confirmed the procedure was successful.”
“Yes, but vasectomies can occasionally fail. Connor’s attorney will argue that the pregnancy itself proves that happened.”
My stomach tightened.
“So what do we need?”
“His follow-up laboratory results.”
Parker contacted the fertility clinic through the authorization Connor and I had signed during our treatment. Because the surgical report had been uploaded to our joint reproductive-health portal, I had received it legally.
Two hours later, the clinic’s medical director joined us on a secure video call.
Connor had completed three follow-up tests after the procedure.
All three showed the same result.
No detectable sperm.
He had never undergone a reversal.
He had never stored a separate sample.
And according to the clinic’s records, there was no medical explanation for how Connor could have naturally fathered a child twelve weeks earlier.
Parker leaned back in his chair.
“Now we have something.”
But the doctor did not end the call.
“There is another matter,” she said.
Her expression had become uneasy.
“The night before your daughter was born, someone accessed your shared account using Mr. Connor’s login information.”
“Connor?” I asked.
“We don’t believe so. The location data shows the account was accessed from a device registered to Alyssa Grant.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
Alyssa had seen the vasectomy report.
She had known Connor could not be the father before she walked into my hospital room and announced that she was carrying his son.
“She knew,” I whispered.
Parker’s expression darkened.
“She didn’t just lie. She built the entire relationship around a lie she knew could eventually be proven.”
The doctor hesitated again.
“There’s more.”
A request had been submitted from the same device.
Someone had attempted to authorize the destruction of records connected to the embryo used in your final treatment cycle.
The embryo that became Brinley.
The electronic signature attached to the request belonged to me.
Except I had never signed it.
Someone had not only planned to deceive Connor about Alyssa’s child.
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They had also planned to erase the proof that Brinley was his.
And the request had been submitted three weeks before I gave birth.
