CHAPTER 7: ALYSSA’S BARGAIN
I did not go alone.
Parker remained inside a vehicle across the street while a security specialist watched from the station platform.
Alyssa arrived wearing a baseball cap and oversized coat.
She looked nothing like the triumphant woman who had entered my hospital room.
She looked frightened.
She handed me a flash drive.
“The acquisition agreement is on there.”
“Is Evan the father?”
Her eyes filled with tears, but I felt no sympathy.
“Yes.”
“Does Connor know?”
“He believes the vasectomy failed.”
“You knew that was medically impossible.”
“Evan found the report in the clinic portal.”
“You found it.”
“We both did.”
“And you still walked into my hospital room.”
Her expression twisted.
“I did what Evan told me to do.”
“No. You did what you chose to do.”
Alyssa looked away.
She admitted that Evan had promised they would leave together after the acquisition closed.
Once Connor signed the sale, Evan planned to expose Connor’s fraud, force him out, and negotiate a position with the purchasing company.
Alyssa and Evan would keep the condominium, the stolen money, and the baby.
Connor would lose everything.
“You were using him,” I said.
“He was using me too. He promised me shares he didn’t own.”
“And the forged embryo request?”
“That was Connor’s idea.”
My blood turned cold.
Alyssa explained that Connor wanted the clinic records weakened before the divorce. If he challenged Brinley’s paternity, he could portray me as dishonest and pressure me into signing away my rights to the company.
Connor had not simply rejected his daughter.
He had planned to legally erase her.
I gripped the flash drive.
“Why is Parker’s signature on the acquisition agreement?”
“Evan copied it from an old legal filing.”
“Who knows it was forged?”
“Connor. Evan. Me.”
Alyssa stepped closer.
“I’ll testify, but I want immunity.”
“You humiliated me hours after I gave birth.”
“I know.”
“You helped attack my daughter’s identity.”
“I know.”
“You don’t deserve immunity.”
“No,” she whispered. “But you need me.”
A black SUV turned into the street.
Alyssa’s face drained of color.
“That’s Connor’s car.”
She grabbed my arm.
“I didn’t tell him where I was going.”
The SUV stopped outside the station.
The rear door opened.
But Connor was not the person who stepped out.
May you like
It was Betsy.
And she was holding a gunmetal-gray folder marked with Parker’s law-firm seal.
