Chapter 6 - DaddyThe first time Mia called Daniel “Daddy,” nobody had planned it.
Not the explosive kind of anger.
The colder kind.
The dangerous kind that made every decision suddenly precise.
He did not call Vanessa.
He did not confront Celeste.
He hired an independent forensic investigator.
Then he called Lauren.
“I need to see you.”
Her response was immediate.
“Is Mia involved?”
“Indirectly.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“Please.”
Lauren met him that evening at a coffee shop near her apartment while Mia stayed with Lauren’s sister.
Daniel placed Rebecca Hale’s copied report on the table.
Lauren read silently.
When she reached Vanessa’s name, her face changed.
“She was there?”
“Rebecca saw her.”
“At the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“After you left me?”
“Yes.”
Lauren pushed the paper away.
“Why?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
“You always protected her.”
“Not anymore.”
Lauren laughed bitterly.
“You had five years to stop protecting her.”
Daniel absorbed the hit.
“She lied about the accident.”
Lauren looked up.
“What?”
“No one hit her. She drove into a parking barrier.”
“Daniel…”
“She was already near the hospital before she called me.”
Lauren’s expression tightened.
“You think she planned it?”
“I don’t know how much she planned. I know she manipulated me.”
Lauren leaned back.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“No?”
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make Vanessa responsible for you leaving.”
“I’m not.”
“It sounds like you are.”
Daniel sat silently.
Lauren continued.
“She could have faked a heart attack in the lobby and it still would have been your decision to leave.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“I’m responsible for walking out.”
“And she may be responsible for making sure you never walked back in.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
That distinction silenced her.
For several seconds, they listened to the espresso machine hiss behind the counter.
Daniel finally said, “I want a DNA test.”
Lauren stiffened.
He hurried.
“Not because I doubt you.”
“Then why?”
“For legal certainty. For Mia. For medical records. For everything that comes next.”
“What exactly do you think comes next?”
“I don’t know.”
Lauren stared.
“You have lawyers.”
“I won’t use them against you.”
“Every rich man says that before he uses lawyers.”
“I will sign whatever protects you.”
“From what?”
“From me taking her.”
Lauren’s expression changed.
Daniel leaned forward.
“I know what you’re afraid of.”
“You don’t.”
“You think I’ll decide biology makes me entitled to equal custody tomorrow.”
Lauren looked away.
“I won’t.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because ripping Mia away from the only life she knows would be about me, not her.”
Lauren studied him.
He continued.
“I want to earn my place.”
“Earn?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“Supervised visits if you want them. Short visits. No overnight stays. No telling her who I am until you think she’s ready.”
Lauren frowned.
“You’d agree to that?”
“I’d agree to almost anything that lets me know her.”
Something in Daniel’s voice broke the final word.
Lauren looked down.
The anger remained.
But grief lived beside it now.
“Why didn’t you find me?”
Daniel inhaled slowly.
“After the divorce?”
“Yes.”
“I thought seeing me would hurt you.”
“That’s convenient.”
“I also thought our child was dead and that you blamed me.”
“I did.”
“You were right.”
Lauren wiped at her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“I threw myself into the company because working sixteen hours a day was easier than going home.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Was there.”
“Of course.”
“We dated four months.”
Lauren’s jaw tightened.
“I ended it.”
“Why?”
“Because every time she stayed at my apartment, I looked at her and remembered the hospital.”
Lauren blinked.
Daniel stared into his coffee.
“I could never separate her from the moment I left you.”
“So you broke up.”
“Yes.”
“But kept her as your COO.”
“She was good at her job.”
Lauren laughed without humor.
“Men truly are incredible.”
“I deserved that.”
“Yes.”
A reluctant smile almost appeared.
It disappeared quickly.
“What will you do now?”
“Find out what happened.”
“Then?”
“If Vanessa interfered with that message…”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“She will never be part of my company or my life again.”
Lauren nodded slowly.
“And Mia?”
“I’ll follow your lead.”
Three days later, the DNA test returned.
Probability of paternity: 99.9998%.
Daniel read the page alone.
Then he cried.
Not quietly.
Not gracefully.
Five years of grief came apart in his office.
His daughter had not died.
She had lived.
She had learned to walk somewhere without him.
She had called someone “Mommy” while never being able to call anyone “Daddy.”
He pressed the report to his forehead.
There was a knock.
His assistant entered, saw his face, and immediately backed out.
Daniel laughed through his tears.
“Julia.”
She stopped.
“Cancel everything after three.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And order every children’s book about dragons you can find.”
Julia blinked.
“All of them?”
Daniel looked at the DNA test.
“Every one.”
That Saturday, Lauren allowed Daniel to visit Mia at a public park.
Mia ran toward him.
“Superhero man!”
Daniel crouched just in time to catch her.
Lauren froze.
Mia had never hugged him before.
Daniel did too.
His hands hovered awkwardly before settling around the little girl.
“Hey.”
“You came!”
“I said I would.”
“Adults say stuff.”
Daniel glanced at Lauren.
“She’s definitely yours.”
Lauren rolled her eyes.
Mia grabbed Daniel’s hand.
“Come see the ducks.”
For two hours, Daniel followed her everywhere.
He bought bread until Lauren informed him bread was bad for ducks.
He apologized to the ducks.
Mia laughed so hard she hiccuped.
Daniel learned she hated strawberries but loved strawberry yogurt.
She was afraid of automatic toilets.
She could read simple chapter books.
She wanted to become a veterinarian, astronaut, and “person who names hurricanes.”
She had a stuffed rabbit named Mr. Henry.
And when she got tired, she rubbed the outside of her left ear.
Daniel did the exact same thing.
Lauren noticed.
So did he.
Neither commented.
When the visit ended, Mia hugged him again.
“Come tomorrow?”
Daniel looked at Lauren.
“Maybe next weekend,” Lauren said.
Mia frowned.
“That’s long.”
Daniel’s heart broke.
“I’ll be here.”
“Promise?”
He crouched.
This word mattered.
Promises had destroyed their family once.
“I promise that if your mom says I can come, I’ll be here.”
Lauren looked at him.
A careful promise.
One he controlled.
Mia nodded.
“Okay.”
That evening Daniel found Vanessa waiting in his office.
She stood beside the window.
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’ve been investigating you.”
Her shoulders tightened.
“Excuse me?”
Daniel dropped Rebecca Hale’s report onto the desk.
Vanessa looked down.
For one fraction of a second, fear crossed her face.
Daniel saw it.
“You were at the hospital.”
“I told you—”
“No. You told me you went home after I drove you there.”
“I was confused.”
“You met Celeste Warren.”
Vanessa looked away.
“Daniel.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you pay her?”
Vanessa’s eyes snapped back.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“My investigator found a thirty-five-thousand-dollar transfer into her account twelve days later.”
Vanessa went pale.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Tell me why.”
“It wasn’t what you think.”
“What do I think?”
“She needed money.”
“And you generously gave thirty-five thousand dollars to a hospital administrator you barely knew?”
“She helped me with something.”
Daniel’s voice became deadly quiet.
“With what?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I asked her not to bother you that night.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“You were devastated.”
“When?”
“After they told you the baby died.”
His heart pounded.
“She knew that information was wrong.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Rebecca says Celeste had already been given the correction.”
“I didn’t know.”
“But Celeste knew.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“She said Lauren had left.”
“She had gone with our baby to another hospital.”
“I didn’t understand that.”
“What exactly did you ask Celeste to do?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Vanessa.”
“I asked her to make sure you weren’t contacted again.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“Why?”
“Because you were falling apart!”
“My daughter was alive!”
“I didn’t know!”
“You knew there was a corrected message?”
“No!”
He slammed his palm against the desk.
Vanessa jumped.
“Stop lying!”
Silence.
Her tears came.
“I thought if Lauren came back, you would choose her.”
Daniel stared in disbelief.
“She was my wife.”
“She hated me.”
“She had every reason to.”
“I loved you!”
“And that gave you the right to interfere with information about my child?”
“I didn’t know the child survived!”
Daniel pointed toward the report.
“Celeste knew.”
Vanessa shook her head desperately.
“She only told me there had been confusion.”
“What confusion?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“She said maybe they had notified the wrong family.”
Daniel went utterly still.
There it was.
Five years of missing birthdays.
Five years of mourning.
Five years of a little girl wondering who her father was.
And Vanessa had known there was a chance.
A chance.
That was enough.
Daniel walked to the door and opened it.
“You’re fired.”
Vanessa stared.
“You can’t.”
“I just did.”
“I own shares.”
“You can keep them. You’re no longer COO.”
“Daniel.”
“Security will escort you out.”
“You’re destroying twenty years of friendship over Lauren.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“I’m ending twenty years of blindness because of my daughter.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then something changed in her expression.
Fear vanished.
Bitterness replaced it.
“You think Lauren will forgive you?”
Daniel said nothing.
“She won’t.”
“I know.”
“She’ll never trust you again.”
“Maybe not.”
“And Mia will eventually learn what you did.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa stepped close.
“So what exactly do you think you’re getting?”
Daniel looked at the DNA report on his desk.
“A chance to become someone my daughter doesn’t have to be ashamed of.”
Security arrived.
Vanessa left.
But as the elevator doors closed, she took out her phone.
There was still one person who could destroy Daniel’s fragile reunion with Lauren.
May you like
Celeste Warren.
And Vanessa intended to reach her before Daniel did.
Related Stories
