Chapter 18

Not Mine

Alexander's Pov

Dr. Mitchell closed the door behind her, her voice gentle but direct in the way I imagined she delivered every piece of devastating medical news.

"Given the complications and the legal questions around your marriage, we ran paternity testing automatically as part of the delivery protocol. I need you both to prepare yourselves for what I'm about to say."

Lily's hand tightened around mine. "Just tell us."

"Alexander isn't the father." Dr. Mitchell let that settle before continuing. "The results are conclusive. The baby's biological father is David Chen."

The room went silent except for the steady beep of hospital monitors. I stared at Dr. Mitchell, certain I'd misheard her.

"That's impossible," I said. "David wasn't even at the penthouse that night."

"I can only report the results, Mr. Hunt. I'd recommend speaking with Mr. Chen directly about the circumstances."

Lily's face had gone bone white against the hospital pillow. "I don't understand. I thought it was you. I was so certain it was you."

"So was I," I said quietly, though something cold and confused was already crawling through my chest, memories of that night rearranging themselves into a shape I didn't recognize.

I found David in the waiting room twenty minutes later, and something in my face must have warned him, because he stood immediately, alarm replacing his usual composed expression.

"What happened? Is the baby okay?"

"The baby's fine." I studied my closest friend's face, searching for any sign of the truth before I said the words out loud. "David, you're her father. The paternity test confirms it."

David's coffee cup slipped from his hand, shattering against the tile floor. "That's not possible. I would remember something like that."

"Would you? Think back to that night. Cassandra had cancelled on me. I came home angry and drunk. But you were also at the penthouse that week, working late on the embezzlement files."

David's face drained of color as pieces visibly clicked together behind his eyes. "I remember feeling strange that night. Dizzy. I assumed I was just exhausted from the audit work. I don't remember leaving my desk. I don't remember anything after that until the next morning."

"Cassandra had access to the penthouse. To the kitchen. To anything she wanted to slip into a drink." The full horror of the situation was assembling itself with sickening clarity. "David, I think you were drugged. I think Cassandra deliberately sabotaged your investigation by making sure you couldn't remember what you found, or what happened afterward."

"Oh God." David sank into a chair, his hands pressed against his face. "If that's true, then Lily was—"

"Drugged too. Probably the same way." My stomach turned violently at the implications. "Neither of you consented to anything that happened that night. Cassandra didn't just steal money from this family, David. She violated both of you to protect herself."

David looked up at me, devastation and disbelief warring across his features. "I have a daughter. Alexander, I have a daughter, and I don't even remember the night she was conceived."

"I know." I gripped his shoulder, understanding for the first time that our friendship was about to be tested in ways neither of us could have anticipated. "We're going to figure this out. Together. But first, we need to find out exactly what Cassandra did, and why."

David wiped his face roughly, forcing himself back into the composed CFO I'd relied on for over a decade, though his hands still trembled slightly at his sides. "Does Lily know yet?"

"Not the specifics. Just that you're the father." I hesitated. "David, she's going to need time. All of this, on top of everything else she's carrying right now. James Hunt. The possibility that we're siblings. Now this."

"I'm not asking her for anything right now except the truth." David's jaw tightened with a resolve I recognized from every difficult board meeting we'd survived together. "I just want to know my daughter is safe. Whatever happens between Lily and me after that, we'll figure out when she's ready."

"That's more grace than most men would offer under these circumstances."

"None of this is her fault, Alexander. Or mine, apparently, if what you're saying about Cassandra is true." David straightened his shoulders. "Let's go find out exactly how deep this goes. I want to know precisely what that woman did to us before she answers for any of it in a courtroom."

We walked back toward Elena, who was waiting with the kind of grim patience that told me she had more to reveal before this endless night was finally over.