Chapter 4

I ignored the suspicion and unease in Keith’s eyes, dried my hands, and walked straight out of the kitchen.

Back in the bedroom, I locked the door and opened the PDF file attached to the email.

I already knew what the results would say, but when I saw the bolded conclusion at the bottom of the report, it still felt as if an invisible hand was crushing my heart.

[DNA analysis confirms a biological mother-daughter relationship between Sample One (Vera Skudder) and Sample Two (Maya Lunsford).]

[DNA analysis confirms a biological father-daughter relationship between Sample Three (Keith Jowett) and Sample Two (Maya Lunsford).]

The evidence was undeniable. It was time to spring the trap.

The following day was Saturday.

Over breakfast, Vera took a call. When she hung up, she looked at me apologetically.

“Honey, there’s an emergency meeting at the office. The executives are all waiting for me, so I need to go in for a while. You and Maya stay home and be good, okay?”

“Okay. Don’t push yourself too hard,” I said as I gently straightened her collar.

After watching her hurry out the door, I immediately changed into a plain black tracksuit, put on a baseball cap and a mask, grabbed my car keys, and followed her.

Cloudview Residences was one of the most discreet luxury apartment complexes in the city.

Vera’s car never headed toward her office. Instead, she drove straight into the underground garage of Cloudview Residences with familiar ease.

I followed at a distance and watched her enter the elevator. The display stopped at the sixteenth floor.

I waited downstairs for thirty minutes before heading up.

There were two units on the floor, and only Unit 1601 had been renovated.

My hand barely paused as I entered the passcode. Keith’s birthday was my guess, and I was right. The lock clicked open.

I eased the door open and found Keith’s sneakers and Vera’s high heels scattered across the foyer.

The TV in the living room was off, but the master bedroom door was slightly ajar. From inside came nauseating sounds of heavy breathing and intimate whispers.

I stood outside the master bedroom, and their conversation came through clearly.

“Vera… yesterday, when Tate said Maya looked like me, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. If he learns the truth, he’ll be devastated. His health is already so fragile. I’m terrified he won’t be able to handle it.”

It was Keith’s voice, heavy with guilt and a deep, almost pitiful concern. He sounded as if he truly were the loyal best friend who always had my best interests at heart.

“Don’t worry, Keith. I’m here. He’ll never find out,” Vera reassured him gently. “Even if he does, Maya is still my daughter. What’s done is done.”

“Sometimes, I honestly feel so guilty,” Keith said with a soft sigh.

“Back then, when I saw how much pain he was in trying to get treatment, how many medications he took, and how many injections he endured every day, I truly just felt sorry for him. I only wanted to help him…

“I swear, in the beginning, I only wanted to help him have a child. I never thought I’d fall in love with you…”

“I know,” Vera said. “I know you’ve suffered—”

“I haven’t!” Keith cut her off immediately. “As long as I can see Tate happy, as long as I know you and Maya are doing well, what does a little hardship matter?

“I don’t need a place in your life. I don’t need you to divorce him either. As long as things can stay the way they are, and I can secretly be part of your lives, that’s enough for me…”

As I listened to his self-sacrificing speech outside the door, filled with his own sense of righteousness, my stomach twisted with disgust.

“How noble of him to do it all for my sake. How selfless of him to want nothing in return,” I thought.

He used his so-called concern for me as an excuse to sleep with my wife, father their child behind my back, and then play the role of a savior while enjoying Vera’s love and my friendship without the slightest guilt.

A hypocrite like him—someone who wanted love, friendship, and the satisfaction of seeing himself as morally superior—was far more terrifying than the kind of man who openly stole another man’s wife.

I stopped hesitating. I raised my phone, started recording, and pointed the camera at the half-opened bedroom door.

Then, I lifted my foot and kicked the door with all my strength.

It flew open with a thunderous crash.