Chapter 3

My blood seemed to freeze all at once.

No.

I'd forgotten.

Travis and I had been so close that each of us kept an emergency key to the other's apartment.

The moment the door opened, he headed straight for the bedroom.

"Travis, don't open that door!" I lunged after him.

Before he reached it, the bedroom door opened on its own.

Delia stood inside with an arm wrapped lovingly around the three boys.

"There they are! The proof is right in front of me, and you still dare deny them?"

Travis's eyes turned bloodshot. He spun and drove his foot into my stomach.

I screamed as pain twisted through my abdomen and stole my breath.

"You worthless animal! You won't even claim your own children? I'll teach you some decency myself!"

He raised his heavy shoe, preparing to bring it down on my head.

Just as despair swallowed me, familiar footsteps sounded from the doorway.

"Mom! Dad! Help me!"

My mother rushed forward to shield me and shouted at Travis.

"Travis, have you lost your mind? How dare you beat my son?"

My father stepped in front of me as well. "Whatever happened, you could've talked about it. Why attack him?"

Breathing hard, Travis pointed toward the bedroom. "Ask your son what he did."

My parents looked past him toward the open bedroom door.

The instant they saw the three boys, their expressions changed.

My mother shoved me away so hard that I fell.

She pointed at my face. "He deserved it! A monster who refuses to recognize his own children deserves to be beaten to death!"

My father turned on me too, disappointment filling his face. "You've disgraced the Lynch family. I never thought my son could be this heartless."

My heart sank to the bottom.

Just as before, the sight of those boys seemed to drive everyone mad.

The betrayal stabbed more deeply than every injury in my body.

"Ungrateful bastard! If I'd known you'd grow into a man who abandoned his own children, I'd have wished you were never born!"

Fighting through the pain, I pleaded, "Mom, Dad, think. Delia and I have been married for five years and were almost never apart. How could she have secretly given birth to three boys without me knowing?"

"What's gotten into all of you? Why are you so desperate to claim children no one knows?"

My mother kicked me with contempt and hurried toward Delia.

"Look at my beautiful grandsons. Come let Grandma see you!"

"Mom, what's wrong with you? I've told you they're not related to me."

My father scowled. "Don't talk back to us."

"They look exactly like you. They're yours.

"Delia's willing to forgive you, and you should be grateful. Coward."

My mother grabbed a vase and hurled it at me.

My father seized the mop from the corner and swung it toward my head.

Shielding my bleeding forehead, I shouted, "Why do all of you act possessed the moment you see these boys? Come with me for a DNA test if you're so certain."

"A DNA test would waste money," my mother snapped as she struck me. "Anyone can see they're your sons."

Eventually, they exhausted themselves and turned toward Delia.

"We support you, Delia. Make this cheater give you the house, the cars, and every dollar in the divorce."