Semua Bab She Said No Kids—Then Brought One Home: Bab 1 - Bab 9

The words left me, and Adrienne went silent, as if someone had clapped a hand over her mouth.I slid the ring off my finger and threw it into the trash, along with the one she'd handed me.Adrienne felt both familiar and like a stranger. I couldn't make sense of anything she'd done anymore. The whole thing felt absurd, like the entire world had gone insane. Adrienne had lost her mind. My parents had lost theirs. And so, apparently, had I.Adrienne opened her mouth, then forced the words out. "I didn't cheat."I laughed softly. "Adrienne, I'm the fool here. I love you. I can accept everything about you."But that doesn't mean I love you enough to ignore the baby in your belly, or that I'm happy you cheated on me. Adrienne, I never forced you into Dylan's bed. I never forced you to get pregnant."She crossed the room and slapped me, hard. The crack of it twisted the world in front of my eyes, and my cheek burned.It wasn't the first time Adrienne had hit me. But it was the first

Mom took out her phone and called Adrienne. Only once she heard Adrienne's voice did she finally relax.She hung up and turned on me. "Adrienne's pregnant. Whatever you're feeling, can't you keep it to yourself and take care of her first?"Something inside me cracked open at that. I could barely breathe.I stared at her. "She went to see Dylan. She's carrying his baby. Do you actually want me to drive her straight to her affair?"Whatever happened before, that was on me. But this? This is my fault too?"My voice had risen without me noticing. Mom's face changed instantly, and she glared at me. "Why are you shouting like that? Do you want the whole building to know you've been cheated on? Keep running your mouth like that and someone will hear. Do you want Adrienne to lose her reputation over this?"I already knew Mom had always favored Adrienne. Ever since we were kids, whenever Adrienne and I clashed, she took Adrienne's side.I never thought much of it before. Adrienne had a

In the end, I had to face the truth. My hand trembled as I tore open the sealed envelope.The moment I saw the line that read "no biological father-daughter relationship confirmed", my legs gave out, and I sank to the floor. Only then did I notice my back was soaked through with sweat.I let out a long breath, and somehow, I was laughing and crying at the same time.After a long while, I fed the paternity report into the shredder.On the drive to the hospital, my mind raced through everything, and by the time I arrived, I'd decided to apologize to my parents for doubting them.I walked up to the hospital room door and saw that Dad was awake. I was about to open it.Then I heard Dad's voice, complaining to Mom. "You were reckless. Thank god my friend happened to see it and told me, or the whole thing about switching the babies would've come out."All these years I've worked so hard to keep those two kids close together, just in case it ever did come out. At least there'd be some

I moved the company's headquarters to Brighton City. On my first day back with the Bruckners, Mr. Bruckner transferred every share under his name over to me. He looked almost guilty about it. "Your mother and I both just assumed you looked like me and didn't think much further than that, back when you married Adrienne."We'd planned to hand all of this to you eventually, but we wanted to watch you a while longer first. We had our reservations. Now, there's nothing left to worry about."I looked at Mr. Bruckner and found myself smiling. He'd watched me grow up and treated me like half a son even before any of this. Once the shock wore off, we both settled into it calmly enough.Only when I thought of the Rossels did something in me dim. Mr. Bruckner asked what I wanted done about Eric and Marilyn. I shook my head. "You might think I'm being too soft. But they raised me well. They gave me the best of everything, and they never held back on me. Let's just leave it."I've always be