“I’m not stalling because of reality,” I countered. “I’m stalling because the terms were built on a foundation of fraud.”
The word hit the room like a grenade. Lenora’s face shifted through a kaleidoscope of emotions—confusion, indignation, and finally, a creeping, primal fear. She shifted in her chair, her designer blazer suddenly appearing to choke her. I didn’t look at her. Instead, I pulled a plain manila envelope from my jacket. Inside was a truth so jagged it had nearly severed my sanity three days prior.
I walked to the bench and handed the envelope to the judge. My own lawyer, a weary public defender named Hector Molina, stared at me with his mouth agape. I hadn’t told him. I hadn’t told anyone. Some traps are only effective if you set them in total silence.
“Your Honor,” I said, the echo of my footsteps fading. “This envelope contains DNA test results for all three children listed in the custody agreement: Marcus, age twelve; Jolene, age nine; and Wyatt, age six.”
Judge Castellan didn’t open it immediately. He looked at me, weighing my resolve. “For what purpose, Mr. Chandler? To establish paternity?”
“No, Your Honor,” I replied. “To establish, for the record, that I am not the biological father of any of the three.”
The silence that followed was absolute. I could hear the buzz of the fluorescent lights. I could hear Lenora’s sharp, hitching intake of breath. The judge opened the envelope, scanning the first page, then the second, then the third. His face, usually a mask of judicial boredom, hardened into stone. He looked up from the documents and turned his gaze toward Lenora. The expression was one of profound, controlled disgust.
Then, he said three words that obliterated her world: “Is this true?”
Thirty-six hours earlier, the world had been a different place. I had been sitting in a roadside diner, staring at those same documents until the ink blurred. My coffee was cold, and my eggs sat congealing on the plate. Beside me was Clyde Barrow, a private investigator with a face like weathered leather and eyes that had seen too much human misery.
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