The Price of a Perfect Wedding
Chapter 02 - The Price of a Perfect Wedding
Daniel agreed to the emergency compatibility test. While the laboratory worked, he sat beside the hospital window, still wearing his tuxedo, unable to look away from the baby.
Emma had named her Grace.
Vanessa paced near the door, demanding that they return to the chapel before the guests learned anything. Margaret spoke in a low, controlled voice about contracts, investors, and the damage a public scandal could cause.
Daniel finally turned on them. “My daughter is fighting for her life, and you are worried about photographs?”
Vanessa froze. Margaret’s expression hardened.
The doctor returned with good news: Daniel was a match. A simple blood-based treatment could stabilize Grace, but the hospital needed his signed consent as the confirmed father. His hand shook as he signed the papers.
Emma watched him. “You believed one envelope more than you believed me.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You were allowed to move on. I spent eight months being called a liar while carrying our child alone.”
Daniel had no defense.
A hospital administrator then entered with an older sealed file. The clinic that performed the original DNA test had recently been investigated for falsifying records. The physician whose signature appeared on Emma’s report had left the country.
Inside the file was a payment receipt from Cole Strategic Holdings—Vanessa’s family company.
Vanessa went pale.
“My father handled the test,” she said. “I didn’t know.”
Margaret interrupted. “This proves nothing. The Cole company pays hundreds of medical vendors.”
But Emma reached beneath her pillow and handed Daniel her phone. The night before her labor, she had received an anonymous message:
After the wedding, no one will believe you. Take the settlement and disappear.
Attached was a draft agreement offering Emma $500,000 in exchange for giving up all claims against Daniel and the Hart family.
The document had been created on Margaret’s law firm computer.
Daniel looked at his mother as if seeing a stranger. “You knew Grace was mine.”
Margaret did not answer.
Vanessa began to cry. “She told me Emma had trapped you. She said the foundation would collapse unless our families joined.”
Emma’s voice remained quiet. “Did you know the test was false?”
Vanessa looked toward the newborn and then away.
That hesitation was answer enough.
Before Daniel could speak, alarms sounded beside Grace’s bassinet. Nurses rushed in and ordered everyone into the hallway.
May you like
As the doors closed, the doctor called for the one person who could authorize the next procedure.
“Mr. Hart, we need your decision now.”
