Chapter 33
DADA
PAIGE
I looked like shit on the day of my divorce hearing.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I had pale skin and dark circles under my eyes. I had tried three different shades this morning, layering them with the desperation of trying to look like a normal human.
My hands shook when I fastened the buttons on my navy blazer, the one Derek had gifted me for the court appearances. It looked professional and put-together, but I still felt like a zombie.
Because I knew deep in my bones. I just knew that I was pregnant.
It had taken years to conceive Lily. Years of trying, of disappointment, of fertility treatments and scheduled sex that had felt more clinical than intimate.
And now, after just a few times with Derek, my body was telling me the impossible had happened despite the pills.
I should take a test and confirm it. But I was terrified of what it would mean and terrified of how Derek would react.
This was supposed to be a fake arrangement that would end soon and I was pregnant with my childhood-friend-slash-hot-boss-slash-fake-fiancé’s child.
“Paige?” Derek’s voice came from outside the bathroom. “Are you okay in there?”
“I’m fine,” I said, forcing brightness into my tone. “Just finishing up.”
Derek was waiting in the hallway, already dressed in one of his perfectly tailored charcoal suits. He looked every inch the powerful attorney, but his eyes were soft with concern as they swept over me.
“You look beautiful,” he said, but I knew he was worried. I couldn’t stop puking for two days. “Are you feeling okay? You seem—”
“I’m fine,” I lied. “Just nervous. It’s a big day.”
He didn’t believe me, but he let it go. He held my hand and squeezed gently.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Jennifer’s brilliant. We have all the evidence, and by the end of today, you’ll be free of him.”
Free. The word should have filled me with relief. Instead, it just made my stomach churn.
The babysitter arrived, and we went through the usual routine about the diaper bag, emergency contacts and Lily’s nap schedule.
“Be good for Sarah, okay?” I said, crouching down to Lily’s level. She was playing with her blocks, barely paying attention to us, and something about her complete unconcern made my throat tight.
Derek kneeled beside me, poking her nose with a smile. “We’ll be back before you know it, sweetheart.”
Lily looked up then, her blue eyes focusing on Derek with her usual intense baby focus. Then her little hand shot out, grabbing his tie with surprising strength, and she grinned.
“Dada!”
The world stopped.
Derek froze, his eyes going wide with shock and I covered my mouth in surprise as warmth flooded my chest.
“Dada!” Lily repeated, tugging on his tie with delight. “Dada, Dada!”
“I-I… she—” Derek stammered, his face flushing red. “I d-don’t. P-Paige, she…”
His stutter, the one I had barely heard in years, came back in full force. I watched this confident, powerful man completely fall apart over a single word from my daughter.
Our daughter. If this was real.
“It’s okay,” I said softly, gently prying Lily’s fingers from his tie. “She knows who takes care of her.”
Derek looked at me, and the emotion in his eyes was so raw and so vulnerable that I had to look away before I started crying right there in the entryway.
The car ride to the courthouse was silent as Derek drove with one hand on the wheel, the other holding mine. His thumb traced absent circles on my skin. Neither of us mentioned what had happened. Neither of us mentioned the word that was still echoing in my head.
Dada.
For a flicker of a second, I could imagine that future with him. Derek caring for me while I was pregnant with his child, coming to all my appointments, holding my hand just like he did when I go into labor, and changing diapers, late nights and teaching our kids—
Stop, Paige. Don’t go ahead of yourself.
The courthouse was covered in cold fluorescent lighting and it looked like the kind of place that sucked the warmth out of everything. Jennifer met us outside the courtroom, looking professional and confident in her sharp suit and perfect makeup.
“Ready?” she asked, and I nodded even though I wasn’t.
The courtroom was smaller than I expected and Jack was already there with his lawyer, and seeing him after days felt weird.
Derek’s hand tightened on mine as we took our seats. I held on to him like he was the only thing keeping me anchored.
Jennifer was brilliant, laying out our case with precision. The evidence of Jack’s affair, the financial documents showing how he drained our accounts, the testimony from my OBGYN about the appointments he missed. Everything Derek had spent months collecting.
I watched Jack’s face darken with each piece of evidence, watched his lawyer’s expression grow more resigned.
We were winning and it was going exactly as Derek had planned.
Then Jack stood up.
“Your Honor, I’d like to request a paternity test for Lily Mitchell.”
The words made me freeze as I felt Derek go rigid beside me.
“What?” I whispered, but he wasn’t done.
“I have reason to believe,” Jack continued, his voice steady and cold. “That my wife has been having an affair with her employer, Derek Peterson, and that the child I believed to be my daughter is actually his.”
What the hell?
Jennifer was on her feet immediately. “Your Honor, this is a baseless accusation without merit—”
“I have evidence,” Jack said, and his lawyer looked deeply uncomfortable when Jack showed a folder. “A DNA test proving that Lily is not biologically mine.”
No. That’s a lie.
I stared at Jack and at the smug satisfaction on his face.
The midnight visit to Derek’s penthouse was planned. He hadn’t come to check on his daughter. He came to collect evidence.
“This is ridiculous,” Derek said, his tone barely steady. “That evidence is fabricated—”
“The lab is reputable,” Jack said. “The results are clear.”
“I never cheated on you,” I said, my voice firm. “You know I didn’t and Lily is your daughter.”
“Is she?” Jack tilted his head, and there was something so cruel in his expression it surprised me that I had married that man.
“Because I’ve been thinking about it, Paige.
And really thinking about it. Her eyes. They’re not mine and they’re not yours either.
They’re his.” He pointed at Derek. “Same exact shade of blue and same shape. I should have noticed it earlier.”
“Coincidence,” Jennifer said firmly. “Your Honor, I would like to request that we conduct our own independent paternity test—”
“Of course,” Jack’s lawyer agreed quickly.
The rest of the hearing passed in a blur. Jennifer handled everything professionally while all I could think about was Jack’s face.
He believed his own lie or he had paid enough money to make the lie look real.
When the judge finally called for a recess, when we were dismissed to wait for the independent test results, I stood on shaking legs and mumbled something about the bathroom.
I barely made it to the stall before I was vomiting.
After cleaning up, I splashed cold water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror.
My mascara was smudged, lipstick gone and my face was as pale as death. I could see the signs of early pregnancy. The slight fullness in my face, and the way my clothes felt tighter and the exhaustion that seemed never ending.
I pressed my hands flat on the cold marble counter.
Jack had just accused me of having Derek’s baby. And in a few weeks, maybe a month, I’d actually be pregnant with Derek’s baby.
But Lily wasn’t Derek’s. I knew that with absolute certainty. She was mine and Jack’s, conceived after years of trying, born after a difficult pregnancy that had left me exhausted and scared and alone because Jack had been too busy with work, or with Olivia, to be there.
I knew Jack had paid someone to fake it. But I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t know what to believe, what to do, or how to fix this.
The bathroom door opened and Jennifer stepped in. She took one look at me and said,
“Well, shit.”