CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cole
I stared at the guy for a moment, blinking slowly as his words sank in.
Then, suddenly, I shot to my feet, my chair scraping harshly against the floor.
"What? What the fuck are you talking about?!" I thundered.
Leo seemed startled. He looked up, his hands shooting forward as if to block himself from my wrath.
"Elsa..." he said carefully. "She was my girlfriend. She cheated on me—with you."
My jaw tightened, fists curling at my sides as I waited for him to go on.
"Then she left me," he continued quickly. "Said she was pregnant and the baby wasn't mine. But I swear to you, I was fucking certain that it was. I told her that. Then, out of nowhere, she came back, shoving a paternity test in my face, proving it was yours." He spoke with bitterness. "She told me about you all the time. How obsessed she was. How she kept trying to seduce you, but you never gave in. Until that night at the party."
I shot him a sharp look, startled.
He let out a hollow laugh. "Yeah. She told me everything. That's Elsa. Nothing but an empty shell, no heart inside her."
"I don't know who the fuck you are," I ground out. "So why the hell should I believe you?"
His expression remained composed. "Trust me, I'm not asking you for anything." He let out a sharp exhale. "She played both of us, Mr. Sterling. Slept with me and you at the same time. So there's a chance the child is mine. And if she is, then I want my daughter."
A shiver traced its way down my spine, cold as the whisper of a storm on the horizon. My pulse stuttered, a fleeting hesitation before it raced forward, wildly sporadic. I felt my head spinning.
No.
I fought against it, unwilling to accept his words.
Yet they seeped in, settling deep, no matter how much I resisted. My fingers curled, nails biting into my palms, but even the sting couldn't ground me. Because if he was right... then—fuck. I couldn't even let myself finish the thought.
I forced myself to speak. "If she already showed the DNA test, why are you here?"
"About a week ago, I ran into Elsa by accident. She was with the baby and her nanny." He paused, locking his gaze on mine. "I got a good look at her, Mr. Sterling. Even though she was only a month old, I could see it. She's mine. She has my features."
My eyes scanned his face, searching for any resemblance. But I couldn't see it. Or maybe... I just didn't want to.
"Because of that, I got curious," he went on. "So I dug a little deeper. I have people who could help, and I did some research on you." His lips pressed into a thin line. "That's when I found out you were petitioning for custody. And so, here I am."
"How did you get in here? Into my office?" I asked, my jaw tightening. Who the fuck let him in?
"I told them I was from Chaplain—one of your clients." He shrugged. "I knew the name from Elsa. She mentioned it once."
My jaw locked so hard I could feel the strain in my temples.
"Then your friend Bobby came out to meet me, asked why I was here. I knew who Bobby was, that she was your partner. So I told her the truth. That I wasn't from Chaplain. I lied to get in." He looked away, avoiding my gaze for a moment before returning to me. "But I had something important to tell you. Something about Elsa and her baby."
My legs felt unsteady, and their strength was draining. I pulled my chair back and sank into it slowly, trying to keep myself together.
I made damn sure the DNA test was legit. With Elsa still pregnant, I chose an accredited private clinic and arranged a non-invasive prenatal paternity test there. I wasn't stupid. I knew exactly what kind of person Elsa was, and I wasn't about to take her word for anything. When the results came in, we opened the email together. There it was, the undeniable proof. Elena was mine.
I could never forget that moment. It was the moment I knew my life would fall apart, that nothing would ever be the same.
"I got the email from the clinic," I said slowly, my voice tight. "It confirmed that I'm the father."
"Are you sure the email really came from the clinic?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yes. I called them and asked them to reconfirm."
"Do you know any man named Phil Jones?"
A chill crept over me.
FUCK!
"Yeah. He worked at the clinic." He was the one who confirmed the results when I called. I remembered his name because I had desperately hoped he would tell me they'd made a mistake.
"At first, I thought Elsa was cheating on me with him because I followed her a few times and saw them together more than once. She even went to his apartment and spent the night," Leo said, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "This was before she showed me the test result. Imagine my surprise when I saw your name on the printout. I never thought you'd give in to her." He paused, letting the words sink in. "And then I found out Phil works at the clinic where you got the test."
I tensed. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Leo's expression remained unreadable, giving nothing away. "What if I told you that if you went to the clinic right now, there's a chance you'd get a different result? That the email you received wasn't the one the clinic originally sent?"
My pulse pounded. "Who the fuck are you? How do you know all this?"
"I'm a private investigator," he said smoothly. "And trust me, I can find anything you want me to."
I felt like I couldn't breathe. My whole body went rigid as memories crashed over me—the day Elsa and I took the test, the anxiety twisting in my gut. The single message that had shattered my world, dictating every single choice I'd made since then. I had replayed that moment in my head a thousand times, convincing myself it was real, that it was proof, that I wasn't being played.
But what if I had been?
A sick, sinking feeling twisted in my gut. My vision blurred for a second as the enormity of his words crashed down on me.
"Mr. Sterling," Leo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I believe Phil Jones played a major role in this. It's suspicious how he met Elsa multiple times outside of work. My theory? It's highly probable that someone intercepted and altered your email before it reached you. And if that's the case, the real result still exists in the clinic's system."
When I didn't respond, too shocked to say anything, Leo pressed on. "I can dig up information on my own, Mr. Sterling. I could probably access the clinic's system, but that would be illegal and anything I found wouldn't hold up in court. I want to take Elsa down the right way. That's why I need you to go there yourself and find out if the results you received were real."
My mind felt like it had short-circuited. The words were there—I heard them—but processing them was another thing entirely.
Had someone really faked the results? Had I been living a lie the whole time?
I tried to think tried to piece everything together, but nothing made sense. My thoughts kept looping back to that email, to the way I had clung to it like a lifeline. I had built my entire world around that one result. And now, Leo was telling me it might have been a lie?
No. That wasn't possible.
But the doubt was already creeping in, poisoning everything. My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms, but I barely felt it. I needed to breathe. I needed to think. But my mind was spiraling, slipping through my fingers like sand.
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
Leo rose from his seat and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket, retrieving a business card. He placed it on the desk in front of me.
"Think about it, Mr. Sterling. Call me on this number when you're ready."
He paused, his sharp gaze studying me like he was trying to gauge whether I'd break under the weight of it all.
"I'm sorry this is happening to you," he said, his tone quieter. "And I'm sorry to say this, but if the baby is really mine, I will fight for her. I'm not a man who abandons his blood."
I sat there long after Leo had gone, swallowed whole by the silence, drowning in the wreckage of my life. Regret clung to me, thick and suffocating, seeping into every corner of my mind. The air felt heavier with every breath; the walls pressing in, closing around me.
Had I been living a lie? Had I spent months clinging to a reality that had never even existed? My hands trembled as I stared blankly at the table, at the ghost of a life I thought was mine. The child I thought was mine.
If Leo was right—if Elsa had orchestrated all of this, then I hadn't just lost time. I had lost everything. And worst of all, I had lost Sara... over a lie.
It was probably hours, or perhaps only minutes until I could drag myself out of the room, remembering that Nancy and Elena were still waiting in my office. I walked there, but I didn't feel like my feet were moving even though I reached it, anyway.
And then I saw her. Elena. My child. The little girl I loved more than anything. The one I had sacrificed everything for.
Her tiny face lit up with a toothless grin as she nestled in Bobby's arms. Nancy sat on the sofa, her eyes fixed on them, watching Bobby with quiet concern, probably worried she might not hold her just right.
I felt as if my heart had been broken into pieces.
Would I ever get to hold her again? Would I get to watch her grow up, hear her first words, see her take her first steps? Or had I already lost her before I even had the chance?
I needed to act and I needed to act fast.
I turned to Bobby. "Can you drive Elena and Nancy home tonight?"
Both she and Nancy looked startled at my sudden request.
"I need to see Steve," I said, the plan solidifying in my mind, determination hardening my resolve. "And if I'm not there, I'm worried Elsa might try something. I need you to stay with Nancy. Make sure she and Elena are safe."
"Okay," she nodded slowly, still looking confused.
"You might need to stay the night," my voice tight with urgency. "I'm sorry to put you in this position, but I can't take Elena away."
Bobby met my gaze, understanding dawning in her eyes. She gave a small nod. "Okay. I understand."
"Thank you." My voice was quieter now as my eyes landed on Elena.
I stepped forward. "Give her to me. I want to hold her."
Bobby placed her in my arms, and in that instant, the world outside ceased to exist. The noise, the chaos that was my life, it all faded into nothing.
She was warm and light, fragile yet whole, a piece of me I never knew could exist outside my skin. Her tiny chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, her heartbeat syncing against mine.
I walked to the window, but my eyes weren't on the world beyond the glass. My world only belonged to two, and one of them was in my arms. My grip tightened just slightly as I leaned in, my voice a whisper meant only for her. A solemn vow. "No matter what happens, I will always be here for you. And you will always have a place in my heart."