Adrian reached the hospital twelve minutes before midnight with the signed transfer in his coat and every regret he had avoided for three years pressing against his ribs. Elena waited outside pediatric surgery, her heels abandoned beneath a chair. The little boy slept behind the glass with a paper crown crooked over his dark hair.
Elena checked every page before accepting the company. She had learned caution from him. When Adrian asked for the truth, she told him the boy's name was Theo Hart and that biology did not grant Adrian the right to enter his life. Theo had been born eight months after their divorce. Elena had sent three letters. Adrian's former chief of staff had returned each one unopened.
The surgery doors opened before Adrian could answer. A nurse called for Elena, and a second document slipped from her folder. It was a paternity report, already complete. Adrian read the probability twice. When he raised his head, Elena was staring at someone behind him.
His mother stood at the end of the corridor, pale and furious. “That report was supposed to be destroyed,” Victoria Blackwell said.