"What are you trying to say?" Derek demanded.


    Dan gave azy shrug. "A test report, you know how it is. If people say it''s genuine, then it''s genuine. But if they decide it''s fake, it might as well be fake, too."


    His words drew every pair of eyes in the room.


    "In my view, since we''re going down this road, we need to make certain the report is one hundred percent beyond reproach,” Dan went on evenly.


    Adelle felt her heart plummet.


    Dan continued, "Why don''t we each send five men-people we trust to supervise the whole process?"


    He let the suggestion hang for a moment, hinting at dangers best left unspoken. "After all, who''s to say someone won''t try something underhanded..."


    With both sides sending five of their most trusted people to keep watch, even if someone had the urge to tamper with the results, there would be no chance.


    Finch''s breathing turned sharp and shallow. He balled his hands into fists, ring at Dan. "Seems like the one looking to meddle here is you!"


    "If I really wanted to," Dan replied coolly, "wouldn''t your people and Dad''s-be right there watching? So why get so worked up? Or are you just upset because you won''t get the chance to pull anything?"


    "You !"


    Adelle reached over and caught Finch''s wrist before he could say more, silently urging him to stop. Things had escted too far. There was nothing left to fight for. Derek nced her way. Adelle met his gaze, her eyes brimming with quiet disappointment. She said nothing a silence that cut deeper than words, the kind that made it hard for anyone to stand firm. Even now, her whole being was silently pleading for him toe back to her.


    But... there was no going back.


    Susanna''s and Barnaby''s words had wounded Derek more than he could admit. The gossip behind his back he could ignore, but Barnaby''s open doubts-spoken right to his face—had been a humiliation he couldn''t forget. The urge to hurl the paternity report in Barnaby''s face was almost overwhelming.


    One look into Adelle''s eyes, shimmering with tears, and Derek turned away.


    He looked at Leroy. "Let''s do it his way."


    Leroy nodded crisply. "Yes, sir."


    "And I want you to personally oversee everything," Derek added.


    "Understood, sir."


    At this, Adelle and Finch felt any remaining hope sink away. With Leroy personally watching over things, even the tiniest chance of interference vanished.


    Dan turned to his man. "Carroll, you''ll supervise as well."


    "Yes, sir," Carroll answered.


    Dan and Derek both called for a few more of their staunchest loyalists to oversee the testing from start to finish. Finch, burning with resentment yet powerless to refuse, was forced to do the same. But unlike the others, he merely chose a few people at random, seriding. them along with the medical team as a matter of form rather than actual oversight.


    Soon, the samples and the witnesses were gone. The room was left in a stifling


    hush, inhabited only by Dan, Derek, and Adelle with her son.


    Adelle turned to Derek, tears pooling in her eyes.


    Dan cut her off sharply. "Don''t start crying yet! If you want to weep and use him, you can do it as much as you want once the report''s back and it proves the boy i his save it


    until then."


    With a few cold words, Dan


    shattered any chance Finch and Adelle had of ying the scene for sympathy. Derek, who used to be Adelles champion in all things, now sat silently, drawing on his cigar, making no move to defend her.


    With every second of his silence, Adelle felt herself sinking lower and lower into despair.


    Dan spun a lighter between his fingers, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his mouth—a smile born of waiting years, and finally seeing his ns falling perfectly into ce.