Chapter 6: The Name on the File
Darius held the phone between them.
“Explain that.””
Marcus didn't answer.
The doctor stepped backward.
“Perhaps we should continue this somewhere private.””
Darius pointed at Marcus.
“Not until he tells me why someone says I shouldn't trust him.””
Marcus's jaw tightened.
“Because someone doesn't want you asking questions.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
“You expect me to believe that?””
Marcus looked exhausted.
“I expected you to hate me.””
“You're doing a great job making that easy.””
The doctor intervened.
“Enough.””
Both men turned.
She opened a nearby office door.
“Come inside.””
They followed.
The room smelled faintly of disinfectant and coffee. A computer monitor glowed on the desk. Files were stacked in neat rows along one wall.
The doctor closed the door.
“My name is Dr. Evelyn Brooks,” she said.
“I treated Simone during the early part of her pregnancy.””
Darius sat across from her.
Marcus remained standing.
Darius leaned forward.
“Tell me everything.””
Dr. Brooks folded her hands.
“Simone came here after discovering she was pregnant.””
“When?””
“Before your wedding.””
Darius's face tightened.
“Did she know who the father was?””
“She believed she did.””
“Marcus?””
Dr. Brooks looked at him.
“Initially.””
Marcus shook his head.
“That isn't what she told me.””
Darius turned.
“What did she tell you?””
Marcus swallowed.
“She told me the baby might not be mine.””
Darius's eyes narrowed.
“Then why did you come here?””
“Because she asked me to.””
“When?””
“The day before your wedding.””
Darius stood.
“You were here the day before my wedding?””
“Yes.””
“And you let me marry her without saying anything?””
Marcus's eyes filled with regret.
“She begged me.””
“Why?””
“She said telling you would destroy everything.””
“You should have told me.””
“I know.””
Darius paced across the office.
“You both lied to me.””
Dr. Brooks interrupted softly.
“Darius, there is something you haven't considered.””
He stopped.
“What?””
“Simone wasn't trying to hide an affair.””
He turned.
“She was trying to hide something else.””
“What?””
Dr. Brooks opened a drawer.
She removed a thin medical file.
On the cover was Simone's name.
But underneath it was another name.
Darius stepped closer.
“What's that?””
Dr. Brooks hesitated.
“The second sample.””
Darius stared.
“You said someone else was tested.””
“Yes.””
“Who?””
She turned the file around.
Darius read the name.
His breathing stopped.
It wasn't Marcus.
It wasn't Simone.
It wasn't him.
It was someone Darius knew.
Someone whose face he had seen at the family celebration only hours earlier.
His own mother.
*YVONNE CARTER.*
Darius looked up slowly.
“Why would my mother give a DNA sample?””
Dr. Brooks's expression hardened.
“She didn't give it voluntarily.””
Darius's blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?””
Dr. Brooks opened the file.
“There was an emergency.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“What kind of emergency?””
The doctor looked at him.
“The kind that made Simone realize she had been lied to.””
Darius's eyes moved across the paperwork.
Dates.
Laboratory codes.
Signatures.
Then one line caught his attention.
*MATERNAL GENETIC SCREENING — INCONSISTENT RESULT.*
He pointed.
“What is this?””
Dr. Brooks took a breath.
“That's why Simone was frightened.””
Darius stared at her.
“Frightened of what?””
“She wasn't afraid the baby belonged to another man.””
Marcus looked toward the floor.
Dr. Brooks continued.
“She was afraid the baby might not be genetically related to her.””
Darius went still.
“What?””
“The pregnancy was medically unusual.””
“How unusual?””
Dr. Brooks opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the office door flew open.
A nurse stood there, breathless.
“Doctor, I'm sorry.””
Dr. Brooks stood.
“What happened?””
“The records were accessed again.””
Darius turned.
“By who?””
The nurse looked at him.
“Someone using your wife's credentials.””
Darius's phone buzzed.
Another message.
This time there was a photograph attached.
He opened it.
It showed Simone inside this very clinic.
Standing beside Dr. Brooks.
And behind them, partially visible through the doorway, was Yvonne.
Darius zoomed in.
His mother's hand was resting on Simone's shoulder.
Then another message appeared beneath the photograph.
*ASK YOUR MOTHER WHY SHE WAS AT THE CLINIC THAT NIGHT.*
Darius stared at the screen.
The office door remained open.
Marcus whispered, “Darius…”
But Darius was already calling home.
His mother answered on the second ring.
“Son?””
Darius said nothing for several seconds.
Then, quietly:
“Mom, where are you?””
There was silence on the other end.
May you like
Then Yvonne whispered:
“Who told you about the clinic?””
