THE HEIRS THAT DESTROYED HIM

I didn't drive home immediately.

Instead, I parked outside the medical center and read the report again.

Genetic donor: Richard Voss.

Martin's younger brother.

Richard had been the best man at our wedding. He was the person who brought me coffee when I worked late, who defended me when Martin's mother criticized my cooking, and who once told me that I deserved a husband who actually listened.

Apparently, he had also fathered my husband's children.

I called my attorney, Margaret Ellis.

“Is this confirmed?”

“Three independent records support it,” she said. “The fertility clinic's billing records, a donor agreement, and a series of communications between Richard and Clara.”

“Why would Richard do this?”

“That's what we're trying to establish.”

I stared through the windshield.

Richard had always been close to Martin, but their relationship was complicated. Martin inherited their father's controlling personality and the family business. Richard inherited their mother's gentler nature and none of the ambition.

Martin treated him like an employee.

Perhaps that was why Richard had done it.

Or perhaps there was something much worse.

“Send me everything,” I said.

By the time I arrived at the Voss mansion, Martin was already waiting.

He stood in the entrance hall with his jacket off and his tie hanging loose.

“Where have you been?”

“Working.”

“Don't play games with me.”

I placed my handbag on the console.

“Then stop asking questions you don't want answered.”

He approached me.

“Clara says you threatened her.”

“I haven't spoken to Clara.”

“She says you told her the children aren't mine.”

“I haven't spoken to her,” I repeated.

Martin stared at me.

For a moment, he looked almost desperate.

“Evelyn, I need you to understand something. Those children are my family.”

“I never said they weren't.”

“You're going to destroy everything.”

I studied his face.

“Everything?”

He rubbed his forehead.

“The board is asking questions. My mother is calling. Richard won't answer his phone. The doctor has apparently contacted the hospital's compliance department. I need you to help me contain this.”

There it was.

Not an apology.

Not an explanation.

A request for damage control.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Tell everyone you misunderstood the doctor's comments.”

I almost laughed.

“You want me to lie?”

“I want you to protect our family.”

“Which family, Martin? Yours with Clara? Yours with Richard? Or the one you abandoned nine years ago?”

He grabbed my wrist.

I looked down at his hand.

“Let go.”

He did.

For several seconds, we stood in silence.

Then his phone rang.

The screen displayed Clara's name.

He answered immediately.

“What's wrong?”

Her voice was loud enough for me to hear.

“Martin, Richard is here. He says you know.”

Martin went pale.

“Put him on.”

A man's voice came through the speaker.

“Brother, we need to talk.”

Richard.

Martin closed his eyes.

“Where are you?”

“Clara's apartment.”

“Stay there.”

“No,” Richard said. “I've stayed quiet long enough.”

The call ended.

Martin threw his phone onto the sofa.

I picked up my handbag.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“To meet my lawyer.”

“You're my wife.”

I stopped at the doorway.

“That was supposed to mean something to you.”

Then I left.

Margaret was waiting in her office with three folders.

The first contained the fertility records.

The second contained the financial transactions.

The third contained something I hadn't expected.

A signed agreement between Martin and Richard, dated two months before Clara's first pregnancy.

It stated that Richard would provide genetic material for two children. In exchange, Martin would transfer him a substantial ownership interest in Voss Meridian.

But there was a handwritten note at the bottom.

The children will never know who their biological father is.

I stared at it.

“Who wrote this?”

Margaret pointed to the signature.

Martin.

Then she opened another document.

“This is the part that concerns me.”

The agreement wasn't just about fathering children.

It included a provision transferring voting rights in the company to the children through a trust.

And the trustee was Clara Hayes.

Martin hadn't simply wanted heirs.