C11 The DNA Lie

The phone was still on speaker. Dr. Patel's voice was still echoing in the blue room.

"Mr. Knight, I am sorry. You are not the father. I ran it three times. The match is 0%. Leo is not your biological son."

Leo is not my son.

Those words hit Alexander harder than any business loss, harder than his father's betrayal, harder than five years of trying to forget me.

I watched his face. I watched the billionaire mask crack. I watched his grey eyes — Leo's grey eyes — go empty. Like someone had turned off the light inside him.

He didn't look at me. He looked at Leo. At the little boy still in my arms, still holding his teddy bear, who had just asked, "Mama, who is my dad then?"

"Leo is... not mine?" Alexander whispered, to no one, to the phone, to God. "How? The dates... the anniversary night... Sarah was only with me..."

I was shaking. My whole body was shaking. Because I knew. I KNEW Leo was his. I had only been with Alexander. One night, yes, but only him. Before him, I had been a virgin. After him, I had been pregnant and alone, no man had touched me. Leo HAD to be his.

"Dr. Patel, are you sure?" My voice was small, broken. "Are you 100% sure? Could the lab make a mistake? Could the samples be swapped?"

Dr. Patel sighed on the other end. He had been the Knight family doctor for 20 years. He had delivered Alexander. He sounded tired, old, scared.

"Ms. Amara, Mr. Knight... I... I need to tell you something off the record. This call is not secure, so I cannot say much. But the lab I sent it to... the main lab... was bought last month. By a holding company. That holding company is owned by... by Victoria Sinclair's father. I only found out after I sent the samples. I am running a second test in my private lab right now, with the second swab I kept. I kept a second swab without telling anyone. The results will be ready by 7 AM tomorrow. Before the court. Please, do not trust the first result. Someone wanted this result to be negative."

Victoria's father owned the lab. Victoria owned the test.

The DNA lie.

Alexander's head snapped up. His empty eyes suddenly filled with fire. Murderous fire.

"Victoria's father owns the lab?" he said, each word like ice. "And you sent my son's DNA there?"

"I didn't know, Mr. Knight! I swear! Her father bought it through a shell company in Mauritius! I found out one hour ago when my friend in the registry called me! That is why I called you immediately! Please, trust my private lab. Come to my clinic at 6 AM. I will have the true result."

He hung up. He threw the phone across the room. It smashed against the wall, same place his whiskey glass had smashed an hour ago.

"That woman!" he roared, so loud Leo started crying again. "She knew I would do a DNA! She planned this! She planned all of it! The school interview, the paternity suit, the lab! She wants my son to be declared not mine so her fake pregnancy can win!"

I held Leo tighter, covering his ears. "Alexander, don't shout, you're scaring him!"

He saw Leo crying and instantly dropped to his knees, his anger disappearing, replaced by panic. "Leo, I'm sorry, Papa is sorry, Papa didn't mean to shout, I'm sorry, brave boy, I'm sorry..."

Papa. He still called himself Papa, even after the test said he wasn't.

Leo sobbed, "Mama, is that man not my dad? Am I... am I no one's child?"

That question. That terrible question no five-year-old should ever ask.

I looked at Alexander, tears running down my face. "Tell him! Tell him you are his father! Tell him the test is lying!"

Alexander took Leo from my arms, gently, holding him like he was made of glass. "Leo, listen to me. Listen to Papa. That test is lying. Like the lady in red was lying. Some people lie because they want to steal. But you... you are my son. I know it here." He put his hand on his heart, then on Leo's small chest. "And here. I felt it the second I saw you in that school lobby. A father knows. I know you are mine."

Leo sniffled, "Really?"

"Really. And tomorrow at 6 AM, we will go to the doctor and get the true test, and then at 9 AM we will go to court and show the judge that you are a Knight. And that lady will go away forever. Okay?"

Leo nodded, wiping his nose with his sleeve. He was exhausted. It had been too much for a five-year-old. Scholarship interview, Bentley, mansion, red lady, shouting, DNA.

Mama Njeri appeared at the door, her face worried. "Mr. Knight, Father Omondi is here for the marriage. And... and your father is downstairs. He came with Victoria."

My blood froze.

Alexander's father. The man who paid me 2M to disappear. The man who knew about Leo for five years.

"He has the nerve to come to my house with her?" Alexander said, standing up, handing Leo to me. His calm was gone. He was shaking with rage. "Stay here with Leo. Lock the door. Don't come down, no matter what you hear."

"Alexander, don't! He is your father! And Victoria is pregnant—"

"I don't care if she is pregnant! She will not come near my son again!"

He stormed out, slamming the blue room door. I heard his footsteps thundering down the stairs.

I locked the door, as he said. I sat on the blue bed with Leo in my lap. Leo was already falling asleep, exhausted, his head on my chest.

"Mama, are you going to marry him?" Leo whispered sleepily.

"Yes, baby. Tonight. So you can have a real dad."

"Will I have to call him Dad then?"

"You can call him whatever you want, my love."

"Can I call him Papa? I like Papa," Leo mumbled, and then he was asleep, his little mouth open, his teddy bear falling to the floor.

I held him and listened.

Downstairs, shouting started.

I could hear Alexander: "HOW COULD YOU KNOW ABOUT MY SON FOR FIVE YEARS AND NOT TELL ME? HOW COULD YOU PAY HIS MOTHER TO LEAVE?"

His father's weak, old voice: "I did it to protect the family name! A contract wife's child cannot be heir! I thought you would be happier with Victoria! Her child is legitimate!"

"VICTORIA'S CHILD IS FAKE! AND LEO IS MY SON! MY SON!"

Then Victoria's voice, crying, acting: "Mr. Knight, tell him! Tell him our baby is real! Tell him Sarah is lying! She told me herself Leo's father is someone else! She told me in the school parking lot! She said Leo's father is her ex-boyfriend from university!"

That was a lie. A complete lie. I had never said that.

But downstairs, Alexander would believe...?

I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. Fast. Angry.

The blue room door handle rattled. Someone trying to open it.

"Open the door, Sarah!" It was Alexander. His voice was cold. "Open the door NOW!"

I froze, holding sleeping Leo. "Alexander?"

"Open the door and tell me the truth! Is Leo's father your ex-boyfriend from university? Is that why you hid him? Because he is not mine? Victoria says you confessed to her! Did you confess?"

Victoria's lie was working. He was doubting me again.

"No! I never said that! Alexander, I swear on Leo's life, I only had you! Only you! Victoria is lying!"

"Then why did the DNA say 0%? Why, Sarah? Give me one reason to believe you over science!"

I unlocked the door with shaking hands, still holding Leo.

Alexander stood there, his face like stone, his father in his wheelchair behind him, Victoria behind him holding her belly and fake crying.

"Tell me the truth, Sarah," Alexander said, looking at Leo sleeping in my arms. "One last chance. Before I marry you. Before I go to court tomorrow and claim a child that is not mine and lose everything. Is Leo my son? Or is he someone else's?"

All eyes were on me. Victoria was smiling behind Alexander's back.

I had to answer.

I opened my mouth to say, "He is yours, I swear—"

But before I could speak, Leo woke up. He woke up, looked at the big old family portrait on the wall — the portrait of Alexander at 5 years old that hung in every Knight mansion — and said, clear as day, in his small sleepy voice:

"Mama! That little boy looks exactly like me!"

We all turned.

The portrait was Alexander at 5 years old. Same curly black hair. Same stubborn chin. Same grey eyes.

And on his left wrist in the painting, the painter had painted a tiny detail: a small star-shaped birthmark.

Leo held up his own left wrist. Same exact star-shaped birthmark. Same place.

Mama Njeri gasped and started crying. "It is Master Alexander! At five years old! It is him! The birthmark! The Knight birthmark! Leo is a true Knight!"

Silence. Total silence in the hallway.

Old Mr. Knight's face went white as paper. Victoria's fake tears stopped instantly.

Alexander looked at the portrait, then at Leo's wrist, then at his father.

And he whispered, his voice shaking with betrayal: "Father... you knew. You knew all along Leo was my son. You knew for five years and you let me think I had no heir. Why?