Sixty-Six Fathers

Two months ago, I received a massive batch of blood samples for a DNA paternity test at the lab.

My coworker gossiped that the applicant had absolutely no idea who the father of her child was, so she brought in a sample from every single potential candidate. There were exactly sixty-six vials.

Peeking through the blinds of my office, I realized the applicant was none other than my ex-husband's new wife.

It brought my mind back to the day he handed me the divorce papers.

"Mary consulted an astrologer. She says a spring baby brings ultimate wealth to a family, so she wants to give birth next spring. We can't wait any longer," he had said smoothly.

"I waited until your day off to tell you. I didn't want you getting distracted at the lab," he added, as if doing me a favor.

"You can't conceive anyway. Just sign the papers. When the baby is born, you can be the godmother." That sentence pierced me like a physical blade.

I didn't argue. I simply signed my name in silence.

The truth was, I already knew everything. On New Year's Eve, while I was pulling a graveyard shift at the clinic, Archer had taken my then-best friend to an exclusive midnight wishing ceremony at a cathedral to pray for a speedy marriage.

Throughout the holidays, he took that woman shopping at luxury boutiques in Paris, booked a ski resort in the Alps, and even maxed out my credit card buying her astronomical gifts.

Mary's belly was already showing. She was at least five months along.

The margin of error for her conception window was barely a week.

I looked down at the tray of samples in my hands. I couldn't even fathom the logistics behind gathering sixty-six different vials from sixty-six different men.

When we divorced, Archer swore that what he loved most about Mary was her absolute purity. I honestly thought he had found some innocent, untouched little flower.

Turns out, this was his idea of pure.

When I first got pregnant during our marriage, I woke up in the middle of the night with blinding cramps. Blood soaked the sheets.

I reached for the other side of the bed, only to find it completely cold.

Panicked and terrified, my hands shook violently as I dialed his number. The phone rang for an eternity before a woman's voice finally answered.

"Hello?"

I pulled the phone back to check the screen. It was definitely Archer's number.

Ignoring everything else, I desperately pleaded into the receiver. "Where is Archer? Put him on the phone, my stomach is killing me."

Then, Archer's muffled voice drifted through the speaker from the background. "Babe, get in bed. I just finished my shower."

My heart plummeted into an abyss. The pain radiating through my body turned into a paralyzing numbness. In my panicked state, I quickly hung up the phone.

By the time I woke up from the emergency surgery, I was lying weakly in a sterile hospital bed.

Archer finally strolled into the room, entirely unhurried, only because his parents had nagged him into coming.

There was no pity in his eyes. No worry for the baby.

He just stood coldly at the foot of my bed, staring at my pale, sickly face. "A woman is a man's ultimate accessory. How am I supposed to take you out to events looking like a walking corpse?"

I gripped the bedsheets, my voice hoarse. "Don't you want to know what happened to the baby?"

"I know. You just had the scraping procedure. The kid washed out."

I froze. He thought I had just gone in for a routine, elective abortion. He thought the baby was simply gone.

There wasn't a single trace of regret on his face.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper. All the grievance and agony bubbling in my throat was forcefully swallowed back down.

Archer casually tossed a high-end spa gift card onto my blanket.

His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and his entire demeanor instantly brightened.

"Artie, why aren't you back yet?" a sickeningly sweet voice whined through the speaker. "I have insomnia. I can't fall asleep without you holding me."

That sugary tone worked like magic on him. He smiled, his voice dripping with affection. "Be good, Mary. I'm visiting a patient at the hospital. I'll be back a little later."

The woman on the other end clearly wasn't happy. "That woman again? She is so annoying. I heard she miscarried. She can't even keep a baby safe, how embarrassing. If you want a kid, Artie, I can give you one."

Archer's smile deepened. "I knew my Mary was the best."

"I'll be back a bit late tonight. I'm going to grab a hotel room to shower first. Hospitals are full of germs, and I don't want to bring anything back that might affect your health."

"Wait for me, babe."

Archer hung up the phone and didn't spare me another glance. He simply tossed the divorce papers onto my lap and walked out the door.

Watching his retreating back, the very last thread holding my heart together completely snapped.

I pulled out my phone and typed a quick text to the Medical Director. "I accept the fellowship program in Germany."

Archer didn't know the hospital board had been trying to send me overseas for an elite training program. Taking it meant I would officially be next in line for the Director's position. It was a monumental leap in my medical career.

I had hesitated for months, purely because I wanted to prioritize our marriage. The board had urged me multiple times to look at the bigger picture, but my brain had been entirely consumed with rushing home to cook him dinner.

It took this absolute betrayal for me to finally wake up and realize what truly mattered in a woman's life.

Mary leaned heavily over the reception counter, looking frantic. "When do I get the results?"

"Three days, at the earliest," the receptionist replied.

"What? Three days!" Mary's face warped with rage, her eyes bulging. "I want to expedite this!"

"Go get your manager right now! I am not communicating with a lowly receptionist."

The young girl flushed red, completely overwhelmed.

I secured my medical mask and walked out of the double doors. "Ms. Mary, you submitted an incredibly large volume of samples. Three days is already a miracle."

Mary slammed her manicured hand on the desk, her voice shrill. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you mocking me?"

"I'm filing a formal complaint against you!"

I frowned. "Ms. Mary, if you continue to cause a scene and disrupt our laboratory workflow, we won't even be able to guarantee the three-day window."

Mary kept hurling insults. "You people better speed it up! If this delays my inheritance and the signing of the equity transfer, I will destroy your lives!"

I paused. Archer really did value having an heir. He was actually going to transfer family equity to her.

I looked down at the requisition forms in my hand and smiled thinly. "If you feel our processing time is inadequate, you are welcome to take your business elsewhere."

Our facility had the fastest turnaround time in the entire metropolitan area. Mary had definitely done her research.

Just as I expected, Mary's face paled, and her arrogant fire instantly extinguished.

I didn't say another word, turning on my heel back into the lab.

My phone dinged in my pocket. I checked the screen. It was an unsaved but deeply familiar number. Archer.

"Are you back in the States yet? Find some time so we can transfer the property deed."

When Archer first demanded the divorce, his mother fiercely opposed it. But the second she heard I had miscarried, her attitude flipped completely. Afraid I would drag out the legal process, she promised to give me our ten-million-dollar luxury penthouse as compensation.

I had signed the papers and left the country immediately. Now, the moment I landed, his texts started coming in.

Archer claimed Mary had fallen in love with the penthouse.

"You can't have kids, and honestly, no man is going to want to marry you now anyway. The place is way too big for just you. Plus, I'd hate for you to live there and be depressed looking at all our old memories."

Reading those texts made me want to laugh out loud. Archer had always been this pathologically narcissistic. He was absolutely certain I was still hopelessly in love with him.

I simply typed back one word. "Fine."

I didn't want a single thing tainted by Archer's presence. I never wanted to cross paths with him for the rest of my life.

I spent the entire day processing Mary's ridiculous batch of samples. After my shift, a coworker dragged me to a high-end mall for dinner.

As fate would have it, we bumped right into Archer and Mary.

Mary was clinging to Archer's arm, looking up at him with a sickeningly sweet blush. "Hubby, the baby is kicking me again."

Archer's eyes melted with affection. "You've worked so hard for us, Mary."

"Once the paternity results come out and I hand them to the board of directors, you'll officially receive fifty percent of the family conglomerate's shares."

"You are so good to me, Archer." Mary leaned into his chest, the picture of a devoted wife. "By the way, about the penthouse..."

"Don't worry about it. I already made it very clear to Nora. That property is my compensation to you."

I stood a few feet away, my thoughts a swirling mess.

Archer and I had met through a blind date set up by family friends. People in our circle used to say that when a rich playboy like Archer finally agreed to blind dates, it meant he was done partying. Men like him played hard in their youth, but when it came to marriage, they strictly looked for a quiet, honest woman to anchor them down.

The implication was clear. I was the boring, safe anchor.

I had never been in a real relationship before. Despite my friends' warnings, Archer's aggressive romantic pursuit swept me off my feet entirely.

But once the ring was on my finger, the only things I received were apologies and compensations.

He bailed on our anniversary. Apologized.

He missed my birthday. Apologized.

He skipped every prenatal checkup. Apologized.

The apologies were given to me, but the compensations were always spent on other women. And like an idiot, I forgave him every single time. I genuinely believed that if I just loved him a little harder, he would eventually turn around and choose me.

Looking back now, it was utterly pathetic.

Noticing I had spaced out, my coworker nudged my arm. "Nora, what are you zoning out for? Our table is ready."

Her voice echoed in the quiet corridor, catching the attention of the happy couple.

Hearing my name, Archer turned his head. His gaze slowly dropped, landing directly on my rounded, pregnant belly.

He stood completely frozen.

Archer marched over, his expression a chaotic mix of emotions. "You are pregnant?"

I didn't answer.

"When did you remarry? The doctors told me you couldn't..." Archer stammered, losing his composure.

Mary's face darkened. She stepped up, hooking her arm possessively through his, and shot me a triumphant, vicious glare.

"Got knocked up the second the divorce papers were signed?" Mary rolled her eyes. "Or maybe you were already pregnant before the divorce?"

Right on cue, Archer's face turned thunderous. "You cheated on me, Nora? And here I thought you were this pure, innocent victim. I treated you so well."

"You are such a disappointment."

He put on a flawless performance of a deeply betrayed, heartbroken man. Anyone watching would think he had loved me to the ends of the earth.

One month into our marriage, Archer was caught by the paparazzi hooking up with a supermodel in his sports car. I had gone to a VIP club to confront him, face pale and hands shaking.

Standing outside his private booth, I heard his frat brothers teasing him. "Archer, you've barely been married a month. Aren't you worried the little wife will find out and lose her mind?"

"Her? She's as naive as a daisy. I just spin a basic lie and she eats it right up."

The entire room erupted in laughter. "That's the kind of girl you marry. Easy to manage."

That single sentence nailed my feet to the floor. That was how he repaid my innocence. That was his version of treating me well.

I looked at Archer now and let out a cold laugh. "Archer, we are legally divorced."

"My pregnancy has absolutely nothing to do with you."

I grabbed my coworker's arm to leave, but Mary shoved herself in front of us, blocking our path.

"Since we're officially divorced, isn't it time you handed over the penthouse?"

A crowd of onlookers was quickly forming around us. Mary deliberately pitched her voice higher.

"You cheated on him during the marriage, and now you're trying to steal a ten-million-dollar property? You're nothing but a gold-digging scammer!"

The crowd ignited instantly. Whispers and pointed fingers surrounded me from all sides.

"Have some shame!"

"Women like her ruin society."

"Sue her! Make her give the house back!"

Phone cameras flashed blindingly in my face. The insults lashed at me like physical whips.

Humiliated, I glanced at Archer. He stood right across from me, his face carved from ice. He didn't have the slightest intention of clearing my name.

The crowd surged forward, and someone shoved me hard from behind.

I lost my footing and crashed onto the hard marble floor. In the chaos, my coworker desperately grabbed my hand to break the fall.

As I looked up, I caught a fleeting, venomous smirk on Mary's face.

A sharp, dull ache bloomed in my abdomen. My coworker shrieked and dialed 911.

When I woke up in the hospital, the internet was flooded with viral posts destroying my reputation. People called me a cheater, a scam artist, and even a home-wrecker.

I calmly called my lawyer, gave him full power of attorney over the penthouse, and ordered him to finalize the transfer to Archer immediately.

I rested in the hospital for a day before returning to the lab. My assistant met me with Mary's remaining requisition forms. They couldn't finish the last batch.

Mary hadn't provided enough amniotic fluid.

"Call her. Tell her she needs to come in."

Suddenly, the laboratory doors were pushed open.

"Archer, I'm bringing the report directly to the board tomorrow. We really don't need to check on it today."

Archer walked in, practically dragging a reluctant Mary behind him. "Are the results out yet?"

He looked up and our eyes locked. He frowned, but before he could speak, Mary gasped.

"What are you doing here, you bitch?"

A split second later, sheer panic washed over her face.

I curled my lips into a smirk. "We ran out of amniotic fluid. We need to extract a little more."

"That's impossible! I gave you so much!"

I kept my eyes locked on her and stayed silent. Mary's guilty conscience was suffocating her. She didn't dare say another word.

"Go," Archer commanded. "This facility is the only one authorized by the board of directors. We must secure this specific report."

Visibly trembling but unable to defy Archer, Mary followed my assistant into the examination room.

A few minutes later, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air. "Ah!"

Archer burst into the examination room.

Mary was writhing on the medical bed, the lower half of her dress completely soaked in blood. The stark white sheets were stained a blinding, horrifying red.

"Hubby, Nora did this... my baby."

Archer spun around, his eyes bloodshot with rage. He raised his hand and delivered a brutal, full-force slap across my face.

My cheek swelled instantly, and the metallic taste of blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

"Nora, you harmed my child. Today, I am going to make you pay."

My assistant broke down in terrified sobs. "Director, I swear I don't know why she started hemorrhaging! I didn't even do anything yet!"

"It's okay. I believe you." I wiped the blood from my lip and gently patted her shoulder.

"Archer, her bleeding has absolutely nothing to do with us."

Acting as if she had been deeply triggered, Mary shrieked at the top of her lungs. "It was you!"

"You're jealous! You're jealous that I took Archer away from you, so you planned to murder my baby!"

The veins in Archer's neck bulged as he glared at me like a mortal enemy. "Nora, how long are you going to haunt my life?"

"I told you, I stopped loving you a long time ago."

"I haven't even settled the score with you for cheating on me, and now you cross the line and try to kill my heir?"

He lunged forward, his large hand clamping violently around my throat. "Let me make this crystal clear. If anything happens to my kid..."

He dropped his gaze to my pregnant belly, his voice dropping into a lethal threat. "...you won't be keeping yours either."

Real panic set in. "Archer, I'm telling you, we didn't touch her."

Archer ignored me completely.

The OBGYN team rushed into the room. They managed to stabilize Mary and save the baby. She was ordered to remain on strict bed rest for several weeks.

Hearing the news, the murderous tension drained from Archer's face.

"Mary, you terrified me. Thank God our baby is safe." He wrapped his arms around her, his eyes shining with tears.

"Archer, I was so scared. I thought I was never going to see you again." Mary's tears flowed perfectly on cue, twisting Archer's heart into knots.

"Archer, you have to get justice for me."

My expression hardened. I turned around to leave the room, but Archer sprinted ahead, slamming the door shut and blocking my exit.

"Think you can just walk away?" His eyes were dark and venomous, radiating a chilling cruelty.

A shiver ran down my spine. "What do you want?"

"I want you to apologize to my wife. On your knees. You will kneel there until she decides she is satisfied."

I didn't answer, pushing my weight against him to move him aside. He didn't budge an inch.

"You better think about the baby in your belly, Nora. It would be a tragedy if something happened to it."

I instinctively wrapped my arms protectively around my stomach. My due date was rapidly approaching. My body couldn't handle physical trauma.

"Be a good girl and kneel. If we're in a forgiving mood, maybe we'll let you walk out of here intact."

Looking at their ruthless, utterly devoid-of-empathy faces, a suffocating despair washed over me. Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I bit the inside of my cheek to keep them from falling.

Slowly, I bent my legs, the cold tile biting into my knees as I lowered myself to the ground.

The sheer humiliation drowned me like a tidal wave.

I knelt there for an entire night.

By morning, my knees were entirely numb, and the agonizing strain on my lower back was unbearable.

It was time for the board meeting. Mary opened the door, her makeup flawless. Before she left, she leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"I know exactly what you're plotting. But guess what? I don't need your lab report anymore."

With a victorious smirk, she strutted away.

My assistant rushed into the room, tears streaming down her face as she helped me off the floor. "Director, are you okay?" she sobbed.

I staggered to my feet and took the finalized DNA report she handed me. I flipped it open.

The probability of paternity was absolute zero. The child was definitively not Archer's.

I rested a hand on my belly and a cold smile touched my lips.

At the corporate headquarters, the Chairman reviewed the independent appraisal Mary had handed in.

"Board members, the conglomerate has a strict tradition. Any woman carrying the direct bloodline of the family is entitled to fifty percent of the shares. It is our law."

"You have all reviewed the documentation. If there are no objections, let us proceed with the signing."

A radiant, greedy joy illuminated Mary's face.

Archer took her hand and gently guided her to the signing podium. "Mary, you are the greatest blessing to this family. This equity is a symbol of my devotion to you."

Overcome with emotion, Mary leaned up and kissed him. "Thank you, my love."

She stepped up to the podium and picked up the solid gold fountain pen.

Just as the nib was about to touch the parchment, the heavy mahogany doors of the boardroom violently burst open.

"I object."