Chapter 2 - The Pregnancy That Wasn’t Possible
The final folder on the flash drive was labeled:
CUSTODY STRATEGY.
Luke opened it.
A chain of messages appeared between Justin and Vanessa.
Vanessa:
Once the merger closes, I am done hiding. You promised me Clara would be gone.
Justin:
She will be. But we have to make it look like her choice.
Vanessa:
She will never leave Maya.
Justin:
Then we make the court think she cannot handle Maya.
Vanessa:
Your contact can do that?
Justin:
He already started the paperwork. Once she looks unstable, I request temporary custody. After that, she will be too exhausted to fight.
My hands began shaking.
I held Maya’s sleeping body tighter against my chest.
The next message was dated the morning of the clinic incident.
Vanessa:
She saw us coming out of the women’s wing.
Justin:
Do not provoke her. We cannot risk giving her evidence.
Vanessa:
She uses that baby to control you.
Justin:
Just stay calm.
Then came Vanessa’s message from after the slap.
Vanessa:
I hit her.
Justin:
What?
Vanessa:
She got in my face.
Justin:
Were there witnesses?
Vanessa:
Yes.
Justin:
You idiot.
Vanessa:
She will not do anything. She is too scared.
Justin:
She called Luke.
The messages ended there.
There was no concern for Maya.
No guilt for what happened.
No regret.
Only fear that their plan had been exposed too soon.
Then Mark found one final file buried inside the folder.
A prenatal intake form.
Vanessa Cárdenas.
Nathan took the laptop.
He studied the dates twice.
Then he leaned back slowly.
“What?” I asked.
His face had gone pale.
“This says Vanessa was eleven weeks pregnant when she had this appointment.”
Luke frowned. “That cannot be right. She told everyone she was barely six weeks.”
Nathan looked at me.
“The report says eleven weeks before the clinic incident.”
The room fell silent.
I did the math.
Justin had been claiming the relationship with Vanessa began only four months earlier.
But if Vanessa’s pregnancy dates were accurate, she had conceived before that.
Before Justin claimed the affair started.
Before he started accusing me of being distant.
Before he began pushing me to reduce Maya’s expenses and “be more careful” with money.
Vanessa had not become pregnant by Justin recently.
She had been pregnant long before the timeline they gave me.
And according to the documents, Justin knew.
There was a second note attached to the medical intake form.
Potential paternity discrepancy. Patient requests non-disclosure pending legal consultation.
My stomach dropped.
“Justin may not be the father,” I whispered.
Nathan nodded slowly.
“Or Vanessa knew he might not be.”
Luke looked at the financial transfers again.
“Then the pregnancy was not simply an affair problem.”
Mark’s face tightened.
“It was leverage.”
Vanessa had used the pregnancy to pressure Justin.
Justin had used her pregnancy to frighten me.
And together, they planned to use false medical reports and a custody battle to secure the image Justin needed for his company merger.
But there was something even worse.
The file contained one more document.
A signed agreement between Justin and Vanessa’s father.
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If Justin secured primary custody of Maya and completed the merger, he would receive a major executive promotion, stock options, and a private equity payment through Barlow Strategic Holdings.
My daughter was part of a business deal.
