“It won’t just test Iris,” I said.
“It’ll test all of them,” Lauren said quietly. “Against each other.”
I thought about it for a long time, with Iris asleep on my chest.
I could have refused and simply won the divorce on my terms. Carson’s accusation, his abandonment of his wife and newborn, his conduct — it was all more than enough. I didn’t need the truth about his bl*od to protect myself or my daughter.
But the Rutherfords did not want a quiet, fair resolution. They wanted a public verdict on whether my daughter was pure enough to carry their name. They had looked at my thirty-minute-old child and demanded she prove herself to them.
So I decided that if they wanted a verdict, they would get one.
“Consent to all of it,” I told Lauren. “The full family panel. Let them run every sample they want. I have nothing to hide.” I kissed the top of Iris’s head. “And neither does my daughter. Can you say the same, I wonder, for the rest of them?”
