Chapter 5 - CHLOE’S EX-HUSBAND
His name was Eric Bennett.
He messaged me three weeks before the baptism.
I think we need to talk about Daniel and Chloe.
I stared at the message for ten minutes before answering.
How did you get my number?
Your husband isn’t as careful as he thinks.
We met at a coffee shop forty minutes from my house.
Eric arrived early.
He looked tired.
Not angry.
Just worn down.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For being part of this.”
“You weren’t.”
He laughed bitterly.
“That depends on how far back you go.”
I waited.
Eric stirred his coffee without drinking it.
“Chloe and I were trying to save our marriage when Daniel came back into her life.”
My stomach tightened.
“So the baby could be yours?”
He shook his head.
“I had a vasectomy four years ago.”
I stopped breathing.
“Are you sure?”
“I had it confirmed twice.”
Then he pulled a medical record from an envelope.
I stared at it.
“So Daniel is the father.”
“Most likely.”
“Most likely?”
Eric leaned back.
“Chloe wasn’t exactly faithful to me either.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“How many men?”
“At least one other that I know about.”
That changed everything.
I had assumed Daniel knew the baby was his.
Eric continued.
“When Chloe told Daniel she was pregnant, he wanted to believe it was his.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s been obsessed with her for years.”
I frowned.
“They barely spoke.”
“That’s what you thought.”
Eric reached for his phone.
He showed me screenshots.
Daniel and Chloe had been communicating on and off for almost three years.
Birthdays.
Holidays.
Arguments with spouses.
Private jokes.
I felt sick.
This wasn’t a sudden affair.
It was a second relationship hidden inside my marriage.
Then Eric showed me the message that made my hands shake.
Daniel had written:
Once Jennifer has the baby, I can’t just walk immediately. It would look terrible. Give me time.
Chloe replied:
How much time?
A few months. Then we start fresh.
I stared at the screen.
“He planned to leave me.”
Eric nodded.
“There’s more.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Chloe told me Daniel wants custody leverage.”
My head snapped up.
“What?”
“He thinks if you look unstable after the birth, he can negotiate better terms.”
The blood drained from my face.
Every comment suddenly made sense.
“You’re emotional.”
“You haven’t been sleeping.”
“You’re overwhelmed.”
He had been building a story.
A story in which I was unstable.
Unreasonable.
Possibly incapable of caring for Lily.
I whispered,
“That son of a bitch.”
Eric nodded.
“That’s why I contacted you.”
I looked at him.
“Why help me?”
“Because Chloe tried the same thing to me.”
Silence.
Then he pulled another envelope from his jacket.
“I had a private DNA test arranged after the baby was born.”
“How?”
“I’m still legally listed as the presumed father because our divorce wasn’t finalized when she became pregnant.”
My heart raced.
“And?”
He slid the envelope across the table.
I opened it.
The result hit me like a slap.
Probability of paternity: 0.00%.
Eric wasn’t the father.
That left Daniel.
Or the unknown man Eric mentioned.
I looked at him.
“Do you have Daniel’s DNA?”
“No.”
“But I can help you get a legal comparison if he’s willing.”
“He won’t be.”
Eric smiled for the first time.
“Then don’t ask him.”
Three days later, Daniel left a used electric razor attachment in the bathroom trash.
I bagged it.
My attorney hated the idea.
“Do not use this in court without discussing admissibility.”
“I’m not using it in court.”
“Then what are you using it for?”
“I need to know what kind of man I’m dealing with.”
The result arrived the morning before the baptism.
I opened it alone.
My eyes moved directly to the conclusion.
Then I read it again.
And again.
Daniel was not Chloe’s baby’s father.
Not even close.
Which meant my husband had stolen thousands of dollars from our daughter…
planned to leave his family…
changed his life insurance beneficiary…
and built a new life around a child that wasn’t even his.
I should have felt satisfaction.
Instead, I felt something colder.
May you like
Because Daniel still didn’t know.
And Chloe did.
