Chapter 5 - Someone Used My Prenatal Blood
Riverside did not perform the paternity test.
A private laboratory in Maryland did.
The maternal sample arrived by courier.
Proper tube.
Proper preservative.
Enough fetal DNA.
No obvious tampering.
The chain of custody was weaker than a court-ordered test because it had been submitted privately.
But biologically, the sample appeared to be mine.
That created a problem.
I had never given blood for paternity testing.
My obstetric practice reviewed my records.
Twelve days before the assault, I had routine blood drawn for additional prenatal screening.
Three tubes.
Two logged correctly.
One recollected because the technician documented a labeling issue.
A waste bin had been emptied before anyone could reconstruct what happened to the original tube.
That alone proved nothing.
Then surveillance footage showed Linda entering the medical building that afternoon.
She told investigators she had been visiting a dermatologist upstairs.
True.
She had an appointment.
What happened afterward remained unclear.
No camera covered the specimen work area.
No cinematic footage of her stealing my blood.
But investigators later recovered emails showing she had contacted the Maryland lab before that date.
The alleged paternal sample was simpler.
Michael provided it.
Voluntarily.
When?
Five days before Linda confronted me.
That changed everything.
Michael’s attorney argued he believed the test was about hereditary screening.
The submission form said otherwise.
Paternity Analysis.
His signature appeared beneath it.
When Maya told me, I did not cry.
I laughed once.
“He knew.”
“He knew a paternity test was being performed.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
“Correct.”
I looked toward the window.
The man who later said I humiliated him had secretly agreed to test whether our IVF pregnancy was his.
Without asking me why I might object.
Without telling me his mother had somehow obtained my blood.
The report came back four days later.
Michael excluded.
The assault happened the next afternoon.
But there was another date that mattered more.
One day before the paternity result arrived, Riverside Fertility Center sent Michael an email.
Subject:
IMPORTANT: REQUEST TO DISCUSS EMBRYO LAB RECORDS
He opened it.
Never replied.
I stared at the delivery receipt on Maya’s screen.
“Why did the clinic contact him before the result?”
May you like
Maya closed the file.
“That’s what we need to find out.”
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