He Chose Her, So I Faked My Death novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: The Steps on Camera

The hearing was set for Monday at ten in a courtroom on the fourth floor.

Preston came in a navy suit with his lawyer on one side and a stack of folders on the other.

He did not look at me.

I sat at the opposite table with Nathan's lawyer, and Jasper sat in the first row behind me with his arms folded.

The judge was a gray-haired woman with a flat, tired voice.

"This is a petition by the husband to establish paternity and to compel a test of the unborn child," she said. "Mr. Ames, you may begin."

His lawyer stood.

"Your Honor, my client is the lawful husband. The child is presumed his. Mrs. Ames, under her own admission, fled the home, faked her death and went into hiding with another man. We ask for an immediate test and for temporary custody once the child is born."

"Mrs. Radcliffe," the judge said to me. "Do you dispute paternity?"

I stood up.

"No, Your Honor."

A murmur ran through the benches.

Preston's head snapped around.

"The child is his," I said. "I have never said otherwise. I dispute that he gets to touch it."

The judge raised an eyebrow.

"Explain."

"He wants the child because the child inherits," I said. "My grandmother's trust passes to my husband if I die, and to my descendants if I live. He needs a Radcliffe heir to control."

"Objection," his lawyer said.

"Overruled. Go on."

"A month ago my husband slapped me in front of four hundred guests," I said. "Then I fell three marble steps. I'd like to call the doctor who treated me."

The doctor from the ER took the stand, tall and tired, with her badge still clipped to her coat.

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