He examined the lab report.

And then he looked up at me and told me that what I had, if it held up, was not just a paternity case.

It was evidence of criminal coercion, of threats, of a powerful man abusing his position, and that it had arrived at a very interesting moment in that man’s very public life.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Maya?” he asked me, more than once, over the days that followed as we prepared.

“There are other ways.