“Go ahead and call a lawyer, Mike,” I said.

“Please do.

And when you sit down with them, I want you to tell them this.

Five years ago, you signed a comprehensive divorce decree.

And inside it, because you were so frantic to sever every tie and dodge every dollar of spousal support, your lawyer let you sign an explicit, notarized waiver of parental rights to any child born within ten months of the dissolution of our marriage — right alongside your formal refusal to provide any medical coverage for me during the separation.”

The blood left his face entirely.