I stood up and walked to my office window. “What paternity dispute?”

Kenneth lowered his voice significantly. “The child Melinda is raising is not Connor’s biological son, and the test results are absolute.”

I couldn’t say a single word, because my mind was trying to process the sheer scale of the revelation. All this time, I’d assumed Connor had gotten exactly what he wanted. Now, that foundation didn’t even exist.

“Does Melinda know about this yet?” I whispered.

“Not yet, but things are about to become incredibly public very soon,” Kenneth warned.

Two weeks later, the entire situation exploded in the legal system. People often imagine scandals arriving like sudden earthquakes, but they usually arrive in the form of official court paperwork. By Friday afternoon, the story was spreading rapidly among our former mutual friends, and Connor was frantically calling anyone who might help him.