THE DNA TEST
1417 Words
CHAPTER:4
The air inside Sophia’s apartment felt too small.
Too charged.
Too fragile.
Ethan stood near the doorway, still processing what he had just seen.
Liam.
The eyes. The quiet intelligence. The way he observed before speaking.
It was like staring at a reflection of himself at four years old.
“He’s mine,” Ethan repeated, his voice no longer uncertain.
Sophia’s pulse thundered.
“You don’t get to decide that,” she said sharply.
Liam looked between them, confusion growing.
“Mommy?”
Sophia immediately softened, kneeling beside her son.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Why don’t you go finish your breakfast?”
“But who is he?”
The question sliced through the tension.
Sophia opened her mouth—
But Ethan answered first.
“I’m a friend of your mom’s.”
Friend.
The word felt heavy with irony.
Liam studied him carefully. “You look like me.”
Silence fell again.
Sophia’s stomach dropped.
Children were observant in the most inconvenient ways.
Ethan crouched slightly so they were eye level.
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
Sophia stood abruptly.
“That’s enough.”
Her protective tone was unmistakable.
Liam sensed it and quietly retreated to the kitchen.
The moment he was out of earshot, Ethan’s controlled composure fractured.
“You lied to me.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You left me.”
“I didn’t leave you by choice.”
“Then by what?” she demanded. “Convenience?”
His jaw tightened.
“You think I would walk away from my child?”
“You walked away from me.”
The words hit harder than either expected.
A thick silence settled between them.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her voice trembled—but not with weakness.
“With survival.”
“Explain.”
“You disappeared the night I told you I was pregnant.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You never told me.”
“I called you.”
“I was in Zurich.”
“You were unreachable.”
His expression shifted.
Zurich.
That had been the week his father sent him overseas to close an emergency merger deal.
His phone confiscated.
His schedule controlled.
He had assumed Sophia needed space after their argument.
He never knew.
“I came back and you were gone,” he said quietly.
“I was in the hospital.”
His breath hitched.
“You said you lost the baby.”
She looked away.
“I had to.”
The words hung between them like smoke.
Ethan’s voice turned dangerously calm.
“Had to?”
“You don’t understand your world.”
“Make me understand.”
Her frustration burst.
“If your father found out I was pregnant back then, what do you think would’ve happened?”
His silence answered her.
Richard Callaway did not tolerate weakness.
Or distractions.
Or unplanned heirs.
“He already thought I was beneath you,” she continued. “A scholarship girl from Brooklyn. Not suitable for the Callaway name.”
Ethan’s expression darkened.
“He wouldn’t have touched you.”
“You don’t know that.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“And I wasn’t willing to gamble my child’s safety to find out.”
The word child struck him deeply.
Not baby.
Not mistake.
Child.
Alive. Breathing. Intelligent.
His son.
“You should have trusted me,” he said.
She let out a bitter laugh.
“You were engaged within a year.”
That hit.
Hard.
“That engagement was strategic,” he said coldly. “Not romantic.”
“But it was real.”
“It was business.”
She shook her head.
“Exactly.”
The silence between them shifted now.
Less accusation.
More realization.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair.
“I want a DNA test.”
The words landed like a bomb.
Sophia’s entire body went rigid.
“No.”
His eyes sharpened.
“If he’s mine, I have rights.”
“He’s not a company asset, Ethan.”
“And he’s not a secret.”
Her voice rose.
“He is my son.”
“He might be mine too.”
She stepped closer, fury burning.
“You don’t get to show up after four years and demand proof.”
“I’m not demanding,” he corrected calmly.
“I’m requesting confirmation.”
“Same thing.”
“No. A demand doesn’t offer protection.”
Her breath stilled.
“What protection?”
“The moment the media suspects I have an unacknowledged heir, it becomes open season.”
Her stomach tightened.
“You think Olivia would stop at press conferences?”
“She wouldn’t.”
“And my father?” Ethan continued. “He would launch an internal investigation immediately.”
Fear flickered through her eyes.
“That’s why we control this.”
His tone softened slightly.
“A private DNA test. Confidential. No record outside my legal team.”
“And if he is yours?”
The question was quiet.
Vulnerable.
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
“Then I protect him.”
“How?”
“Legally. Financially. Publicly.”
“You mean claim him.”
“Yes.”
Possessiveness edged his voice.
She shook her head.
“He’s not a trophy.”
“He’s my blood.”
“And he’s my entire world.”
The tension thickened again.
In the kitchen, Liam’s small laughter echoed faintly from a cartoon playing on the TV.
Both of them instinctively turned toward the sound.
Ethan’s chest tightened unexpectedly.
He had built empires.
Closed billion-dollar deals.
Dominated boardrooms.
But this?
This felt different.
This felt… fragile.
“I don’t want to fight you,” he said quietly.
Sophia looked at him carefully.
For the first time since he walked in—
He didn’t look like a CEO.
He looked like a man who might have missed something irreplaceable.
“Then stop acting like this is a takeover,” she replied softly.
He stepped closer.
“I can’t undo four years.”
“No.”
“But I can decide what happens next.”
Her heart pounded.
“And what is that?”
He held her gaze steadily.
“I won’t walk away again.”
The promise felt heavy.
Dangerous.
Because part of her wanted to believe him.
Before she could respond, his phone buzzed sharply.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression hardened instantly.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s the board.”
“And?”
“They’re calling an emergency session.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Because of last night?”
“And because of this.”
He looked toward the kitchen.
“They already suspect.”
Her pulse raced.
“How?”
“Olivia’s father sits on the advisory council.”
Cold dread slid through her.
“This is spiraling.”
“Yes.”
His voice was calm again.
Strategic.
Controlled.
“But now I have leverage.”
“What leverage?”
He looked directly at her.
“If Liam is confirmed as my son, he becomes the legal Callaway heir.”
Her breath caught.
“And my father loses control of succession.”
The weight of that settled heavily.
This wasn’t just about love.
It was about power.
Inheritance.
Corporate war.
“You’d use him to win?” she asked quietly.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“I would use my name to protect him.”
The distinction mattered.
Before she could process it fully, loud voices echoed faintly from downstairs.
Reporters again.
More aggressive this time.
Someone shouted:
“Is it true Ethan Callaway has a secret child?!”
Sophia’s blood ran cold.
Ethan’s eyes went dark.
“They know.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet.”
His expression shifted from protective father to calculating CEO.
“Pack a bag.”
Her head snapped up.
“What?”
“You and Liam are coming with me.”
“No.”
“It’s not safe here anymore.”
“I’m not moving into your penthouse.”
“For now, you are.”
She shook her head fiercely.
“You don’t get to relocate my life.”
“I get to secure it.”
Before she could argue further—
Her phone buzzed violently.
A notification popped up.
A photo.
Blurry. Taken from across the street.
Liam standing by the window earlier.
Storm-gray eyes clearly visible.
Caption:
IS THIS ETHAN CALLOWAY’S SECRET SON?
The world tilted.
Sophia’s hands trembled.
Ethan’s face went completely still.
Deadly calm.
“This,” he said quietly, “just became war.”
- Writer
