Chapter Fifteen: Forty Eight Hours
1049 Words
Chapter Fifteen
Nathan's black SUV pulled up at the entrance of the hospital just as the evening was settling in.
He sat in the car for a moment before getting out. The envelope was in his jacket pocket, right where he had put it after leaving the school. He could feel it. It was a small thing just a few strands of hair in a sealed envelope, but it felt heavier than it had any right to. Because what was inside that envelope had the power to shift everything. His life, his family, the story he had told himself about who he was and what he had done and what had been done to him
He got out of the car and walked in.
The hospital was one of the few places in the city Nathan actually trusted. Not because hospitals were trustworthy by nature-he had seen enough of the world to know better than that-but because this particular doctor had been his family's physician for over fifteen yearrs.
Nathan had made sure of that over the years in the quiet way he did most things-not with threats, but with the kind of loyalty that came from knowing someone's career depended on your family's goodwill.
He found the Dr. in his office and closed the door behind him.
He put the envelope on the desk without sitting down. "I need the most accurate result you can give me," he said. His voice was low but the edges were cold. "No malfunction. No delay. And no leaks. Any of those three things happen and you will face the consequences personally."
Dr. nodded. He didn't flinch. He had worked with the Reeds family long enough to understand that Nathan didn't say things like that for dramatic effect. He meant exactly what he said, always.
"Understood, Mr. Reed. We'll need forty eight hours."
Nathan nodded once and left.
He drove home, the city moving past him in the dark, his mind circling the same thought it had been circling for days now. He knew he hadn't done anything with Sarah not even ever seeing her until at the airport. He was certain. And yet the photo. The child's face. Something about it sat in.
He needed the result to put it to rest. He needed the result to look Emma in the face and know with absolute certainty where he stood.
Forty eight hours.
He could wait forty eight hours.
The house was quiet when he got in. He loosened his tie and walked upstairs, pausing at Alex's door. He pressed his ear close. Nothing. He knocked twice.
"Alex."
Silence.
"I know you're upset with me. I'm sorry." He meant it, even if the words came out stiffer than he intended. He had never been the best at that-apologies, softness, sitting in someone else's discomfort. He had learned from people who didn't do those things well. "But you need to eat something. You can't keep doing this
Nothing.
Nathan leaned his forehead lightly against the door and exhaled.
The boy had been like this for days now. Refusing to talk to anyone, barely touching his food, asking for his mummy in that way that made the whole house go still. He was a stubborn child Nathan had always found that tralt amusing before, even admirable. He didn't find it amusing right now.
He thought about what Emma had told him earlier. She had gone in to bring Alex food, she said, trying to help. But the story she told didn't sit right with him. Alex had looked at him this morning with something in his eyes that wasn't just sadness-it was something harder. Something more like the look a child had when an adult had frightened them.
Nathan had noticed the mark on his cheek when he checked on him yesterday. He hadn't asked about it directly yet. He was still deciding what to do with that information.
"Alex." His voice shifted without meaning it to firmer, quieter. "I'm giving you five minutes
quieter. "I'm giving you five minutes. Come downstairs and eat something. If I don't hear this door open in five minutes I'm breaking it down."
He stood and waited for a moment.
Then he turned and walked down the hall, his footsteps deliberate and even
He told the maid to bring him a glass of water. The house felt wrong when Alex was like this. Too quiet.
His phone buzzed. He looked at it. His lawyer. A reminder about tomorrow's meeting. Nothing urgent. He put the phone face-down.
Forty eight hours.
He drummed his fingers once on the dining table, then stopped.
Somewhere upstairs, he heard a door creak open.
He didn't smile. But something in him settled just slightly.
"Come down," he called. "Your food is getting cold."
Footsteps on the stairs. Slow and reluctant. But coming.
Sometimes the only way to handle a stubborn person was to give them a door to walk through and let them decide to walk through it themselves. He had learned that much.
The footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped.
Nathan didn't turn around. "Sit down," he said. "Eat."
A pause. Then the sound of a chair being pulled out.
Nathan exhaled quietly.
He set a plate down at the table without making a big deal of it. Alex sat across from him. His eyes red-rimmed and stubborn. He looked exactly like a child who had
been crying alone and didn't want anyone to know.
Nathan sat across from him and folded his hands on the table.
"I know I was hard on you," he said. "I know you don't understand why. One day when you're older, I'll explain it to you properly." He paused. "But you are not allowed to starve yourself. That's not negotiable."
Alex stared at his plate. Then, slowly, he picked up his fork.
Nathan watched him take the first bite and said nothing. Just watched.
Outside, the city hummed on. And somewhere across it, the clock on a DNA result was already ticking. Forty eight hours, and everything would change one way or another. He just had to get through them.
Alex looked at his dad then asked in a low voice or more like a whisper “Can I go see them?”
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