Chapter 4

4.

"You crazy woman! You actually called in a testing team. How dare you?"

"I refuse to do a DNA test. Fergus and I are just uncle and nephew. There's none of the filthy nonsense you're accusing me of. Don't you dare slander me."

Veins stood out on Dirk's temples as he barked at me.

"Miranda Fox, call them right now and send that testing team home."

"Ma'am, the testing team is here."

Mr. Stanton's calm voice dropped the whole living room into silence.

Panic flickered across Dirk's and Isabel's faces at the same moment, and Isabel tugged anxiously at his sleeve.

"What do we do now?"

Dirk's expression was ugly, but he held it together far better than Isabel.

"I'll go tell them to leave."

"This is my house. You don't get to throw out my guests."

I said it coldly.

He stared at me, his face hard, his voice colder than mine.

"Miranda, you may want a divorce, but right now we're still married."

"Oh? And so what? This is my house."

His face darkened further, and he ground out through clenched teeth, "So it's your house. I'm your legal husband. I have the right to make decisions for you."

"Dirk, you think far too highly of yourself. I'm not compromising for you on anything ever again."

Meaning: he had no right to decide anything for me.

He caught it, and his face went uglier still, fists clenched, looking like he wanted to tear me apart and swallow me whole.

I simply ignored him and turned to Mr. Stanton. "Stanton, let them in."

"Wait!"

Dirk stopped me again.

I looked at him, wary.

His face full of humiliation, he said, "A test like that isn't good for Fergus. Send them away. I agree to the divorce."

"Give me the divorce agreement, and I'll sign. Once the cooling-off period is over, we'll go finalize it."

I said nothing, and he went on. "I'll write you a pledge. If I break the terms, I'll not only leave with nothing, I'll sign over every asset in my name to you."

"You were always going to leave with nothing in a divorce."

I reminded him coldly.

His face got worse, but he didn't dare voice the anger. Instead he switched to a gentle, reasoning tone.

"Miranda, you're the CEO of Fox Group. If you push this so hard and word gets out, it won't look good for you either. Why do this to a child?"

"That we can't make it work is between us. It has nothing to do with the kid. Think about Tammy. If she were treated this way, could you stand it?"

Of course I couldn't stand it.

Tammy was my whole heart.

The thought of my daughter softened something in me.

"Fine. We'll do it your way."

"Stanton, let them leave. I'll wire their company the fee later."

Dirk signed the divorce agreement in a fury and hurried out with Isabel.

I knew he'd gone to check whether the testing team had really left.

But I always finish what I start.

This team was gone, yes. I'd already hired another one, a professional DNA testing outfit.