THE silence after her question felt suffocating.
“Or what?” she had asked, eyes locked on him. “You want to deny your daughter?”
Charles stared at her as if she had just accused him of murder.
“What?” His voice cracked. “Deny my— Amelia, what are you even saying?”
She folded her arms across her chest, the phone still in her hand.
“Don’t play dumb with me.”
“I’m not playing anything!” he shot back, panic rising visibly now. “This is insane.”
“Inane?” she echoed sharply. “You have a child out there and you have been lying to me all these years.”
“I don’t have a child!” he yelled, his voice bouncing off the walls. “I don’t!”
She took a step back, her brows knitting together.
“So now you are a deadbeat father and a liar?” she pressed. “Which one are we dealing with, Charles?”
His ch
