Page 110 of The Secrets She Keeps

Hope started shaking next to her. Heather wrapped her around even tighter around her baby sister.

“Emilia Rose.” Heather looked at that sweet baby girl right there in Miguel’s arms. With her little dark pink hat—just like Hope’s, with HHC in bold chartreuse letters—and pale denim overalls that matched the ones Hope wore at that very moment almost exactly. As pieces started to fall into place. “That sample is Emilia. I held her and handed her over to Crispin, but it was too late. Emilia had already wiped her mouth off on my shoulder.”

“We need a DNA sample from the baby for reference,” McKellen said, looking at Miguel. Like Commander Butthead didn’t understand what he wasaskingfor. That sample would changeeverythingfor Miguel. Everything. He was asking Miguel to voluntarily prove he wasn’t that baby’s father—changing Miguel’s whole world forever.

McKellen just didn’t get it. The asshole. The idiot.

“No. You don’t. You aren’t getting a sample from that baby, Daniel. You just are not. Don’t even ask for one again.”

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Powell was still tryingto process what was going on right now. She knew it was something significant, but why? Well, she wasn’t up on that part.

“Alex, why?” Haldyn asked. Alex was still shaking his head. He had been the one to tell Daniel no.

She tried to put it together—fast.

The man who had hurt Heather so badly was Samia, Summer, and Eden’s father. And Miguel’s baby’s father, apparently. Who…Miguel was raising. Miguel was probably on the birth certificate. But he wasn’t the baby’s biological father. Someone else was.

And that baby was aminor.

In the custody of a man not her biological father. Powell’s stomach clenched at what that meant.

Someone else could have a legal claim to the sweet little girl babbling aboutmamaand what Powell thought wasducks.

Someone out there who hadn’tyetbeen charged with a crime, who had a biological claim to Miguel Rodriguez’s baby.

Now she got what Alex was going for. He was the one who handled family law. Custody cases. That kind of thing. Her bloodfroze right in her veins, imagining that man who had struck Heather like thatevergetting near that precious baby girl. “Alex is right. The TSP is not getting a sample from this baby girl. I’ll file every injunction or stay or whatever I have to do to make sure of it. Is this reference sample absolutely necessary to identify the men involved, Hal?”

“Well, no,” Haldyn said. “With Samia’s documented DNA sample already on file, as long as she can swear she believes she is the biological child of this man…any other sample isn’t needed to identify him, other than from him to confirm. If he’s on her birth certificate, Samia’s matching DNA is enough to compel a warrant from a viable suspect. Then, when we have him, we do a confirmation test between him and the actual sample we’ve already collected. Timothy—what is his last name?”

“Grundenman.” Several people, including Miguel and Bonnie, said together.

“He’s definitely Samia’s father,” Bonnie said. “That is not in doubt.”

“He’s an obstetric anesthesiologist out of Wichita Falls,” Miguel almost rumbled. “My former wife worked for him before we separated. I suspected they’d had an affair. He wouldn’t have been her first. He actually helped deliver Emilia and Raine. The kids’ mother died from a heart attack shortly after Emilia was born. Heather and I went to Wichita Falls together to pick up the baby as soon as I learned she existed, not even six hours later. I never spoke to Grundenman. He was just the anesthesiologist for the C-section, and I was keeping it that way. I didn’t know if he was the father or not. I wasn’t interested in finding out, and Icouldhave been. That was what mattered at the time.”

“I never saw the baby’s doctors. I was holding her, feeding her, while you handled paperwork and the hospital administration,” Heather said.

“Timothy Grundenman spit on Heather. You and Powell can both confirm that someone spit on your left leg?” Haldyn asked.

“Yes,” Powell said as Heather nodded. “I watched him do it.”

“And it’s very obvious he is the father of Samia and this other sample, Samia’s biological sister. Herfullsister. So, we really don’t need a definitive sample from Miguel’s baby here. Not…to identify the man involved. To exclude the female sample, though, we would,” Haldyn said. “Honestly, just a sample from Summer or Eden would work just as well. If they are his biological daughters. No need for one from Miguel’s baby at all. If we have two of his confirmed, acknowledged daughters to give samples, it would lend weight to a warrant request. Since Heather and Powell can’t give a full ID.”

“Then take mine. Do what you have to do. The TSP is staying away from Emilia. Or they will face a Coleson revolt,” Summer said. She looked right at Daniel. “It won’t be pretty, by the way. Just so you know.”

“You haven’t seen usallreally angry before, Commander Butthead,” Cashlyn added very quietly.

“That is the most terrifying thing I have ever heard.”

Powell half thought Daniel meant it.

“What in the hell could the TSP possibly need Emilia’s paternity for, anyway?” Hope asked heatedly. “Sheobviously didn’t abduct Heather or Powell. You aren’t doing anything that will get her taken away from her brother and sister and herdaddy.You just aren’t. What kind of an asshole are you, McKellen? She’s a little baby, not a pawn on your stupid TSP chessboard.”

“Settle down, brat. It’ll be okay.” Miguel’s hand landed on Hope’s shoulder. She looked up at him. Powell saw the fear on her face. “No one will take her away from me.”

“I didn’t even consider that,” Daniel said. He looked at Miguel. “I’m sorry, Mig. I was just following all the angles.”

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