Chapter 6 - Fall from Grace
Within forty-eight hours, David's corporate standing unraveled. The boardroom viewed the public scandal as an intolerable liability. Partners who had laughed at his jokes over steak dinners turned their backs in silent unison.
""Step down quietly, David,"" the chairman told him in a closed-door meeting. ""Take a sabbatical. Fix your home, or whatever is left of it.""
David walked out of the downtown glass tower, stripped of his authority, clutching a cardboard box of personal belongings. For years, he had prioritized this firm over dinner, over ultrasound appointments, over the woman who had loved him before he had a cent to his name. And in an afternoon, the firm discarded him without hesitation.
He drove straight to County General’s nursery. The bassinet with the tag Baby Girl Vance was empty. The crib had been stripped down to bare plastic.
""Where is she?"" David demanded, grabbing the counter nurse.
""Discharged this morning into state-monitored transitional care upon maternal discharge,"" the nurse replied coldly, pulling her arm away. ""Records are sealed under court order.""
David wandered out into the parking lot. The sun burned overhead, blinding and merciless. He had money, an empty estate, and a sports car, yet he had never been poorer. He was an erased man.
Returning home, he found a yellow courier envelope tucked into the front door handle. Inside was a single laminated card: an official birth certificate.
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David’s breath hitched. In the box marked Father, the line was printed in bold, black letters: UNKNOWN / NOT PROVIDED.
Underneath was a handwritten note from Clara: She took back her dignity. Don't look for them.
