Chapter 53: The Results

Magnus.

I woke up alone in bed, Miranda wasn’t by my side. I sat up, looking around, searching for her, I went to check on Melany who was still sound asleep, I tried to locate Miranda, but it was in vain, she must have had something to do at the last minute.

My morning, before facing truths I didn’t want to know, was spent taking care of my daughter and seeking Patrick’s help, his vacation ended tomorrow, but with everything that was going on I wanted to have security for both Melany and Miranda.

“I appreciate it, Patrick, I’m sorry to interrupt your vacation.”

“It’s no bother, I was getting bored without much action in my life anyway, I’ll be back as soon as I can and don’t worry, Magnus, I know what I need to do.”

After a while, I found her in the living room, her gaze lost in some distant point.

“Are you okay?” I asked, worried about the expression on her face. Something about her seemed different, as if she was oblivious to what was happening around her, Miranda looked at me and nodded.

“Yes, I’m okay. I needed a moment to process all of this.”

“I’m sorry to put you through more complications again.”

“Don’t worry.” She stood up and tried to walk away, but I stopped her, something was definitely not right now.

“Miranda, something’s up, talk to me.”

“It’s just all this mess with Laura, with Lucas. I can’t help but feel like we’re in the middle of an endless drama.”

I hugged her, trying to see her reaction, I knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t acting strange just because of that.

“I understand. But we need to resolve this once and for all. You, me, Laura, we all deserve to know the truth.”

“You’re right, it’s time to get answers.”

We decided to meet Laura at a neutral location, a small café nearby. When we arrived, Laura was already there, with Lucas by her side. I was hoping our plan would work, so I decided to take control of the situation.

“Change of plans,” was all I said.

Laura and her son got in the car while I drove with Miranda by my side. I wanted to save myself the whole explanation I would have to give them and decided to get straight to the point, luckily Laura didn’t know this place.

“Why did you bring us here?” Laura asked, looking at me suspiciously.

“We need to resolve this once and for all. We’re going to do a paternity test to clear things up.” Miranda looked at Lucas fondly before nodding.

“Unfortunately, we’re not asking for your opinion, we’re telling you what we’re going to do.”

We decided to go to a nearby clinic to do the paternity test. The process was tense and silent, each of us lost in our thoughts. This was the moment that could change our lives again, I hope whoever controls the strings of my life moves them in my favor.

Laura let out a sigh and seemed more resigned than worried about what the test might say.

“This clears things up for you, doesn’t it?”

“You were putting my family at stake, I wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from me.”

“Melany isn’t even your daughter, Magnus,” she reminded me.

“I’ll ignore your words, because she is my daughter.”

Laura nodded and stood up without saying anything else, we didn’t try to follow her or get more answers, it’s better for everyone to move on with this.

We stayed there, watching her leave with Lucas. The drama that had enveloped our lives seemed to dissipate, at least for the moment. I looked at Miranda, searching her eyes, and found a mix of relief and sadness.

The tension in the air was palpable as we waited for the results, I didn’t care that Laura had decided to leave with Lucas, something tells me that should already be an answer for me.

Finally, the nurse handed us the envelope with the results of the paternity test. They had taken a bit longer with Miranda’s, but now the specialists here didn’t refuse a considerable sum of money to speed up the process.

“I think I want to throw up,” Miranda blurts out of nowhere.

“It’s just nerves, don’t worry.”

We opened it cautiously, and upon reading the results, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. Miranda looked at me, probably expecting the worst.

“Well?” I smiled with relief, never had news made me so happy.

“I’m not Lucas’s father. It’s a mistake.”

“That damn woman will pay,” she made a gesture as if wanting to go after her, but I stopped her.

“Love, she’s not worth it, now we can be more at ease.” Miranda let out a sigh and looked at me with gratitude.

“That’s a relief. But, Magnus, what does all this mean?”

“It means that I want to be with you, with Melany. I want to fight for our family, no matter what obstacles stand in our way and the best part of all, is that we can now plan our wedding.”

She smiled and put a hand on my cheek.

“You know I want that too, Magnus. But we have to face the reality that there are things we can’t avoid.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Miranda. I don’t want anything or anyone to separate us.”

“But it seems like there’s always something getting in the way.”

“Never-ending chaos.”

“I know we’ll face whatever comes and fight together. But we can’t ignore what just happened.”

“I know, Laura was planning something with all this, but I don’t know where she wanted to go, I also don’t know how far she was willing to go with this farce, maybe she just wanted money, I don’t know.”

The day had been a real grind. After the paternity test, Miranda and I decided to head back home. However, something about her demeanor was bugging me.

She seemed distant, as if she was carrying an invisible burden.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her as we drove back home.

She sighed and forced a smile.

“I’m just beat, Magnus. It’s been a long day.”

We parked in front of our house and went in. Crossing the threshold, I felt the atmosphere shift. Miranda moved ahead, and that’s when I saw him.

Richard was in the living room, holding Melany in his arms. My heart pounded and worry took hold of me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to keep my cool.

Richard smirked sinisterly and approached.

“I just came to visit little Melany, you and I were like brothers, Magnus, she’s practically my niece and you shouldn’t deprive me of seeing my own family.”

Miranda gritted her teeth, and her gaze turned sharp.

“You know damn well you’re not welcome here, Richard. You said no one would get hurt, so put my daughter down right now.”

“Did you meet with Richard?” I turned to her, confused.

“He cornered me on the street, he threatened me.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you could have gotten killed if I did.”

He ignored her question and turned directly to me as if my expression gave him the greatest satisfaction of all.

“You can come with me voluntarily, or we could have a little ‘accident’ with this cute girl.”

My fists clenched tightly, containing the rage.

“Don’t you dare threaten my daughter.”

“That’s what you always do, Magnus, does it hurt when the shoe is on the other foot?” he smirked cynically.

“Let her go,” Miranda pleaded.

“So, what will it be? Are you coming with me peacefully or with a bit more drama?”

Miranda looked at me, and in that exchange of glances, we both knew what we had to do.

“We’ll play your game, Richard. But don’t you dare harm my daughter.”