Snow came down in fluffy white clusters outside the window. James watched the flakes drop helplessly. He was intimidated both physically and mentally. If there wasn't earth-shattering news, this meeting would have been a phone call.
They dressed for battle, but his suit and Molly's self-tailored suit was not the armor he thought it would be. The bodyguards outside had better clothes and were strapped down. These people were powerful. He kept his chin up, and Molly seemed to as well, but he was a second away from dying on the inside.
Molly flipped open the leather folder, her eyes scanning the pages filled with DNA results. At first, the numbers and codes meant nothing to her, but as she gazed deeper, the truth seared itself into her brain. She felt like she'd been punched in the gut.
The Lowrie couple, sitting across from her, seemed to grow more imposing, their presence suffocating. They were Selena's parents, and Molly was...nobody. No relation, no connection, no claim. The realization stung.
Molly had known, deep down, that this was how it would play out. The phone call, the meeting, the lawyers - it all reeked of bad news. And now, here she was, face to face with the truth. She glanced up, her eyes locking onto the couple's face. Anger simmered just below the surface, waiting to erupt.
The conference room fell silent as the weight of the DNA results settled in. Joseph Whitehaven's lawyers exchanged somber glances while Molly's face crumpled in despair. Jonathan and Eun Ho Lowrie, however, looked at each other with a mix of shock, anger, and happiness.
Jonathan's voice was shaky and excited. "It means... Selena is our daughter." His heartbeat in his chest, his blood pressure rising. His freckled skin flushed red, and then the clamminess set in as the cold sweating began.
Jonathan would be facing stern repercussions from the Noe family and his own family. He felt the heat of his tears gathering, and complex emotions filled his heart. He was filled with sadness, hope, and shame. If he could only go back in time and listen to Eun Ho. If he hadn't treated her like she was crazy about it.
Eun Ho's mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotions after the twins were born. She had been diagnosed with postnatal psychosis, a condition that had taken hold of her fragile mental state. That and losing her sight had fractured her mind. Their mothers both said she would suffer from this and be alright. At first, it started with her refusing McKenna.
As the days passed, Eun Ho's delusions grew stronger. She became convinced that the twins were both not her own, that they had been swapped with another family's babies. She would spend hours searching for "clues" and "evidence" to support her theory, poring over every detail of their appearance and behavior. When it came to someone with their power, it got ridiculously unhinged.
She also became fixated on the idea that her husband was having an affair with the nanny and that they were plotting against her. Eun Ho would accuse them of conspiring to steal the twins, of hiding her real daughter and trying to drive her mad.
As Eun Ho's delusions intensified, her behavior became increasingly erratic. She would lash out at her husband and the nanny, screaming at them to leave her and the twins alone. She would forget to eat, to sleep, and to care for herself, becoming convinced that the twins were the only ones who truly needed her.
Despite his best efforts to reassure her, Eun Ho's grip on reality continued to slip. She was trapped in a world of paranoia and fear, unable to escape the darkness that had consumed her mind.
Jonathan had to doubt what was coming out of her mouth at that time as factual. She was not doing well; it was a rough time in their marriage, and now it was going to become rough again.
Eun Ho gasped and said, "Yes…yes she is." Eun Ho's eyes welled up with tears as she nodded, her hand reaching for Jonathan's. She wanted comfort, and she wanted to smack him furiously. Tears flowed down her face as she shook both in grief and rage.
She didn't hallucinate the crescent moon birthmark on her daughter's arm. Well, a lot of her memory was fractured from that time. Years of worry about her daughter and her ability to perform to the expectations set by their mothers slipped away.
But at the same time, his reluctance to discuss Mckenna with him in the past pissed her off. She looked at the copy of the report that lay in front of her. Selena was her daughter. It seemed like the world was over there for a while.
Molly's lawyer, Mrs. Jenkins, immediately went to her client's side, offering a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Molly, I'm so sorry. We'll get through this together." Moly shrugged off her lawyer forlorn. She knew when she was outgunned; it was shocking that her actual daughter grew up with these people, but she raised Selena and loved her the best she could after she got through with the consequences of her actions.
Eun Ho looked at the older blonde and whiter version of McKenna with pity. She looked like her daughter and sounded like her when she cried. She should have known better. McKenna could fail upward, looking like this woman and blissfully marry a hedge fund manager. She never doubted McKenna's ability to marry and have children; that would be the easier part of her life. She was used to being rich.
Eun Ho never fully believed that McKenna was hers, so she kept her and Jonah away from the inner circle until McKenna confirmed her ability, and she never did. She had her colouration, but that child was neither Lowrie nor Noe stock.
Although she cared for her and so did Jonathan, it was not cruel to say that she did not belong or would never belong to their world. It would be something their biological daughter would do. They were prepared for the fact that Jonah and Monty would take over the burden.
Jonathan and Eun Ho, however, were already moving forward, their faces set with determination. "We want to see our daughter," Jonathan said, his voice firm. "We want to work out custody arrangements and transition our daughters back to their rightful families."
Molly looked up, tears dripping, "No fucking dice, that's MY KID!" Molly slapped the table. "I don't care if the genetics match up; I raised her. All her identification is under my name. You can eat my fucking shit, before you take her."
Ms. Jenkins struggled with controlling her client. She could tell by the Lowrie's style of dress and the caliber of lawyers they had that Ms. MacDonald would be on the losing end of this custody battle. She was out of her league, a regular choice of the artists at 'The Lusty Lion' for their Family Law needs.
She was a feminist and did not look down upon the dancers, and that led to a lot of word-of-mouth advertising for her. "I'll try my best, but I think I am out of my weight class here. But just to be certain." Ms. Jenkins thought to herself and clicked the record button on the tape recorder in her pocket.
She waited for her moment to counsel her client, but the other woman cracked back quickly. It was about to get hostile here, and Molly needed her help to at least see her daughter for the next 4 years until she became an adult and could talk and associate with anyone she wanted to.
Eun Ho shook with rage, "It's happening, regardless of your wishes. You WILL have your daughter returned to you, and I will fix what you did to MINE. You have no fucking idea what you're dealing with." Eun Ho stared menacingly at Molly. "You, your real daughter, your family, your boyfriend could be disappeared by me in a snap." Eun Ho slapped the table. "If the reports didn't show how fond she is of you, I would have extracted her already. That can still happen!"
Eun Ho's head turned to Ms. Jenkins's eyes snapped at the woman's recorder in her pocket. She clapped twice, and the door opened. A menacing male bodyguard opened the door and eyed anyone not part of their arrival party like a hungry tiger. "Press the stop button on that thing now and toss it to Angus."
Ms. Jenkins felt her anxiety climb, they were unafraid of the repercussions of disposing of her client entirely. "Do it, now. What I said about her family can be done to your whole family, Ms. Jenkins." Eun Ho said.
Ms. Jenkins felt her mouth dry out. She sputtered, "Oh…yes." Ms. Jenkins pulled out her recorder and handed it to the massive wall of meat that made up the man standing before her.
He looked at it and crushed it into parts. He tossed it into the garbage can politely as she watched her face go pale. The large man took five $100 bills out and handed them to her. Ms. Jenkins's hand shook. Molly could only sit there, a pile of nerves, and watch.