Accidentally Adopting My Husband's Secret Daughter
"Your daughter's Punnett square project is quite unique, Mrs. Vance," the science teacher slides the wrinkled worksheet across the steel desk.
For five years, I played the devoted mother to Maya, the orphaned girl my husband Mark brought home after his supposed best friend died in a car crash. I wiped her tears, baked her cupcakes, and loved her as my own flesh. Now, staring at the dominant alleles circling Maya’s blood type on the paper, the math fails. The dead best friend was O-negative. Mark is AB-positive. Maya is AB-positive. He didn't adopt an orphan; he smuggled his dead subordinate’s illegitimate child into our home under the guise of grief. He expects me to keep playing the saint. Instead, I’m calling my lawyer to draft an irrevocable family trust.
The front door clicks open downstairs. Mark's heavy footsteps echo in the hall, calling out for his "two favorite girls."
Chapters
Share
Chapter 4
The dashboard clock flashed 2:14 PM.
My phone vibrated against the center console, rattling the plastic cup holders. I snatched the device before the second buzz.
*Genesis Diagnostics: Portal link active.*
I tapped the blue text. A password prompt appeared on the screen. My fingers hovered over the keyboard. I typed in the twelve-digit barcode number from the thermal receipt I had guarded for two days.
The screen buffered for a fraction of a second. Then, it loaded a white PDF document.
I bypassed the medical jargon at the top. I ignored the lab technician's signature and the date stamps. My thumb swiped straight to the bottom of the second page.
Bold black letters stood out against the harsh white background.
*Probability of Paternity: 99.99%.*
*Conclusion: The tested male, Mark Gallagher, is the biological father of the tested minor, Maya Gallagher.*
I dialed the clinic's number.
"Genesis Diagnostics, how can I help you?" a woman answered.
"I just got my portal link. Case number 88492."
"Give me one moment to pull that up." Keyboard keys clacked over the speaker. "Okay, I see it. You requested the paternity screen."
"The report says 99.99 percent."
"That is correct."
"Is there any margin of error? Could the hair samples have been contaminated?"
"Our lab uses strict isolation protocols, ma'am. A 99.99 percent match means the tested male is absolutely the biological father. There is no ambiguity."
"None at all?"
"None. Do you have any questions for the genetic counselor?"
"No. I have all the information I need."
I ended the call.
Keep Watching!
The story is getting intense! Switch to App to continue reading
Unlock All Episodes
You may also like
7.4
I single-handedly saved my family's corporate empire from a hostile takeover, securing our market share for the next decade.
But my grandfather didn't see me as a hero. He saw me as a flawed piece of inventory.
To calm the board and fix the reputation I supposedly ruined, he forced me into an arranged marriage, auctioning me off to the highest bidder.
Desperate, I turned to my childhood friend, Egnacio, the only person who ever promised to protect me.
But instead of saving me, he publicly humiliated me. He used my desperation as a networking opportunity, pitching my arranged marriage as a business deal to a ruthless private equity king named Dexter Mathews.
Later that night, I caught Egnacio holding my cruel cousin in his arms.
"What man wants to be with a woman who looks at you like she's planning a hostile takeover?"
Hearing him mock my pain shattered the last bit of hope I had.
I realized I was never family to them. I was just a sharp knife, used to cut down their enemies and then traded for cash before I got dull.
The heartbreak vanished, replaced by a cold, violent rage.
I didn't break, and I didn't run.
Instead, I got into the back of Dexter Mathews's car. He had watched my family tear me apart, but he didn't see a broken pawn. He saw a queen.
And together, we were going to burn their entire empire to the ground.
8.9
I hummed softly as I gathered Matthew's suits for dry cleaning, a mundane Tuesday task in our seven-year marriage. My fingers brushed something stiff inside his navy jacket pocket—unusual, as Matthew was meticulous about emptying his pockets. Curiosity piqued, I pulled out what appeared to be a photograph. The world stopped spinning. There, captured in glossy color, was my husband with his arms wrapped intimately around my cousin Aspyn. Her head was tilted back in laughter, his lips pressed against her neck. They looked... happy. Genuinely, radiantly happy in a way Matthew rarely looked with me anymore. My hands trembled as I flipped the photo over.
7.5
She left him five years ago, long before he became the ruthless billionaire the world now fears.
Now she's ready to marry again but first, she needs his signature.
Except Enzo Wayne doesn't plan to let go. He's waited five years to remind her what belonging means.
One signature, one demand, one impossible month..and one question neither of them wants to answer: What if she never stopped loving him?
9.2
I stepped from the taxi onto Manhattan's pristine curb, a naive farm girl from Montana. My mission: marry billionaire Julian Sterling for a contract. But my welcome was a trap; that night, I found myself in his bed, a drugged, vulnerable man clinging to me.
The Sterling penthouse became a gauntlet. Julian's mother and stepsister relentlessly tried to undermine my "charity case" facade, insulting, sabotaging, and humiliating me, making my true mission perilous.
Victoria tossed money into my breakfast. Stella set impossible tasks. Julian's friend, Vanessa, bribed me to leave and shamed me at a gala. Julian, cold and suspicious, demanded I "play the fool."
Each cruel prank fueled a quiet fury. It was infuriating to be dismissed, knowing secrets I held. Julian's unexpected vulnerability and my grandfather's mysterious will sparked deeper questions.
But I fought back. I shredded Vanessa's bribe, tamed a pop star, and outwitted Stella's sabotage, proving competence. Julian's disdain shifted to respect. This was now a battle for my inheritance, identity, and hidden truths.
8.9
The champagne flute in my hand was sweating, a cold, slick counterpoint to the suffocating heat rising in the banquet hall. Around me, the rehearsal dinner was a blur of crystal, candlelight, and the cloying scent of white lilies, but the air felt too thin. I pressed a hand to my sternum, willing my lungs to expand against the familiar, constricting band of my asthma. It was a physical tether, a souvenir from a snowstorm years ago when I’d nearly frozen to death saving the man who was currently checking his watch across the room. River Edwards stood by the open terrace doors, the Seattle skyline glittering behind him like a promise he wasn’t quite keeping. He looked every inch the golden boy I’d grown up with—impeccable tuxedo, charming smile—but the smile didn't reach his eyes. It stopped at his mouth, tight and rehearsed. I navigated through the crowd, dodging congratulations that felt more like condolences, and reached for his arm. "River?" I kept my voice low, intimate. "You haven't touched your wine.
8.5
Isabel was devastated and distraught after receiving a sincere rejection from her boyfriend. Although she had intended to spend the holiday at her grandmother's house, she ended up becoming involved with a stranger and having a one-night stand with him.
When her mom introduced her fiance to Isabel, she was shocked to discover that her step father, Mr Walton had a son who turned out to be Derek– the guy she had a one night stand with.
Isabel struggled with her affections for Derek and the knowledge that he would one day become her stepbrother. Anticipating her first shift, she hoped to find her mate and get over her feelings for Derek.
What happens when an unexpected twist occured and she discovered that Derek was her true mate? As she tried hard to distance herself from him because she saw him as nothing more than her stepbrother, will she continue to ignore the bond with him? What happens when Derek's true identity as the Alpha's son was finally revealed? And what happens when more secrets come to light about why he and Isabel were fated together?