Page 133 of Reasonable Doubt: Volume 3 (Reasonable Doubt 3)
I couldn’t take it.
As the two of them kissed and held each other—completely immersing themselves in their own world, I forced myself to walk away.
I hit the lights in my office and noticed a bright blue box on my desk. It read, “To: the love of my life. From: Your first and only love.”
My heart ached again as I tore the wrapping and looked inside: A new set of cufflinks, a set that probably cost more than all of my suits combined. My initials were engraved in them, and she’d enclosed a quote from my favorite authors:
“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of life much so. Aim above morality.”
-Henry David Thoreau
I sighed. She’d left out the last part of the quote, the “Be not simply good; be good for something.”
I pulled out my phone and sent her an email:
Subject: Coffee.
I think I will try some coffee…Are you still at the coffee shop?
—Liam
Subject: Re: Coffee.
Yes. I think I’ll be here all night.
What kind would you like?
—Ava.
Subject: Re: Re: Coffee.
Whatever you think is best for a first timer…
Have you talked to Kevin today?
—Ava
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Coffee.
Not at all. He’s been weirder than usual lately. (We really need to find him a girlfriend…) Have you?
—Ava.
I didn’t answer.
I left my office and walked over to Emma’s playroom, looking at her as she slept peacefully. I wanted to make her wake up, make her look at me, so I could study her features and pick them apart, so I could see for myself that she was indeed Kevin’s, but I couldn’t.
She was mine, biological father or not.
I carried her out of the firm and rushed home. As soon as I set her down, I flipped over the coffee table and opened the envelope I’d filed away hours earlier.
It was a standard summons, a demand to appear in court, but the charges listed didn’t end on one page. They didn’t even end on two.
It was a ten page manifesto, a laundry list of bullshit that I would never attempt: bribery, racketeering, tax fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud—every f**king fraud.
What the hell is this?
I pored over the documents for hours, my mind racing a mile a minute. Still, I couldn’t completely process everything—my mind was still thinking about Kevin and Ava.
