Ana's POV

"How the hell can you say that about my daughter!" Dad howls, staring at him pointedly.

"Well, at least this time I'm not just making it up, right?" Senator Okwu taunts.

"Dad it's okay," Ike urges, the look on his face giving nothing about his emotions away.

"I warned you, Ana," Dad blows up, anger evident in his existence. "I told you to stay away from this son of a gun but you thought it best to disobey."

"Sir, please do not call me names," Ike grumbles, flexing his arms.

"I will call you any name I like because you do merit it," Dad asserts, gaping at him.

"Still sir, I don't think it's good to cuss in front of a child," Ike opposes.

"Oh now you care," Dad insults. "Your father has been busy calling my daughter all sorts of names and you've just been quiet."

"I don't know what to say," Ike confesses, rubbing his nose in confusion.

"Sure you don't," Dad laughs. "But when I argue you know what to say."

"We will leave now," the doctor announces and exits through the presently ajar door, pursued by the lab scientist and the nurse.

"Thank you," Senator Okwu appreciates, and slams the barrier after they depart.

Amid their fight, I'm silent, wondering how my well-composed life took a drastic turn when I observe how Ken has been unusually quiet like me.

It amazes me more as I see he is already looking at me, or precisely his glance shifting between me and the position of my baby.

So many indications run through his eyes which I can see regardless of the space between us, probably because I've been with him for a certain period of my life and can easily decipher his emotions, hence he is not one to hide it.

I note a sad sign, opposite of the triumphant one I presumed to sight him wearing, proving to be odd and fishy. He should be gloating over me and my misfortune, if possible scoop up the infant and order me to follow him home, rather his reaction is different.

"Ken, it's time to carry your child," Ike's father lets out in joy, triumph apparently in his orbs.

"Excuse me, I think I'll need to wrap my head around this," Ken answers and departs, the door making a banging noise after he exits.

"Doesn't that show you something?" Dad interrogates, motioning to the place Ken just strode out from, blinking his eyes as he chuckles hysterically. "Someone sure the baby would be his, wouldn't walk out just like that. The dude is totally freaked."

"He's in shock, which is normal," Senator Okwu insures. "Would you tell me you weren't shocked the moment you saw your firstborn?"

"Shocked is different from freaked," Dad upholds. "Ken was certainly scared out of his skin."

"Fear comes with shock, they go hand in hand," Ike's stepfather contends.

"I want to have a talk with him, excuse me," Ike blurts, and shoves my dad out of his path.

"Ike please come back here," I say, my voice unsteady as dread claws at my throat.

"I have to follow up on something," he explains, swerving to peep at me, and his hand on the doorknob. "I'm not abandoning you, though I see no reason why I shouldn't."

"You see!" Dad bellows. "This is exactly what I knew would come. I told you that boy wasn't the right fit for you, instead, you thought you knew better."

"Same way I knew this would come," Senator Okwu counters. "Daniel deserved better than this, he has been through a lot to go through this extra humiliation."

"You mean the hell you put him through?" I taunt, my lips curling as I have no idea of what has come over me. "Or the way you always strived to control his life?"

"Shut up young woman!" He commands, rather, I insult him with a laugh, my dad silent and watching our exchange.

"If somebody should feel sorry for Ike, I don't think you are in the right position to," I declare, throwing my feet across the bed to touch the ground as I stand.

"Ana, careful," Dad advises but I wave him off.

"I know the whole story, Mr. Senator," I beam, walking to him in a short loose-fitting long-sleeved red dress with black polka dots all around it. "Of how you treated him, I had no idea someone could be so cruel to a little boy, after all, he did to make you proud."

"Let me not also forget about what you did to your beloved wife whom you blackmailed into marriage," I go on to say, noticing the rush of panic that glides through his body. "Yes sir, I know it all, and many more."

"I can't stand here and listen to this!" He spits, clanging the stick on the tiled floor, and twisting in the direction of the exit.

"The truth hurts huh?" I tease, watching him go. "I marvel at how your wife and Ike have not come out to the press with this, maybe if they do, it'll put an end to all your manipulations."

"Don't let me smack you," he swirls to me, his jaw shaking as his fingers tighten on the stick to help restrain his rage.

"I dare you to do that in my presence," Dad challenges.

"Then you should make her shut up, it appears they must have done something to her brain while in the theater," he utters.

"Exactly how the devil initiated you into his kingdom the day you were born," I smirk. "If no one decides to put dirt on you, I will, because I've got a whole lot that I need somewhere to dump it."

"What is she saying, Senator?" Ike implores, returning with a baffled look.

"Don't mind her," he lies, patting Ike who shrugs his fingers off him. "The only thing you should mind is the realization that the truth has been revealed and that she didn't succeed to pin that bastard on you."

"Again, no swearing in the presence of a---"

"Who the hell is he calling a bastard?" Joe queries, as he arrives, an angry mood that is the same as the one Oluchi is donning as she comes in behind him.

"Yeah, we didn't quite hear correctly," Oluchi mumbles, her tone deadly as she takes a serious stance, her attire of jean jacket and mini skirt complementing her attitude.

"The test result indicates that Daniel is not the father," Senator Okwu retorts for the thousandth time today.

"Who is Daniel?" Joe inquires coming off as perplexed.

"Babe Daniel is Ike," Oluchi whispers, facepalming.

"I'm Daniel," Ike affirms, raising his right hand.

"So what you are trying to say is that the test results reveal that Miracle is not Ike's biological son?" Joe polls, folding the arms of his long-sleeved blue and red striped shirt he's donning above his jeans trousers.

"Bravo!" The senator exclaims. "Look who is so smart."

"I wonder why no one has allowed me leverage to claw your eyes out!" Oluchi shouts, dashing towards Ike's stepfather when she is held back by Joe.

"That is because you are a maniac, an uncultured girl," he disputes. "The world should go back in time to when women keep silent whenever men are speaking."

"No wonder you are so cruel," Oluchi snorts. "You belong in the stone age."

"Sorry baby, sorry," I sing, ambling to the cradle where Miracle's cries are reverberating from, an announcement that he is awake.

"You've all woken the baby," Ike lets out in irritation.

"You can call him your baby though," Joe snorts.

"You can also go help her shush your child," Oluchi directs as I pick Miracle up, muttering nothingness to him in the hope that he will shut up.

"He actually believes it," Dad snickers, anger pouring through him.

"I don't know what to believe," Ike exhales, seeming in a state of confusion. "The test result points at Ken to be the father, and though I see a mishap somewhere, I'm confused."

"I love Ana, don't doubt that," he explains. "I am also excited at the thought of having a child from the woman I love, but with all these, I don't just know."

"If you love her like you say you do, you shouldn't believe this until another test is run at another hospital," Joe suggests making sense.

"Why another hospital?" Senator Okwu asks, appearing uncomfortable with the idea.

"Why not?" Joe counters.

"Yeah," Oluchi inserts. "You have numerous hospitals, Ike, you can do the test at all of them if you like."

"Are you doubting science?" Senator Okwu polls. "There's no other thing to find out."

"Are you offended?" Oluchi requests, cocking her head to the right. "You aren't the doctor, so you shouldn't be."

"I'm just saying," he blurts, not staring her in the eye.

"Has the result been revealed?" My mother inquires, materializing in the doorway with my brothers as she's dressed in a beautiful red blouse and sweatpants, yeah my mom knows how to swag at times.

"Yeah, and I'm guessing they did some mistakes in the analysis," Oluchi conveys.

"I don't understand," Nuel lets out, stepping to me to carry Miracle from my hands. His dress code and that of the child matching as he is clad in up-and-down red sweatpants and a sweatshirt the same hue as Miracle's orange onesie.

"Your sister-"

"Shut up!" Dad and I both scream, tired of his steady announcement of the verdict.

"Ken came out the father," Joe informs, scratching his hair.

"Oh hell no," Maxwell blurts, clenching his teeth. "Something was definitely done because I don't trust this man."

"Your children seem to have no proper upbringing," Senator Okwu asserts.

"Don't bring my children into this senator," Mom grumbles, her motherly instincts kicking up. "It is you who has no proper upbringing thus you don't know how to act for your age."

"Your son too, for not keeping it in his pants and owning up to his responsibilities," Dad speaks up. "I wonder what we are still doing here exchanging words with this old fool."

"It's clear he doesn't want us in his family so I guess it's time we take Ana out of here," Dad continues, gaping at my mom. "Dear, help Ana pack we are leaving this instant."

"No sir you can't do this please," Ike begs, his mind coming to terms with the situation.

"Oh now you can speak," Dad sneers. "It's already too late my son."

"I love her, can you let us sort this out?" Ike pleads, rather Dad dismisses his pleas.

"Let them leave Daniel, they have no connection whatsoever with us," Senator Okwu pronounces and I fold my hands into fists as I have the urge to hit him.

"Ana I don't want to hear it," Dad declares as I open my mouth to utter a sentence. "For once, please, listen to me."

"Fine," I exhale, a tear leaving my lids as I gawk at Ike who appears lost and broken, at the same time helpless as uncertainty overrides his composure.

"Don't worry sir, I'll help her pack," Oluchi grits, nudging Ike with her elbow as she strides to the box close to the window. "I wonder where Glory is anyway."

"I want everyone to be ready by the time I come back from seeing the doctor," Dad instructs and I nod, while I ponder on the noise coming from the door he just opens.

"Dad, what's going on?" Maxwell implores, following my train of thoughts as the noise appears to be increasing.

"I don't know," Dad confesses, pushing his head beyond the threshold. "But there seems to be a crowd coming this way."

"What kind of---" Nuel stops short as he too takes the position of Dad. "Is that not Glory?"

"Glory? Let me see," Joe speaks, peeping as the rest. "Yep, that's her, and Helena?"

"I understand Glory's presence but why Helena's?" Ike polls, heading for their location but shifts back as my dad and brothers do when the said people walk through the door.

"Senator Okwu," a man dressed in a police uniform walks up to him, a stern look on his face as he hands out the cuffs. "You are hereby arrested for fabrication of fake documents, bribery, and corruption."

"What sort of shenanigans is going on?" Senator Okwu raises a question together with his voice as he observes the brown-skinned male doctor, Ken, and the lab scientist in similar restraints standing aside Glory and Helena.

"Keep silent, because whatever you say or do will be used against you in the court of law," the man conveys, clamping the politician's wrist to cuff them.

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