“I’ll wait outside with them,” she said to me.

I nodded.

I signed the final consent and chain-of-custody forms.

These documents would be sent directly to Marcus to be filed under seal.

I found Maren standing under the awning of the clinic.

The children were playing with the raindrops dripping from the gutter.

“Thank you for doing this,” I said, standing beside her.

The cold air smelled of wet pine needles.

“I’m doing this for them, Adrian,” she said, looking out at the parking lot.

“They deserve to know the truth.”

“But I am still terrified of what your mother will do when she finds out.”

“I won’t let her touch them,” I said.

“I am building a wall around you and the kids.”

“Marcus is auditing Dr. Mercer’s records as we speak.”

“If we can prove he falsified my test, we can destroy his credibility.”

Maren turned her head to look at me, her eyes dark with old pain.

“Your mother is a powerful woman, Adrian.”

“She didn’t just buy a doctor.”

“She bought my silence for eight years by threatening to take them away completely.”