“Dad,” I said, reaching out to steady him. “Blood doesn’t change a thing. You didn’t lose a son today. If anything, I just realized how much more valuable your love is. Because it wasn’t an obligation. It was a choice. And you chose me every single day for twenty-two years.”
He blinked hard, a single tear cutting through the dust on his cheek, and for the first time in a long time, the weight on his shoulders seemed to lighten. We were still a team of two. We were still iron-tight. And the world, for all its complications, finally felt like it was exactly where it was supposed to be.
Chapter 6: The Architect of Choice
The legal battle that followed was not the quiet, dignified affair Jessica had likely imagined. Once she realized that her “maternal” charm wouldn’t work on me, the mask didn’t just slip—it shattered. Within forty-eight hours of her departure from our porch, my office was served with a mountain of motions. She wasn’t just seeking a stake in LaunchPad anymore; she was suing for “restitution” for the emotional distress of being “kept” from her son, and for a declaratory judgment on her parental rights to my intellectual property.
