Chapter 6 - A NEW DAWN (THE UNEXPECTED ENDING)
The delivery room at New York Presbyterian Hospital was a chaotic flurry of medical staff. Ethan refused to leave Grace’s side, despite the doctors trying to tend to the severe burns on his arms and back. He held her hand tightly, kissing her sweaty forehead over and over again.
"Push, Grace! You can do this!" Ethan pleaded, his voice thick with emotion.
With one final, agonizing push, a loud, sharp cry filled the delivery room.
The doctor held up a beautiful, healthy baby boy. "It’s a boy, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood. He’s a fighter."
The nurses quickly cleaned the baby and laid him gently onto Grace’s chest. Grace sobbed with pure joy, her exhaustion vanishing as she looked down at her son. Ethan wrapped his arms around both of them, burying his face in Grace’s neck, weeping openly.
"I’m so sorry, Grace," Ethan whispered, his heart breaking with remorse. "I let my past, my fear of being betrayed, blind me. I will spend the rest of my life making this up to you."
Grace looked up at him, her eyes soft but fiercely resilient. "You saved us, Ethan. You came into the fire. That’s all that matters now."
Just then, the door to the delivery room opened. Dr. Harrison walked in, followed by two police detectives and a forensic geneticist from the state crime lab. Dr. Harrison looked incredibly relieved.
"Mr. Blackwood, Mrs. Blackwood," Dr. Harrison said. "The state police have fully analyzed the synthetic DNA profile Cynthia used to rig my clinic's database. They found the original, uncorrupted logs."
The forensic geneticist stepped forward, handing Ethan an official, state-sealed document. "Mr. Blackwood, we re-ran the test using the baby’s cord blood just now. The true paternity result is 99.9%. He is undeniably your biological son."
Ethan didn't even look at the paper. He just looked at his wife and son. "I already knew that," Ethan said softly. "He has his mother's heart."
The detectives cleared their throats. "Mr. Blackwood, there's one more thing. Regarding Cynthia Blackwood. She survived the gunshot wound and is currently under heavy guard in the ICU downstairs. She has fully confessed to the conspiracy, the murder of the maid, and the arson."
"Good," Ethan said, his voice dropping into that familiar, powerful tone. "Make sure she never sees the light of day again."
"But sir..." the detective hesitated, looking uneasy. "During her confession, she revealed something else. Something about your father's death five years ago."
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. "What about my father?"
"Cynthia didn't kill him," the detective said, pulling out a hidden, encrypted audio recorder they had recovered from Cynthia’s safe house. "Your father isn't actually dead, Mr. Blackwood. His death was faked. And according to the flight logs we just recovered... he just landed at JFK Airport twenty minutes ago, and he’s on his way to this hospital right now to claim the Blackwood empire."
The room fell into a stunned, dead silence.
Grace looked at Ethan, her eyes wide with shock. Ethan stood up slowly, looking out the hospital window at the flashing lights of the city below. The war for his family wasn't over. In fact, the real battle was just beginning.
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He looked down at his newborn son, then back at Grace, a dangerous, protective smile forming on his lips.
"Let him come," Ethan whispered. "This time, I have everything to fight for."
