(Not) Your Daughter

“You gave birth to Alice not by Artem,” my friend says, her eyes widening in shock. “Isn’t he her biological father?” “I never said that,” I hold her gaze steady. “She’s a spitting image of the Vorontsovs! How could I not have noticed it before?” “Because he wasn’t in the city,” I spit out with anger. “I don’t know why he came back. Will you tell him about the daughter?” Olesya presses. “In Alice’s birth certificate, in the ‘father’ field there’s a dash. She is my daughter. She was, is, and remains mine. I won’t let Vorontsov get anywhere near my child. Especially since he already has a family. I don’t think his wife will be happy about his illegitimate child. So, no. He shouldn’t find out about her.”