Chapter 7 - The Room Harper Was Forbidden to Enter
Tyler kept one room locked.
He called it his investment office.
Whenever Harper asked about it, he said the information inside was confidential.
For years, she respected the boundary.
Now General Hale pointed toward the hallway.
“Where are the loan documents?”
Tyler folded his arms.
“You need a warrant.”
General Hale nodded.
“You’re right.”
Tyler relaxed too quickly.
Then Hale turned to Harper.
“But the homeowner does not need a warrant to enter her own room.”
Harper walked toward the office.
Tyler blocked her.
“You’re not going in there.”
Ava began crying again.
Harper transferred the baby carefully into the carrier and fastened every buckle.
Then she faced Tyler.
“Move.”
He stood his ground.
General Hale did not touch him.
He did not need to.
“Mr. Lawson,” he said, “you have already placed your hand on Captain Lawson once in my presence. Decide carefully what you do next.”
Tyler stepped aside.
Harper unlocked the door using the emergency key hidden above the frame.
Inside were three computer monitors, unopened bills, and stacks of documents.
A framed photograph of Harper and Ava had been turned face down.
On the desk sat a drafted separation agreement.
It awarded Tyler exclusive use of the house.
It gave Carol temporary caregiving authority over Ava.
And it included a clause stating that Harper admitted uncertainty about the child’s biological father.
Harper’s stomach turned.
They wanted her signature beneath a confession they had invented.
Then General Hale opened a drawer and found a second DNA envelope.
This one carried Tyler’s real name.
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It had never been mailed.
👉 Tyler had known the fake test proved nothing—because he was afraid a real test would expose an entirely different secret.
