Reborn to Destroy the Lie That Ruined Me

3: 3

The Dean's face changed the instant he heard it.

"Joseph, are you never going to let this go? Do you have any idea what this will do to the university's reputation?"

The school's reputation couldn't take a hit, so of course I was the one who had to be thrown to the wolves.

It was a setup, plain and simple, and I was supposed to just sit there and take it?

I stepped back and clapped my hands toward the door.

The next second, reporters poured in and started livestreaming the whole room.

I faced the cameras and spoke without a trace of fear or apology.

"There has never been anything improper between me, Joseph Joyce, and Dora Fox. If the child she's carrying is mine, I'll go to prison willingly."

Dora looked frozen with shock, as if she'd been struck dumb. She even forgot to sob, just sat there blankly watching the comments scroll past on the livestream.

*Teachers with zero morals are this brazen now? Commits the crime and still stands there talking tough!*

*I'm dead. If he never touched her, why would a girl come demanding abortion money? People don't do favors for nothing.*

*I've heard of this Joseph Joyce before. He's got a teenage daughter at home and still pulls this filth while supposedly setting an example!*

*Hold on. If he'd actually done it, who'd volunteer for a paternity test? More likely the girl's the one making a false accusation.*

In the span of a few minutes, the hashtag shot straight to the top of the trending list.

The Dean broke into a cold sweat, bowing again and again toward the cameras.

"Please, everyone, rest assured. The university will absolutely not tolerate any breach of professional conduct!"

Then his head snapped toward me and he jabbed a finger at my face.

"Have you lost your mind? You had to blow this up until it's beyond fixing for everyone, didn't you?"

"Apologize in public, right now! Stop this!"

"Apologize? For what? I'm the one who offered to do a blood test in front of everyone. Whoever doesn't dare go is the one with something to hide."

The comments exploded.

*The animal's getting cocky now? Don't be scared, girl, we've got your back!*

*Sue an animal like this into the ground. What are you waiting for?*

*Right, go do the test with him. Make him lose knowing exactly why!*

Dora lifted her tear-streaked face to the cameras, her voice both wronged and defiant.

"I'm not afraid! I'll fight these campus predators to the end!"

"What happened today can't be fixed with a single apology. I'm going to get justice, no matter what!"

I gave a cold smile and nodded.

"Of course. I commit the crime, I go to prison."

"You make a false accusation, you go to prison."

The whole crowd swept over to the hospital, and the blood was drawn soon enough.

While we waited on the results, my wife and daughter hurried in too.

My daughter's eyes were rimmed red.

"Dad, are you okay? Everything those people online are saying is a lie, right..."

Seeing her cry like that, so helpless, felt like something had been carved straight out of me.

In my last life she died tragically on the street, and right up to her final moment she was crying, defending me.

Screaming again and again that her dad was a good man, that he hadn't done anything.

I leaned down and gently wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't be scared. Dad's fine. This will all come out clean."

The onlookers saw it and immediately started sneering.

"What a face on a beast. So devoted when it's his own daughter. He didn't spare a thought like that when he was preying on someone else's girl, did he?"

"His own daughter's a treasure, and everyone else's daughter deserves to be used, is that it? Disgusting!"

I kept my hands pressed over my daughter's ears and paid the insults no mind.

Half an hour later the nurse came striding over with the report and held it out to me.

I refused it outright.

"Please read the result aloud for everyone, so they can't say I tampered with the report."

"I trust the science. It's going to clear my name."

The nurse nodded and opened the report.

"According to the medical paternity test, Joseph Joyce and the fetus Dora Fox is carrying share a biological relationship."