What I mean by jerk William, is Ayua is looked after, but he doesn't raise a son. There's a whole bunch of half sisters that are Zanes. So both William and Leia and/or Katie hav been breeding, and obviously WIlliam and Leia have kept the Zane name regardless of who they really are. So if he abandons Nika, while looking after the others, it's pretty odd. But they Nika has the cool uncle who teaches him basketball. I'm wondering, what if Dylan is Nami's father (redhead) and William is Nika's dad? Dylan's not William's dad though. Just a random thought I haven't really thought through, but it shows there are endless combinations of possibilities if we stop trying to make the story go in one direction - Ocean has plenty of ways to surprise us. Ocean's job is to tell a good story that is captivating, not pander to expectations. I'd suggest the more he can through curveballs that catch us off guard, the better. It's not about compromise; SG has already left the dark theme behind, the question is, will Ocean write something that keeps us engaged? To some extent, Nika being a Zane is very pedestrian.
Maybe Nika is the unknown wild oats - like what happened with Mon, and Noji found out. Maybe Ocean's keeping it open because it's determined by your WiaB save in the future. At this point, Nika could be a virgin birth for all we know