Chapter 2: The Child Who Changed Everything
Chapter 2: The Child Who Changed Everything
I finally stepped into the ballroom.
The music stopped.
Conversations died instantly.
Julian turned around.
The color drained from his face.
For the first time since I'd arrived...
He looked afraid.
"Valeria..."
The brunette gasped.
"No..."
The little boy frowned.
"Daddy..."
Daddy.
The word sliced deeper than any knife.
Julian slowly put the child down.
"Go upstairs, Ethan."
"But—"
"Now."
The boy obeyed reluctantly.
His eyes kept drifting back toward me.
Confused.
Curious.
Almost familiar.
Julian walked toward me carefully, as though approaching a wild animal.
"I can explain."
I laughed.
"No."
"You can confess."
The guests watched silently.
I held up the divorce decree.
"You forged my trust."
Then the inheritance file.
"You tried to steal my father's fortune."
His eyes widened.
So.
He hadn't known.
Not yet.
"You inherited everything?" he whispered.
There it was.
Not concern.
Not regret.
Money.
Always money.
The brunette grabbed his arm.
"Julian..."
He pulled away without looking at her.
His mind was racing.
Calculating.
Planning.
Just as it always had.
"You don't understand," he said.
"My father forced me."
I blinked.
"What?"
"My father arranged everything."
Another lie.
Marcus had warned me.
Julian lied even when telling the truth would help him.
I reached into my bag and removed another document.
DNA results.
"I had these rushed this morning."
Julian frowned.
The brunette went pale.
I handed them to her.
Her hands began trembling before she reached the second page.
"What is this?"
I answered quietly.
"Ethan isn't Julian's son."
The room exploded with whispers.
Julian snatched the report.
His face lost every trace of color.
Probability of paternity.
Zero percent.
He looked at the brunette.
She burst into tears.
"I was going to tell you..."
"When?"
He shouted so loudly that crystal glasses rattled.
"After you married me?"
She couldn't answer.
Years.
Years of lies.
Even his perfect second family had been built on deception.
Then the little boy appeared on the staircase.
"Mom?"
Everyone looked up.
He wasn't watching Julian.
He was staring at me.
"I know you."
The room fell silent.
"I've seen your picture."
May you like
He smiled innocently.
"My grandma said you're the nice lady Daddy hurt."
