Chapter 6 - The Real Father
The silence in the penthouse was deafening.
Elena looked at the tiny baby sleeping peacefully in the bassinet.
He was not a Sterling.
He was a Vance.
He was the biological child of a dead man.
“Your brother is dead,” Elena stammered, trying to process the absolute insanity of the situation.
“Dominic froze his genetic material before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer,” Silas explained.
“He was murdered by a corporate rival before he could ever start a family.”
“I am the executor of his estate.”
Elena felt a sickening wave of dread wash over her.
“You put your dead brother's child inside me?” she asked, her voice shaking with rage and horror.
Silas held up his hands in a placating gesture.
“I did not do this, Elena.”
“I swear to you, I only discovered the theft six months ago.”
“That is exactly why I approached you after your divorce.”
“I had to protect the last remaining piece of my brother's legacy.”
Elena wanted to scream.
She wanted to run out of the penthouse and never look back.
But she had nowhere to go, and Julian was still hunting her.
“If you didn't bribe the clinic, Silas, then who did?”
Silas’s eyes darkened with a terrifying fury.
“I have spent millions tracing the offshore accounts that paid the embryologist.”
“The money came from a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands.”
“A corporation that is heavily tied to the new Mrs. Sterling.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“Chloe?”
“Chloe Mercer orchestrated this?”
Silas nodded grimly.
“Chloe was Julian's Director of Public Relations.”
“She knew Julian was sterile.”
“She knew the Sterling board of directors would oust Julian if he couldn't produce an heir.”
Elena’s mind raced as the pieces of the puzzle aggressively slammed together.
“Chloe wanted to secure her place as the future queen of the Sterling empire.”
“She paid the clinic to use a stolen Vance embryo to ensure I got pregnant.”
“She planned to let Julian claim the baby as a miracle.”
“But then Julian threw me out before anyone knew the IVF worked.”
“Exactly,” Silas confirmed.
“Chloe’s plan backfired when Julian's ego drove him to divorce you for a younger, shinier model.”
Elena looked at her son.
He was an innocent pawn in a billionaire's chess game.
“Chloe knows the truth,” Elena realized, panic surging through her veins.
“She knows the baby is a Vance.”
Suddenly, the private elevator chime echoed through the penthouse.
Silas’s head of security stepped into the library, looking extremely tense.
“Mr. Vance,” the guard said urgently.
May you like
“Chloe Sterling just bypassed the lobby security.”
“She is coming up the elevator right now.”
