Chapter 2 - The Bastard Heir
The penthouse office of Marcus Valerius was a glass cage suspended eighty stories above the city. Julian threw the heavy envelope onto his father’s expansive mahogany desk.
"A woman named Elara assaulted me in the lobby," Julian demanded, his voice echoing in the vast room. "She claimed to be your daughter."
Marcus, a ruthless titan with silver hair and eyes as cold as ice, stopped typing. He looked at the wax seal, and for the first time in Julian’s life, he saw his father pale.
Marcus slowly opened the envelope. Inside was a single, yellowed birth certificate and a DNA forensic report.
"Is it a grifter?" Julian pressed, stepping forward. "I already have security pulling the camera feeds."
"Call them off," Marcus commanded, his voice a ragged whisper. He sank into his leather chair, looking older than he ever had. "It's true."
Julian felt the floor drop beneath him. "What do you mean, it's true?"
"Twenty-eight years ago, before the empire, I was married," Marcus said, staring out at the skyline. "My wife threatened to divorce me and take half my early acquisitions. She died in a car crash. I was told our infant daughter died with her. I adopted you a year later to project the image of a stable family man to my investors."
Julian stopped breathing. Adopted.
"I am not your son?" Julian choked out, the reality of his entire existence shattering.
May you like
"You are a placeholder, Julian," Marcus said coldly, the vulnerable old man vanishing, replaced by the apex predator. "And unfortunately for you, the true blood heir just returned. Under the Valerius Trust, if a legitimate blood child lives, fifty-one percent of this company automatically transfers to them."
Marcus pressed a button on his intercom. "Security. Escort Julian to the lobby. Confiscate his access cards."
