Chapter 4 - THE DNA OF DECEITRyan froze, his hand hovering in the air. He looked from me to his mother, who had gone completely rigid, her fingernails digging deep into the fabric of her designer dress.
"What are you talking about?" Ryan’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. He took a slow, menacing step toward Elena. "Mother? What is she talking about?"
"It's a lie! Fabricated documents!" Elena shrieked, her composure finally shattering completely. Tears of rage and panic welled in her eyes. "Katherine has always been unstable, Ryan! She's trying to ruin us because you threw her out!"
"I didn't fabricate anything, Elena," I said coldly, holding up the Zurich birth certificate and the adoption decree. "It’s right here in your own private safe. Your birth record from twenty-five years ago. The child born on that day was a girl. And according to the medical examiner's report... she died."
Ryan turned his head sharply back to me. "A girl? What do you mean a girl? I am right here. I am Elena’s son!"
"Are you?" I challenged, stepping closer and handing him the second document. "Look at the adoption decree, Ryan. Look at the date. Look at the hospital stamp. You aren't Elena’s biological son."
Ryan snatched the papers from my hand. His eyes scanned the lines of text, moving faster and faster as the color drained entirely from his face. The breath left his lungs in a sharp gasp. He stumbled backward, his hip hitting the edge of the mahogany desk, causing a heavy crystal paperweight to wobble and fall to the floor with a sharp crack.
"No..." Ryan muttered, shaking his head violently. "No, this is impossible. I am a Sterling. My father—"
"Your father knew," Arthur Vance spoke up quietly from the armchair, his head bowed in shame. "Victor Sterling knew before he passed away. That’s why he tried to change his will in his final months."
Elena spun around to face the lawyer, her voice turning venomous. "Arthur! You miserable coward! You swore you destroyed that will!"
"I couldn't, Elena," Arthur sighed, looking up. "Victor was a good man. He couldn't stomach the lie anymore."
Ryan slowly lifted his head, his eyes fixing on his mother with a look of pure devastation. The powerful, arrogant billionaire who had thrown me out of the mansion a moment ago now looked like a lost, broken child.
"Who am I, Mother?" Ryan asked, his voice trembling so violently he could barely form the words. "If I’m not your son... whose child am I?"
Before Elena could answer, the front security intercom on the wall buzzed loudly, cutting through the heavy silence of the room.
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A robotic voice echoed through the study speakers:
“Warning. Unidentified vehicles breaching the main estate gates. Multiple armed units approaching the front entrance.”
