Chapter 5 - The Lost Twin
The room fell into a terrifying, suffocating silence.
Victoria stared at the lawyer as if he had spoken in an ancient, forgotten language. "What... what did you say?"
"Nine years ago," Harrison stated, reading from the certified medical ledger in his hands, "you checked into Saint Mary's Private Hospital under a false name to give birth to Julian. But the medical records were altered. You didn't give birth to one boy, Victoria. You gave birth to fraternal twins."
Julian gasped, looking from his mother to the small boy on the floor.
"You suffered severe postpartum psychosis," Harrison continued, his voice steady as steel. "You rejected the weaker twin, the boy born with a congenital heart defect. You told the doctors to place him in an anonymous adoption agency and delete the records so it wouldn't tarnish your image in high society."
"No... no, that's impossible!" Victoria screamed, clutching her head. "Arthur didn't know! Arthur never knew!"
"Arthur found out three years ago," Leo spoke up softly from the floor.
Everyone turned to the boy.
"He found me at the orphanage," Leo said, his eyes filled with a strange, unnatural depth. "He wept when he saw me. He told me my mother was a woman made of ice, but he promised he would fix everything before he went away."
Victoria fell to her knees. Her entire narrative, her empire, her untouchable reputation—all built on a lie.
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"But if he's my son," Victoria stammered, looking at Leo with a mixture of terror and disgust, "then why... why leave him the money instead of Julian?"
Harrison pulled out the cassette tape from the grandfather clock and placed it into a recorder on the desk. He hit PLAY.
