Chapter 4 - THE TWISTED TRUTH
Benedict felt as though the air had been sucked out of his lungs.
He stared at the official laboratory seal on the second page. The DNA profile of the child—Orla—didn't match Victoria Sterling. It matched Evelina Vance.
"You..." Benedict whispered, his voice dangerously low. "You are her mother."
Evelina froze. The frantic tears on her face instantly dried into a mask of pure confusion. "What? What are you talking about? That’s impossible!"
Benedict grabbed her by the arm and shoved the second page directly into her face. "Read it! Read it, Evelina!"
Evelina’s eyes scanned the page frantically. As her mind processed the letters and percentages, her face went completely ghost-white. She stumbled back, hitting the edge of the auction podium, her hands clutching her head.
"No... no, no, no! That’s a mistake! That’s a lie!" she shrieked. "I never had a baby! I was in Europe four years ago! I was studying design in Paris!"
"Were you?" Benedict snapped, stepping closer, every instinct as a high-level corporate investigator kicking in. "Or were you checked into a private medical clinic in the Swiss Alps under a fake name?"
The memories came rushing back to Benedict like a sledgehammer. Four years ago, before he and Evelina were engaged, when she was merely his late wife’s ambitious cousin. She had disappeared from the social scene for six months, claiming she was attending an exclusive fashion retreat in Milan and Paris.
"Victoria didn't buy a random baby from the black market," Benedict said, the horrific pieces of the puzzle locking together in real time. "Victoria knew she couldn't conceive. She went to you, didn't she? Your family was going bankrupt four years ago. You were broke, drowning in gambling debts, facing public disgrace."
Evelina began to tremble violently, backing away until her spine pressed against the cold wooden wall.
"She paid you," Benedict realized, his voice trembling with disgust. "Victoria paid off the Vance family’s multi-million-dollar debt in exchange for your surrogate pregnancy. You gave birth to Orla in Switzerland, took the money, and handed the baby over to Victoria to raise as my legitimate heir!"
"I didn't know!" Evelina sobbed, dropping to the floor and hiding her face in her hands. "I never saw the baby! Victoria kept the mother's identity anonymous through the Swiss clinic! I was put under general anesthesia during the delivery! When I woke up, the agency told me the infant was stillborn! They told me the baby died at birth!"
Benedict stared at the broken woman on the floor with utter contempt. "They didn't lie to you. Victoria paid the clinic to tell you the baby died so you would never come back to claim her or blackmail the Sterling family later!"
"Victoria stole my child?" Evelina screamed, her voice cracking with insane rage. "She stole my baby and made me believe I was a killer's cousin who gave birth to a corpse?!"
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"And what did you do in return, Evelina?" Benedict asked, his voice dropping into a pitch so dark it chilled the room. "When you found out Victoria was keeping secrets four years ago... when you started suspecting she had tricked you... what did you do to her car?"
Evelina’s head snapped up. Her eyes were wide, filled with pure, unadulterated guilt.
