Part 4: The Truth Unmasked
The study fell into an absolute, suffocating silence. Even the newborns seemed to quiet down in their carriers.
“What did you just say to me?” Adrian asked, his voice barely a breath.
Evelyn pulled a yellowed, twenty-year-old medical folder from her desk drawer and threw it onto the table between them. “The cancer treatments when you were twenty-two, Adrian. The radiation destroyed your reproductive system entirely. Irreversible azoospermia. Zero motility. Zero chance.”
Adrian stared at the medical report, the clinical terminology burning through his retinas. “No… no, this is a mistake. Claire and I tried for eight years! She was the one undergoing injections! She was the one going to the clinics!”
“Because I begged her to lie to you!” Evelyn cried, tears streaming down her face. “I knew your fragile pride would destroy you if you knew you were infertile! She took the blame for eight years! She let your family whisper about her, she let your friends pity you, she endured every insult… to protect your ego!”
Adrian stood frozen, the world tilting violent off its axis. He slowly turned his head to look at Vanessa.
Vanessa was backing out of the study toward the hallway, her face drained of every drop of color, her hands shaking uncontrollably as she reached for her handbag.
“Vanessa…” Adrian choked out, taking a step toward her. “Whose babies are those?”
“Adrian… listen to me…” Vanessa stammered, her voice rising in shrill panic. “I did it for us! I knew how much you wanted a family! You were so obsessed with having heirs—”
“Whose are they?!” he roared, the sound echoing through the cold mansion.
Before Vanessa could answer, a loud, double-knock echoed at the front door.
