Chapter 12 - Chloe’s Real Father
Victoria said nothing.
Julian’s face collapsed before she spoke.
“No.”
“Julian—”
“No.”
I shifted Chloe away from the argument.
She didn’t need every adult truth.
But the truth came anyway.
Chloe was not Julian’s biological daughter.
Victoria had known from the beginning.
Julian had not.
“Whose?”
Victoria looked at Nicholas.
Nicholas went white.
“No.”
Victoria shook her head quickly.
“Not him.”
Then everyone looked at Stephen.
He laughed.
“Please.”
Victoria whispered:
“Raymond.”
Silence became physical.
Julian stumbled backward.
My stomach turned.
Not because of scandal.
Because of what it implied.
Raymond was more than thirty years older than Victoria.
She had been married to his son.
“How?”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“It wasn’t what you’re thinking.”
Years before Chloe’s birth, Victoria and Julian underwent fertility treatment.
Julian believed his own stored genetic material was used.
It wasn’t.
Raymond had secretly substituted donor material tied to himself.
Why?
Succession.
Julian’s fertility issues meant Raymond feared his direct genetic line might end.
He engineered a grandchild.
Without informed consent.
Julian looked ready to collapse.
Chloe was biologically his half-sister.
And legally his daughter.
A family tree turned into a weapon.
Stephen had helped arrange the clinic paperwork.
That was why Chloe mattered.
She was Raymond’s direct biological child.
Potential heir to specific privately held assets outside the normal trust.
Emma inherited through Nicholas.
Chloe inherited directly through Raymond.
Two girls.
Two claims.
Stephen needed control of both.
The funeral was supposed to make Chloe disappear legally without actually killing her.
Then he could later relocate her under another identity and manage the assets tied to her.
Victoria believed she was saving Chloe from Nicholas.
In reality, she was following the architecture Stephen wanted.
I looked at her.
“You put your daughter in a coffin because this man convinced you she needed to disappear.”
Victoria began crying.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Julian?”
“Because I thought he’d hate her.”
Julian looked at Chloe.
His anger changed instantly.
“Never.”
Victoria stared.
“She isn’t biologically yours.”
“She is my daughter.”
That was the first clean sentence anyone had spoken all night.
Chloe reached toward him.
“Daddy?”
Julian crossed the room.
I let him take her.
Because she reached first.
He held her.
Cried.
Then Stephen whispered:
“Touching.”
Nicholas turned.
Stephen smiled.
“But none of it matters if Emma isn’t Nicholas’s daughter.”
Victoria froze.
Emma stared.
“What?”
May you like
Stephen held up one final sealed file.
“Raymond lied about that too.”
