Chapter 1 - THE NAME ON THE PAGE
Grant stared at the glowing screen of my phone.
His face drained of every drop of color.
The name at the top of the DNA laboratory report was crystal clear.
It read Julian Sterling.
My husband's fiercest,
most ruthless business rival.
The man who had been slowly dismantling Whitmore Holdings from the shadows.
The entire boardroom fell into a dead,
suffocating silence.
Sloane’s breath hitched in her throat.
Her hand instinctively slipped off Grant’s fingers.
She looked like she had just seen a ghost.
Eleanor Whitmore dropped her gold pen against the walnut table.
The metallic clatter echoed sharply in the massive room.
Conrad Whitmore stood up so fast his chair screeched backward.
He leaned over the table,
his veins bulging in his ancient neck.
He demanded an explanation from the trembling woman beside his son.
Sloane opened and closed her mouth like a stranded fish.
She couldn't form a single coherent syllable.
The great Whitmore bloodline,
the miracle heirs they had boasted about,
turned out to be the ultimate betrayal.
Julian Sterling’s blood pulsing inside the womb of my husband’s mistress.
Grant turned his head slowly toward Sloane.
His eyes were wide with pure,
unadulterated shock and horror.
He whispered her name like a curse.
Sloane burst into hysterical tears,
dropping all pretenses of innocence.
She confessed in a breathless panic that she never meant for it to happen.
She begged Grant to understand that Julian had seduced her.
She claimed Julian promised her the world before she ever met Grant.
The mask of the grieving,
wronged mistress shattered instantly.
I watched them tear each other apart without saying a single word.
I picked up my leather folder containing my executed copies of the $28 million settlement.
I stood up smoothly from my chair,
adjusting the cuffs of my blazer.
I looked down at the pathetic spectacle unfolding before my eyes.
Grant reached out a desperate hand toward me,
whispering my name in a broken plea.
I stepped backward,
dodging his touch as if he carried a lethal disease.
I told him our business was concluded,
and the ink was already dry.
Eleanor shrieked that I couldn't just walk away while the family was burning to the ground.
I smiled coldly,
reminding her that she was the one who bought my silence.
I turned my back on the wreckage of their dignity and walked toward the private elevator.
The heavy glass doors slid open,
reflecting my calm,
resolute face.
I stepped inside,
pressing the lobby button while listening to their screams fade away.
May you like
This was only chapter one of the destruction they brought upon themselves.
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