Chapter 2
Part 2
The courtroom fell into stunned silence.
Victoria Kensington slowly turned her head toward Ethan.
For the first time since entering the room, she acknowledged his existence.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
“An orphan?” she repeated softly.
Ethan nodded eagerly, desperate to regain control of the situation.
“Yes. Madison grew up in foster care. There must be some misunderstanding.”
Victoria’s expression never changed.
Instead, she reached into her designer handbag and handed a thick folder to her attorney.
“There is no misunderstanding.”
The attorney opened the folder and placed several documents before Judge Reynolds.
“DNA results,” he said calmly. “Verified by three independent laboratories.”
The judge adjusted his glasses.
The courtroom remained silent as he reviewed the reports.
Then his eyebrows shot upward.
“The probability of maternity is 99.9999 percent.”
A murmur spread through the room.
My knees nearly gave out.
I stared at Victoria.
At the eyes we shared.
At the trembling smile on her face.
At the tears she no longer bothered to hide.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Thirty years ago, someone stole you from me.”
The room froze.
“My former husband arranged it.”
A collective gasp rippled through the gallery.
“He wanted control of my family’s fortune. When you were born, he feared you would inherit everything. He paid people to falsify records and told me you died shortly after birth.”
Her voice cracked.
“For thirty years, I believed my daughter was gone.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“And then?”
Victoria swallowed hard.
“Three months ago, a retired nurse contacted my foundation. She was dying and wanted to clear her conscience.”
The courtroom listened in stunned silence.
“She confessed everything.”
Ethan’s smug confidence had vanished.
His face was turning pale.
Victoria wasn’t finished.
“I hired investigators. We followed every lead. Every record. Every foster placement.”
She looked at me.
“And then we found you.”
I felt my son kick.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t alone.
The feeling was so overwhelming it almost hurt.
Meanwhile, Ethan sat frozen.
Because he had just realized something terrifying.
May you like
He hadn’t divorced a powerless woman.
He had divorced the sole heir to a billion-dollar empire.
