Chapter 5 - The Collapse of the Facade
Carter’s champagne glass slipped from his fingers, shattering against the polished marble floor. His face drained of color, his eyes darting from me to his father. "Dad? What... what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Zurich."
"I came back to meet my grandson, Carter," Samuel said, his voice carrying an absolute, terrifying weight that silenced the entire room. "And to see how my own son managed to turn a proud family name into a criminal syndicate."
Evelyn stepped forward, her face twisting into a mask of desperate arrogance. "Samuel, don't be ridiculous. This woman is a corporate thief. She cheated on your son, she stole confidential plans—"
"Shut up, Evelyn," Samuel interrupted, his voice cutting like a razor.
With a nod from Samuel, the massive projector screens behind the stage flashed to life. It didn't show the airport rendering. It showed the side-by-side comparison of my original, timestamped design files next to Vale Development’s patent application. Below it, the forged paternity report appeared in massive, high-definition text, with every single anomaly highlighted in bright red.
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"Three days ago, Nora gave birth to my grandson at Mercy Crown," Samuel announced to the gathered press, investors, and city officials. "The child carries the unmistakable, unique genetic birthmark of the Vale lineage. The paternity report used to execute her divorce and freeze her assets was forged by Evelyn Vale using a deceased doctor’s credentials."
The flashbulbs of twenty news cameras began to fire rapidly, capturing Carter and Evelyn's expressions of pure, unadulterated horror.
