Chapter 3 - Fortress of Noe Valley
Across the city in Noe Valley, a small two-story Victorian house stood illuminated by a soft porch light.
Inside, Sydney Holston sat on the edge of a small bed, watching her five-year-old twins sleep. Xavier was snoring softly under his dinosaur blanket, while Alicia clutched her stuffed bunny.
Sydney stood up, stepped into the hallway, and joined her close friend and business partner, Claire, in the kitchen.
"Are they down?" Claire asked gently.
Sydney nodded, sitting down heavily and wrapping her hands around a warm mug of tea. "He recognized them, Claire. He knew Xavier's name. He looked at Alicia's eyes..."
"How could he know?" Claire asked.
"Phoebe whispered to him at the restaurant," Sydney murmured. "She said I was never infertile. She said everyone just chose to believe I was."
Claire set her mug down with a sharp clatter. "What?"
"All these years... I thought Darwin just used the clinic’s diagnosis as an excuse to throw me away," Sydney said, tears spilling over her lashes. "But what if Decker tampered with the medical reports from the very beginning?"
"That's medical fraud!" Claire exclaimed. "If Decker Worthington did that, he could go to prison!"
"It doesn't matter," Sydney said fiercely, wiping her cheeks. "It doesn't change what Darwin did. Even if his uncle lied, Darwin chose to believe it. He handed me divorce papers and walked out."
"And now he's seen the children," Claire noted grimly. "If he decides to fight for legal heirs..."
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"He won't touch them," Sydney snapped, her tone turning to steel. "I raised them. I worked two jobs to pay their medical bills when they were born premature. I built our life without a single cent of Worthington money."
Outside on the street, hidden in the shadows, a sleek black sedan was parked with its lights off. Inside, a private operative snapped high-resolution photos of the house and transmitted them directly to Darwin Worthington’s private server.
