Chapter 6 - The VP's Secret
Over the next forty-eight hours, the financial world exploded. Sterling Global’s stock plummeted amid the leadership crisis. Julian was locked out of his own building, his corporate accounts frozen by my forensic audit.
But I knew a cornered animal was dangerous. Julian and Richard would hire the best lawyers in the country to challenge the Navarro Trust. I needed a kill shot.
I got it on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.
Marcus’s private investigator, a retired FBI agent named Cole, walked into Aunt Beatrice’s lake house and dropped a manila envelope onto the dining table.
"You were right, Clara," Cole said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "People who lie about big things usually lie about everything. Valerie is a complete fraud."
I opened the envelope. Inside were medical records, bank wire transfers, and a series of encrypted emails.
"What am I looking at?" I asked.
"Valerie didn't just sleep with Julian to secure her place in the company," Cole explained. "She was siphoning funds from the PR department for three years to pay off massive gambling debts her ex-husband racked up. When Julian started looking closely at the department audits, she panicked. She needed to become untouchable."
"So she got pregnant," Maya guessed, disgusted.
"Not exactly," Cole smiled grimly. "Julian is sterile."
The room went dead silent.
"What?" I breathed.
"Julian had a severe bout of mumps in his early twenties. His medical records show he has a near-zero sperm count," Cole tapped the paper. "Valerie knew this because she had access to his private health files for corporate insurance purposes. She used a high-end sperm donor clinic in Switzerland to get pregnant, then forged a DNA test to convince Julian the boy was his 'miracle heir.'"
I sat back in my chair, my mind racing.
"Wait," Maya frowned. "If Julian is sterile... Clara, how did you get pregnant?"
I smiled, a soft, bittersweet realization washing over me. "Before we got married, Julian and I did a round of IVF. It failed, and he refused to try again. But we froze two embryos. I secretly had one implanted last year. Hazel is his biological daughter. She is the only true heir he will ever have."
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And he had thrown her away.
"Marcus," I said, my voice turning to steel. "Send an anonymous package to Julian’s private residence. Just the clinic records. Let him figure it out himself."
