Chapter 5 - Whispers in the Dark
"David?" Julian choked, the word catching in his throat like broken glass. He dropped beside Emilia on the floor, trying to cradle her shivering shoulders, but she shoved him away with violent repulsion. "David died five years ago! His estate was completely liquidated!"
"Not all of it," Sofia said, standing tall over the shattered couple like a mourning sentinel. "David froze three viable vials before his chemotherapy began. When he died, the rights transferred exclusively to me. When you came begging for a miracle, Julian, I made an executive call. The child carries fifty percent of your ancestral genetic code. It was the only way the lineage remained yours."
"You put your dead husband's seed inside me?" Emilia wailed, her hands tearing at her hair. "You used my body to resurrect a ghost without my knowledge?"
"You wanted a baby, Emilia!" Sofia snapped, emotion finally breaking through her cold facade, tears brimming in her own eyes. "You were rotting away in depression! Julian was bankrupting himself trying to buy your happiness! I solved both problems. You get your child, and David's bloodline doesn't die in a medical freezer!"
"You sick, twisted monster," Julian whispered, rising slowly from the floor, his fists shaking with raw, murderous fury. "You didn't do this for us. You did this because the trust fund stipulates David’s biological heir inherits forty percent of the Mercer-Vance holding firm upon birth!"
The kitchen fell into a petrified silence.
Sofia did not blink. A chilling, slow smile touched the corners of her lips, stripping away any lingering illusion of mercy.
"You always were sharp with corporate bylaws, Julian," Sofia murmured softly. "Which means you already know what comes next. That child in her belly is legally David's sole surviving heir. And as the executor of David's estate, I hold full legal guardianship the moment that infant draws breath."
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Emilia let out a ragged, desperate cry, curling herself into a ball on the bloodstained floor.
Julian stared at his business partner, realizing with sinking horror that the trap had been sprung seven months ago. But before he could speak, Emilia suddenly gasped, clutching the lower curve of her abdomen as a sharp, agonizing spasm wrenched through her body.
