Chapter 3

I wasn't lying to myself. River was, without a shadow of a doubt, my flesh and blood.

Did Selena and Julian really think they had pulled one over on me?

Twenty-five years ago, when Selena struggled to conceive, we turned to IVF.

Right before the fertilization process, I caught her red-handed bribing a lab technician to tamper with my frozen samples. I even overheard her giddy phone call to Julian, boasting that she had successfully swapped in his sperm.

I didn't confront her. Instead, I quietly paid the chief embryologist a cool hundred grand to put my backup sample back in place.

And while I was at it, I had the doctor swap Selena’s eggs with those of my comatose ex-girlfriend.

On the day the embryos were successfully formed, Selena and I witnessed the "miracle" together.

She was practically glowing, genuinely believing she was carrying a child born of her and Julian.

Watching her ecstatic face back then almost made me burst out laughing.

For twenty-five years, I watched her play the dutiful, doting mother to River like a fool on a stage. You have no idea how satisfying it was.

She thought she was setting a trap for me, completely unaware that she had been raising another woman’s child for over two decades.

Selena sneered, cutting through my thoughts.

"Still in denial? River might have grown up by your side, but biologically, he’s not yours! Julian is his real father."

My expression remained neutral, laced with mockery. "Are you dreaming out loud?"

"If you don't believe me, let's take a DNA test!" Selena snapped, her chin held high.

"And I want a divorce! You forced me into this marriage twenty-five years ago. I've endured you as a pathetic shadow for long enough. I've done more than enough for you!"

When she mentioned divorce, a gleam of triumph flashed across her face.

She had clearly been planning this for years.

She dared to say she had done enough for me?

In the twenty-five years since I married into her family, we had slept in separate bedrooms.

While I was raising the child alone, she was off secretly gallivanting with Julian.

While I was breaking my back in the boardroom to keep the Sterling empire afloat, she was blowing fortunes at high-end clubs.

She had one thing wrong, though. I never married her out of love.

I married her solely to secure legal standing within the family and take full control of Sterling Enterprises.

Now, the entire company was under my thumb.

Selena had outlived her usefulness.

"I'm fine with a divorce," I said, giving a casual shrug.

"As for the DNA test, there's no need. I know River is my son."

River looked at me, his gaze firm. "Dad, I trust you."

Selena and Julian instantly panicked.

"River, don't you even believe your own mother?!"

River ignored her completely, stepping closer to my side.

Right at that moment, a young man who looked like a college student barged through the front doors.

He rushed straight toward River, calling out with tearful excitement, "Brother!"

The entire room went dead silent.

Having an extra father show up out of nowhere was wild enough—now there was a secret brother too?